Estupido Gringo Tourist Moment

That said, let us talk about the Haphazardly Assembled Trio’s most really stupid tourist moment. After a long morning of travel northwest from La Selva to Tortugero, actually about 9 hours including bus wait times etc, we checked out the town a bit & walked on the lovely beach, chilaxed in general & then returned to the beach- after dark. Recall the bit about the turtles turning around in the face of light & disturbance. Yes, this trio of environmental science/ study students was actually kicked off the beach- by a park employee- while in the process of trying to disturb an endangered species.

Of course (I first thought this was in our defense but in actuality screams Foreign Tourist) we have a very Estados Unidos perception of National Parks. Both Shea & I were convinced that the beach directly in front of the town would not be part of the protected area & turtles wouldn’t be using it much due to the level of disturbance present- WRONG- fortunately this entire beach is actually off limits to everyone that is not under direct park supervision during turtle season- way to go Costa Rica, bad us! Live & learn. (For the record we did have our lights off & Brenda was not convinced of the legality of our actions).