'It's all magical, really.'

Chapter 32

Dec 10, 2023

∙ Paid

Top left an olive backed bird with yellow chest sits on a branch with heavy vegetation in the background. Top middle - a Great Green Macaw in flight with wings outspread agains a blue sky and amongst high vegetation. Top right. A black sand beach at sunset. The sky is pale pink and this is reflected in the breaking waves. The beach stretches into the distance. There are small figures about half way along the beach. Middle left - two people turn to each other and chat. They are seated at the front of a boat with a rain splashed window in front of them and twin Costa Rican flags in displayed in front of the captain. Both figures are shadowed and wearing peak caps. Middle - a close up of a Great Green Macaw on a branch in the middle of a tree. It's beak is wrapped around a twig and it is hanging onto a wider branch but leaning down slightly. Middle right. An emerald basilisk sits on a branch at the side of a river. It is facing towards the vegetation on the bank. Bottom left. A brown alligator slips into murky brown water from the side of a bank. Middle bottom. The author in a red canoe with paddle raised. She is smiling at the camera while on a lagoon with thick jungle vegetation in the background. Bottom right. Black sand beach with low clouds overhead. There are multiple small turtle tracks leading across the wide sand beach towards the water and a turtle body pit in the immediate foreground. — It's all magic...(photo of the author - image credit Mary-Lou)

As I neared the end of my time in Tortuguero, I was increasingly excited to be reuniting with my family in Spain but very sad to be leaving this place. I thought back to how unsure I was to be staying an extra week, especially with Mary-Lou leaving, and although it hadn’t been easy because I felt lonely and the time dragged, it was the extra week which …

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