Been Without

So I have been without constant good internet since I got here. Kolbi decided to change their rates as far as internet went, so I believe everyone is still trying to figure out what they are doing as far as internet goes. Which means I've been posting less, and writing less too. However, I want to keep everyone up to date as far as what I've been doing, and I think it helps keep me sane on rainy days.

Luisa and Katherina enjoying the beach one morning

Of course, I decided last night that today I was going to wake up early and get my laundry done. It hasn't been starting to rain until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, great plan right? Ha, no. I did my laundry and then about an hour later I just see clouds coming in, remember by me saying I'm doing my laundry early means I'm doing it at like 6 AM so it will dry in the morning heat. So I have some laundry hanging in my room trying to dry as well as out on the deck, basically just trying to keep it from getting completely soaked.

Look familiar Victor? Trying to find the Beinvenidos Costa de Oro sign to put up!

On the 23rd, I got Stephanie (or Steph), she will be my research assistant until the end of October. She is from Georgia and just graduated University with a degree in psychology, she took the internship as a way to determine if she wanted to go into cultural environmentalism or if she wants to work more closely with animals, unfortunately we haven't encountered a turtle since shes been here so this may not be helping too much.

We also have two Costa Rican girls (Rebeca and Mylaine) visiting with us from University for the week. It has been fun having them around the house and learning about what it is like to be a University student in Costa Rica. They are going to school two times a week, and while Mylaine of them has a house in San Jose, she would rather take the 6 am bus from Limon than live in San Jose.

Also this week, we have Steph who is a research assistant from San Miguel. She is here to help with patrols while we have a full house and get my Steph trained. San Miguel Steph is from Belgium, the French part, and speaks about five languages. She studied molecular biology in university and decided to take some time off before diving into a career.

Rainy day morning activity, make a hatchery chart!

Like I said we haven't been getting many turtles the past couple nights, which have made patrolling a little harder. I'm also running out of stuff to do with rice, beans, lentils, and pasta. I guess I'm only so creative as a chef, good thing I wasn't thinking of that as a career. Today it has rained pretty much all day, needless to say that I am missing the unlimited data card Victor had scored last year (just thinking about all the criminal minds I could have watched by now!). Stepping into the coordinator position has been weird to get used to. While to my sisters at home I'm Miss Bossy Older Sister, I don't like to boss people around because I don't want to come off as nasty (I mean I can be bossy to my sisters because no matter what they still love me).

 

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Red Handed

On Saturday we went and painted at a local school. They had a wall that needed to be painted and Ingrid asked us on Friday if we would like to go and help them. We were to paint the inside of the surrounding wall. This is more of a fence that surrounds the school, About a month before I got here Courtney, Victor, Matt and our volunteers went and scrapped the wall of the blue paint that was there prior. Well, a couple months later they had us come back to finish the job that was started. We painted the inside of the wall this rusty red color; we have no clue why just the inside of the wall. But with the aid of Victor, Mickle (volunteer from San Diego), Ingrid, and Iona (our Romanian volunteer) we were able to get the whole thing done in just a few hours.

We started off with just one roller and a bunch of paint brushes, and Ingrid and I walked down to the hardware store to grab another roller and some paint trays. Boy was that the best decision of the day, I think we could have been there all week had we not. At one point one of the rollers broke, so I ran back over to buy another roller since we still had another wall to go. Those few times of painting Dad's offices came in handy though, since I have perfected my technique for painting quickly and efficiently.

When we were finishing, Courtney joined us. She had been on a horse tour with the group from San Miguel in the morning and was going to come help when she was done. After cleaning up and washing our very dirty hands we decided we were all starving. Day 2 of Loma Clara! This time I got the Fajitas de Pollo con Tortillas and they even had pineapple-mango smoothies that we all grabbed.

After eating and settling the bill we walked back over towards Coyote and decided to go by Super Rey's to grab ice cream. I also grabbed a Café Brit Iced Coffee, good thing I don't live closer to a super I might develop an addiction to these. And then we headed down 100 meters towards the office to get a ride home.

Another fun successful day in Coyote, well, any day I get ice cream in Coyote is a successful day to me...