I Smell a Turtle

Our Germans have left. Luisa and Katharina took the bus Sunday morning, and were sounding pretty stressed about it. They were taking the 2:30 AM bus to Jicaral then getting off in Las Juntas and waiting for a bus there to Monte Verde. There were several different routes they could have taken, but decided that they would rather get into Monte Verde for lunch rather than dinner.

Luisa and Katharina getting some last minute snacks at the Pulperia in Javilla

Steph and I made the walk the second night in a row to go and sit with them at the bus stop. I'm sorry but my next volunteers have got to be AWESOME or I am not doing that again. We didn't seem to get eaten alive this time and the there was no rain, but still doing a patrol then walking to the bus stop has got to be one of the longest nights of my life. Going to miss those girls though, our house was pretty quiet yesterday without random fights in German breaking out.

With the departure of all our guests yesterday, Steph and I wondered down the road with a box full of dirty sheets. Isa, Don Victors daughter, was supposed to be our local patrolling with us this year, however, she got sick and the Doctor said she could not do the walks yet, so she has been helping by doing the sheets. When we got down to Don Victors house I was surprised to see Elias. Elias is working up at the office, he is working with Turtle Trax, keeping the website and facebook page up to date and getting volunteers and organizations interested in coming to volunteer. He had decided to come down and make dinner for us and patrol. I also informed him he could only speak to me in Spanish so that I could practice and he could correct me when needed. Needless to say, I sat around with a Spanish Dictionary at arms length.

Meet Elias, while he is making dinner and giving me a Spanish lesson!

With yet another nest to add to the hatchery, last nights patrol was was joined by Isa and her husband Adolfo. Isa, Adolfo, Santos, and Santo's son came by while dinner was being prepped and we were talking about patrols and patrol times, turtles, and and how I understand and speak a little Spanish (but I'm getting better).

At 1:45 my alarm went off and I was out of bed and ready to walk the beach, kind of, I was really sleepy. Elias ended up not patrolling with us, something had happened to his foot a couple days before and it was still hurting him. I thought patrol was going to end up being a dud. We had gotten to the north end of the beach and had not seen anything, however, walking back to the house I smelled the turtle! I started to slow down and I was looking behind me to make sure that there wasn't a track that I had missed because I knew she was near. I think that smelling the turtle must be some weird spidey sense and I was just getting hopeful for yet another turtle. So we kept walking and next thing I knew everyone had stopped, after walking about 10 more meters there was the up track! Steph was excited because she was able to see the track, I was excited because I was able to smell the turtle (oh the little things that excite us at 3 AM). She had just started to dig her nest and so we prepped to get her eggs and take her measurements (have plans to walk to the office today to get some more tags!!).

We ended up getting him about 5 AM and were just beginning to see the sunrise. I went to go lay down in bed, Elias said he was leaving early to ride his bike back to the office and I wanted to make breakfast as a thank you for making us dinner. But here I am currently writing a blog post at 8 am while everyone is still sleeping. We had plans today people wake up!!! I've learned that I feel guilty waking people up.

 

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Lots of Hatchery and First Patrol

Yesterday afternoon I got into Costa de Oro at about 12 ish. I had an amazing lunch up in the office and then we came down to the beach. I had a meeting with Lotti and Maddie to talk about different goals, rules, and volunteers that are coming and going. Basically a catch up meeting.

So weird being at Laguna Mar without Drew there!

When I got to Costa de Oro I was greeted by Hilary!!! Hilary is from Vancouver (just like Maddie) and was in San Miguel las year. Maddie had talked to Hilary about going to San Miguel as the coordinator for just the first month or two of the project before Hilary goes back to Canada for school. However, there was a last minute switcheroo and Hilary has been in Costa de Oro as the coordinator and trying to get the hatchery up before I got here.

Not going to lie a little bummed yet a little excited that the hatchery wasn't finished. I'm excited because I get to help with it this year. Right now we are trying to sift through all the sand and then we are adding more to it trying to raise it out of the ground to help keep the nests dry when it rains. I'm a little bummed because I can't put nests in the hatchery yet. Its been hard everyone around town has been working and our volunteers have been coming and going, getting sick and injured. So it has been a rough start and Hilary's goal was to have it finished when I got here.

The Kings are staying just down the street from me. Katrina, Cailyn, and Zane came by to say hi yesterday before dinner and said they were going up to Laguna Mar later and asked if I would like to join them. I said probably but wasn't completely sure of time but they expressed an interest in patrolling with us so I knew getting back wouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately, earlier in the day I had been at Don Victors house earlier saying hi and trying to round up some help for the hatchery (but everyone was at work) and the Kings had come by to see if I wanted to go to Tangas down on Playa Coyote for lunch. I did get to up to Laguna Mar for a coke though and got to meet the new owners (Cici and John) as well as see Alvaro and Pablo.

We got back to the house for patrol, it was Basty and me for the night plus some tourists who showed up at the house and the Kings were supposed to meet up with us, but they fell asleep when they got home.

It was nice to be on patrol again, there were no people on the beach (though we could see one light in San Miguel). I had only one turtle track and it was right in front of our house, a little bummed I didn't get to see an actual turtle last night. This is when I realized how sad I was that the hatchery wasn't finished yet. So bright and early I was up at 6 am to get to work. Hilary and I were in there sifting sand until about 8 and we took a little break, I ate some food and unpacked some of my stuff. We went back in and did about and another hour work of work before we decided that it was time to take a break, plus the Kings just came by with a bag of goodies for me.

Hilary and I have two volunteers in the house, Basty (short for Bastian) and Dana. They are both from Germany and had the same host family in San Jose where they stayed a few weeks and attended a language school before coming here. We also have Hannah (also German), who has been having a tough couple days being sick and spent the night up in the office just incase she needs to go to the Clinic in Jicaral.

It's an odd feeling being back. Almost like I never left but at the same time a lot seems different. I know it won't take long to get back into the swing of things.

Can't wait to get this hatchery finished though!!!

 

 

 

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Thanksgiving Feast

As I've said before, Thanksgiving was at Laguna Mar, and it was delicious. We had salad, bread (homemade by Pablo), turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole (new to me), mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and carmel ice cream. Oh my goodness the turkey was so delicous, it was probably the most moist turkey I have ever had. It was brined the night before and then wrapped in banana leaves to help hold in the moisture. Pablo saw I didn't like pumpkin pie and brought me out extra ice cream. The bread was also so delicious that we asked Michael if we could have the left overs the next day. Cranberry sauce was the only thing missing. When Courtney mentioned that usually turkey is so dry we need lots of gravy and cranberry sauce to help Pablo realized he forgot to make the cranberry sauce. This was Pablo's first Thanksgiving that he prepared and he spent three days preparing it. It came out fantastic, though he did look a little tired at the end of the night.

And I'm sorry I did't get a sunset picture tonight, Court and I were working on a couple exhumations and had gross dirty hands. Also, my camera might have water damage, or the LCD screen is going out... so my camera is in a bag of rice just to be on the safe side.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today's picture is actually taken in Javilla at Laguna Mar, or Drew's. He is hosting the Thanksgiving feast tonight for the Americans on the projects. And I am so thankful that my parents got me room here to stay the night. Actually I am really thankful that my parents supported me coming to Costa Rica because this has all been one great experience. Also joining us are three girls from Corozalito (one of them is from the states) and then there is also Victor, Mickle, and Courtney (who is also staying the night with me).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!