Montezuma Part III: Isla Tortuga

We woke up jaded from our hike from hell.  Today needed to be relaxing or I was gonna arrange some sort of murder-suicide for us both.  I wonder if the tour companies have a package for that!  Anyway, we woke up, had pancakes and coffee and met with our tour group.  We got on a boat and set out for Isla Tortuga:

We passed this waterfall that the guide said was the second largest waterfall emptying into an ocean in the world.  It's actually pretty big during rainy season, but right now it's more akin to a leaky faucet.

We drove (is that right for a boat?) for about half an hour until we reached Tortuga.  We let our chef off, so he could start cooking while we snorkeled.

Then we set off to a rock not far from the island to snorkel.

There were already a few groups snorkeling here.  This is definitely a tourist destination, which is exactly what we wanted after yesterday.  We wanted someone to basically do all the heavy lifting while we just lay in the water like dead fish.

The water here is a color like turquoise.  It's incredible how the color of the water changes from one location to another:

Now we're ready to snorkel!

This is your moment Go Pro, show us what you got!

That airplane in the distance is actually a giant pelican!  It was diving into the water and eating fish, then going back to the rock to wait for another victim.  At one point, it dove right over my head and I thought I was a goner.  I totally peed my swimsuit and swam away for dear life only to find Aaron videotaping and laughing hysterically.  In the event of an emergency, he would be useless to me!  I was almost eaten by a prehistoric creature and all he cared about was getting it on film!  

After we were done snorkeling, we got back on the boat to head to the island.

We got to the island and sat at tables with fresh fruit:

This was the sweetest pineapple I've ever tasted!  How do you pick a pineapple??  I saw one guy looking at the bottoms, but I don't know what he was looking for.  We saw a random peacock walking around, scoping us out:

How many people can say they've selfied with a peacock?  Pretty awesome!  There was also a random rooster with feathers on it's legs that looked like pants.  

Him and the peacock were buddies, just taking a stroll amid the crowd.

Then we ate.  I had a fish casado and Aaron had a chicken casado.  They were both tasty, but my fish was kinda dry.  

Then we got to swim:

Look at the stripes of color in the water.  Nature is crazy!  They say Tortuga Island is the most beautiful island in Costa Rica (although toursity) and so far I agree.  It was like a scene from a movie set (Aaron said it looked like Pirates of the Caribbean).  There are no accommodations on the island, it's a day-trip kind of place.  Let's see more!

Super tall palm trees!  You really don't want a coconut to clock you from way up there.  

OMG is that a smile??  I caught ya babe!  He was laughing at me, of course.

Aaron found a cool meteorite in the water and then proceeded to make a weird, whiny face about it.  White coral littered the beach (and water), so I kept some:

After a couple hours of wading in the calm, clear water, we got back on the boat and headed home.  We were starving and that can only mean one thing: Carlos!  He suggested ceviche and boy did it hit the spot!

It was limey and cilantro-y and perfect!  Of course I got my pineapple juice and this time Aaron tried papaya, which was really interesting.  Then Carlos mixed the leftovers of the pineapple and papaya juices and gave it to us.  That was amazing!  I think I have a new favorite flavor.  Then it was back to the hostel for a shower and a lounge in the hammocks:

Molly caught a lizard and was messing with it:

I tried to sneak a picture of the common living room, so you could see what it looked like, but Aaron's white legs were in the way:

Behind him is a long table and beyond that are some dorm rooms and a bathroom.  Here's the way to the kitchen:

You go under that tree trunk to get into the kitchen.  To get to the private rooms (where we were), you go up the stairs.

Then we went back to Carlos' place because we promised we would try his BBQ before we left.  He does whole red snapper, tuna steaks, ribs and chicken:

That's whole chicken on the BBQ.  I decided to get the tuna and Aaron got ribs because we weren't hungry enough for huge portions:

The sides were kinda weak, but the meat was fantastic.  Way to go Carlos!

Then we hit Chico's because Thursday is Reggae Night and it gets cracking!  Before it was busy, we sat outside again and listened to the waves crashing in the dark.  Aaron got a mango daiquiri made with fresh mango (any drink you get in Costa Rica is made with fresh fruit and it makes a world of difference.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to the processed juice in a bottle.):

Then out of the sky, a baby lizard fell on his head!

It's so small!!  How adorable!  Then the DJ started playing and we went inside.

Aaron ran into some guys he met in Jaco last week (what a small world!) and they played pool awhile.  They were from Switzerland and they've been all over the world!  Philip was super nice and I picked his brain awhile about all the places he's been and what life is like in Switzerland (I realize I'm having a discussion about socialism with some Swiss guy at a bar with reggae music in the background.  Only in Costa Rica!).  Anyway, then it got crowded and people were dancing up a storm.  From observing, I realized that most white people don't really look good dancing to reggae music.  Is that racist?  It's just not really they're forte.  Sorry if that just sounds wrong, but sometimes the truth hurts.

Then everyone crowded outside, so we went to see what the fuss was about:

There were people fire-dancing in the street!  It looked so dangerous and really stunning against the dark backdrop.  After the fire-dancing, they put on music and everyone danced in the streets.  Cars had to practically shove people to get through.  It was crazy!

We met up with our friends from Milwaukee and hung out awhile.  I turned in around 1:30 and Aaron came up about an hour later.  The next day we got up early and took the water taxi back to Jaco.  We saw a giant yacht parked near the bus station:

  Who the heck owns that??!  I need to be friends with them NOW!

Then we went home, dropped our belongings and went to Pizza Pata and put back on all the weight we sweat off at Cabo Blanco:

I forgot to take a picture before I took a bite.  It was so damn good!  The green stuff is that garlic pesto.  OMG!  Then we hit the local market (A couple blocks from our apartment) because we had no food whatsoever:

All their produce is super fresh, they have deliveries daily and you never know what you'll find.  I never knew onions grew like this:

You just pull them off the vine (or stalk or whatever it's called).  Check out these gigantic carrots:

Wild!  We ended up buying so much, they gave us free lettuce.  Aww, how sweet!  I love lettuce, especially when it's free!

Since then, we've been taking care of business around the house: laundry, cleaning, uploading our pictures and cooking up a storm.  I think tomorrow we'll be back to normal and ready for the next adventure.  Who's with me??