By day she is a mild-mannered hotel owner and chef, but when night falls she dons her black tights and T-shirt and becomes a super hero as a fierce defender of the Tortuguero Beach turtles.
We spent a late evening on the beach with Nolly as our guide to observe female green turtles wade in from the sea and then ponderously climb up to the beach to near the jungle and scour out a large nest from the sand. She instructed us to stay quiet so we wouldn’t startle these skittish turtle moms.
Nolly told us the story of how she has defended these turtles against poaching for more than twenty years. She volunteers to safeguard the turtles from those folks who violate the midnight to 6am ban on visiting the beach which was established to give turtles a chance to lay their eggs without bothersome tourists watching them. She said it’s less dangerous work now that most locals understand the value of eco-tourism for their families. However, not long ago turtle poaching was more common. She says that she then patrolled the beach with a machete to enforce the ban against aggressive poachers. “I remember once there was a big group of Costa Ricans on the beach. I went up to them and said, “f you take one more step, I’ll cut off your arms. Take two steps and you’ll lose a leg too.” They took one look at Super Nolly and another at her machete and took off.
Ironically, Nolly’s family arrived in Tortuguero as turtle hunters around 1940. Nolly’s family was the first to settle in what is now the village of Tortuguero. Her grandparents originally were from San Andres, an island off the coast of Columbia. At that time Tortuguero was very remote. It was a tough place to raise a family. Her grandmother, Sibella, had to walk eight-hours up the beach to Barra Colorado to trade coconuts for supplies. Later, Miss Sibella cooked for the loggers and others who arrived in Tortuguero.
But it was Sibella and Nolly’s mom, Miss Junie, who helped transform the village into a place where natural resources were extracted to where they are now protected. They helped establish Tortuguero National Park to protect not only the turtles but also the other wildlife and the rainforests that are their home. Junie became a cook for the park staff, and later opened a small hotel and restaurant (Miss Junie’s) where we stayed on this trip.
Nolly’s and her siblings still run the place, and Miss Junie, now in her nineties, supervises them. Miss Sibella’s and Miss Junie’s cooking skills were passed down to Nolly who cooked up the best food we’ve eaten in Costa Rica including her specialty dish, a fish soup known as Run Down.
My advice when visiting Tortuguero. Eat and sleep at Miss Junie’s, and if you want to keep both arms, don’t violate the beach curfew.