The People of Ostional

Ostional is a small town that is unlike most other towns you will ever see. It exists for the sole purpose of protecting the endangered sea turtles, specifically as a nesting site for the turtles that return every year. It is astonishing that these turtles will travel the world and still find their way back to this specific strip of black beaches, where they were born, to lay their eggs.

The town itself is under a different jurisdiction of rules than the neighbouring towns of Costa Rica. The rules are very strict, in fact, and even the police make sure the lights are off at night so as to not disturb the incubating turtles. If you were to visit the town at night it would be pitch dark and as the headlights of your motorcycle pass through the short main road, boys will appear in your spotlight, standing around in the dark, smoking and talking.

Volunteers visit from all over the world every year to help with the nursery. The task is to watch over the hatched turtles as they make their way to the ocean, before predators like vultures and dogs eat them. The town itself is the picture of paradise with no signs of garbage or souvenir shops or any sign of having been touched by the arms of profit. Bright green tropical trees explode with flowers of pink and red and green and walls of blue. Community dogs play in packs all over town, and at night the black sand sparkles from phosphorescent algae like blue diamond dust. It is as if the town itself is carefully preserved, like a turtle egg.

The inhabitants of Ostional live as if by different laws than the rest of us. Most of us live and negotiate ourselves. We learn that some people are good and that some are bad. Some people will help us but most don’t, and we don’t expect much from human nature, which is neutral at best.

The people of Ostional don’t mind seeing themselves much like the turtles. Surely there is something miraculous about them or else why would they be treated so differently? They are forever trusting the kindness of strangers, or some higher power to protect them, nurture them, celebrate them.

And there is always a sense of destruction nearby, as if they are themselves on the edge of extinction.