Oct 01 2012 Tortuguero is Pura Vida

When we enter the Tortuguero river instantly felt thousands of eyes watching. It was the look of the jungle, silent, hidden, wild. Costa Rica is sold at the world with an eloquent slogan: "Pura Vida" and the waters of this river, these words come every sense.

I like unfenced parks, I guess like everyone, but in the case of Tortuguero, life is all around you: swim under the boat crocodiles, crawling on the banks unhurried iguanas and dried in the sun and cormorants in treetops you look lazy, they can not do anything but stare and sleep, passivity and indifference above him, deputies which inhabit the mangroves.

It is encouraging to stop the boat on a shore, almost at random and stepping on a land share spiders and monkeys. Feeling out of place is one of the purest experiences of a trip. The world is not a showcase, has to be experienced from within, feel the pulse of its rivers, touching the weeds and ants, see close, smell the earth, dusted fear .

The world is not a showcase, has to be experienced from within, feel the pulse of its rivers, touching the weeds and ants, see close, smell the earth, dusted fear.

Maybe invaded by this need to feel nature at ringside, I left the boat and walked down a dark beach, river. There napped a herd of buffalo. I figured a safe distance, they stood, in case. I did what everyone here: we observe.

Who gets to Tortuguero National Park is usually armed with binoculars, Maps and unwavering faith to sight all species. But at this stage of water, they who take control, you watch them you. The most exciting thing is to imagine what you're missing a few meters on the banks, because what is no doubt that there, right there, there is always something. Something alive.

The channel moves parallel to the coast, where surrender the last waves of the Caribbean, on beaches lacking the magic turquoise Caribbean destinations. The Park Tortuguero not be framed on a postcard. Here things happen. Turtles nest in the sand, hunt crocodiles turtles, photographing men crocodiles, watch herons men, buffalo scare herons, insects flying over the back of the buffalo and the turtles chasing insects. Is Chaos Game, a labyrinth where each seeks its place, where all look, here, where life flows in its purest. The Pura Vida.