KAREN AND RAYS TRAVELS: 253 La Tortuga Verde

7^th Continued.......

As the sun started to set we decided it would be a good idea to go and watch it on the beach. It was not long before we were in the sea and looking at the moon above as dusk fell. Sadly there were a lot of boulders in the sand and we kept falling over then when the waves bashed against us. But what the heck, the water was like a bath and we were finally in the warm sea.

That's my head bobbing up and down in the surf.

Friday 8^th November 2013

Miles Today 100 Total 27,304 Miles

This morning we set off for La Tortuga Verde (The Green Turtle). A 100 mile trip following the coast Southeast but sadly not within sight of it. Life here is a lot different to what we are used to. It is hard and the pictures below show some of that.

Bailey bridge. I have a sad passion for these having built them by hand when in the Army.

I missed the sign that said "Watch for Horses" !!

The locals use the roadside to dry out their grain.

Anything goes here.

Life is hard for these people.

An old volcano.

Room for one more on top !

When the truck breaks down, what else is there to do.

We arrived at La Tortuga Verde at about 2pm and were shown to a small room with its own screened in (from mosquitoes) veranda. There was a hammock suspended from the ceiling and Karen immediately jumped in that. Wallace was parked right outside the door and the pool was just opposite.

He highness in her own private hammock.

Wallace by the pool.

There were palm trees all over the place, the sea was only 50m away, it had a restaurant and a bar.

We had finally found paradise and having already booked in for two days it looks as though we might stay for a week or more. The room was only £25 per night.

We went for a swim in the sea and it was again like a bath but this time only sand, sand, sand. It was bliss.

There were some good looking birds on the beach. Not.

La Tortuga Verde from the sea.

As dusk fell the sky lit up. It was beautiful.

There were a couple of these frogs outside our room. Where does something this size go during the daytime ?

There are a lot of Americans here on a Yoga trip having bought their own Yogi from New York. I asked the Yogi if I could join in. Yes was the reply. We start again at 7am tomorrow. Doh !

Anyway, there is an Irish guy here on a Big BMW, like we used to have, he sports long dreadlocks and is completely chilled out having ridden his bike from Vancouver, Canada to Tierra Del Fuego at the bottom of Argentina and then back here. He is looking at staying here for the rest of his natural life. This place really is like that.

We lit a bonfire on the beach and retired to bed at around 10.

Saturday 9^th November 2013

Miles Today 0 Total Miles 27,304

I was up at 6:30 and in the shower for my first ever Yoga session. Oh boy was I in for a shock. Halfway through the session I wished I had bought my mobile phone to call for an ambulance. I was a complete wreck in amongst all these extremely fit (literally) young ladies. (If you read this Rick, eat your heart out – ish). I have done some hard things in my life but I did not realise how unfit I had become and this was a big wake up call.

After the session Karen kept asking if I was alright as I was extremely quiet and subdued. The next session started at 3pm !!!!

We spent the intervening hours just enjoying the ambience of the place. We went for a long walk along the beach and did some more bird watching.

Another beach front view.

These things were running backwards and forwards in the surf.

3pm came along and I wandered off for my next torture session. This one was not quite as severe as the last and I have to say, although I am going to suffer in the morning, my back is a whole lot looser. As the sun went down, we finished up doing the ‘Crab’ on the beach. (Oi, stop sniggering you lot at the back.)

The beach is not just for people it seems.

We finished the day off eating dinner al fresco in a thunder storm. Watching the lightning all around us was something to behold.

Sunday 10^th November 2013

Miles Today 0 Total Miles 27,304

I was up at 6:30 for my next Yoga session. Stiff as a board and not really looking forward to it. I got to the 'Temple' (screened in hut) and there was no one around. The towels etc were there but no people. On looking around I saw them near the Turtle tank. Then I spotted a dog on a grassy area of the the beach. It was playing with something. Then the yoga class came over and shooed the dog off. In the grass were just hatched turtles. They had collected some and the dog had found another. We rummaged in the grass and found another 2. They are the cutest little things and really strong. We put them in the tank with the others.

Wohoo, a newborn Green Turtle.

I then endured my yoga class and at around 11:30, Tom, the owner of the site, called us all around and he had bought about 50 turtles eggs from a local that had dug them up. Apparently, the locals trawl the beach at night waiting for the turtles to arrive and once the eggs are laid and the turtle goes back into the sea, they dig the eggs up. They are collected and either sold to restaurants as normal eggs or Tom buys them, reburies them in his own beach front and waits for them to hatch.

Hence the name 'La Tortuga Verde', 'The Green Turtle'.

Tom likes to get all the locals, especially the kids, around to take part in the egg burial.

Under normal circumstances, the only time a local sees a turtle is either in an omelet or if they are an egg poacher. Tom wants them to interact directly with the turtles and makes a great play of egg re-burial and baby turtle release. It allows the kids to get hands on and personal with them and he hopes that in the future the egg poaching will become distasteful and stop. He has already been instrumental in introducing a law to prevent poaching (but not the subsequent sale) of the eggs but is frustrated that as yet no-one has been arrested for it. He is a good man on a personal mission.