The Never Ending Lunch Adventure

The other day Steph and I decided that the tide was perfect to walk to Tenga's for lunch. We have to cross the estuary at low tide to get to Tanga's which is over near Punta Coyota. Well, after walking the 2 KM to the estuary we cross and find out that he will not cook any food without seafood in it and that he will not make anything vegetarian for Steph. We kindly say thank you and decided to head up the road to see if the next restaurant is open, it wasn't.

Part of the river we crossed, figured it was safe since a local was doing it too

We took a pause here to look at the time and decide if we walk back to Costa de Oro via the beach or if we keep walking up to Coyote (4 KM more). We decided to just keep walking to Coyote since we had walked so far already. After walking through a couple rivers, oh yeah it had rained the whole night before, we finally made it through to Coyote about 2 PM (we started started this journey at 11:30). We finally got food at my favorite restaurant in Coyote, Loma Clara; Steph was able to get a vegetarian pasta and I had rice with shrimp. I was starving so this is probably the best meal that I have had in Costa Rica ever, though I know in actuality that Thanksgiving last year still wins.

My arroz con camarones

After our trip for lunch wrapping up at about 4 now, we went by the super to pick up some ice cream for the walk home, we still had another 5 KM left to go. We stopped by the office to use the bathroom and booked it home making it back just as the sun was setting! Good thing we got back just then because the bug spray on my legs was for sure gone and I am pretty sure what I put on my arms had been warn off from all the sweat. Oh well made for a fun adventure, needless to say we were a little tired the next day after so much walking and a patrol.

 

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Squash!

Baked squash, not to bad

Seriously, what a funny name for something. I think I might look into the history of the name squash, okay probably not. But again something that I never really eat when I am at home and therefore not something I have ever cooked before. Thought baking it would probably be the best solution basically because I did not really know what else to do with it. I googled just in case there were specific direction as to what I needed to do. It was so easy! Cut, peel, scoop out guts, cube, and bake! I do not know if it is something that I will go out of my way to get when I am home, but at least I know what to do with it when it randomly shows up in my refrigerator.

Squash guts!!!

 

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I'm a Hermit!

 

Largest hermit crab I've seen on the beach yet.

Okay, so maybe I'm not actually a hermit. But I have learned that I am completely okay being separated from the technologically addicted English speaking world. Yes, I have my iPhone in which I can technically communicate when I need to and it is nice having others around to talk to, especially my family, but I am okay just sitting in my house and reading a book or walking down the street and talking to random people (talking is used loosely- might be more talking to the best of my abilities).

Hermit crabs like coconut, but they ran away when I tried to take a picture

The station house feels like home this year. I get asked by our volunteers and research assistants if I get homesick espcially because I am out here usually a lot longer than they are. The answer is I get homesick and I miss a lot of the conveniences of so many things in the States, however, I like to be removed from those luxuries I feel like I have time her to reflect on myself and work hard at my job. (If that did not just sound really yoga-ish I do not know what else I am going to write in this blog that will).

I have been here less than one month. Last year I had been here two weeks and I was questioning if I made the right choice in coming to such a "remote" location, last year we had wifi all the time. It took time for me adjust to this lifestyle of waking up and working at odd hours of the night while trying to do some regular tasks during the day as well. I feel like I learned a lot last year as to how the day should flow and so I am applying previous knowledge that helped make the transition smoother this year.

Not a big fan of large stagnant bodies of water

In this past month I would not say that I have exactly felt homesickness. I think that I miss being around my friends and family and would to pick them all up and move them down here. I love to aimlessly walk the beach, go for random body surf sessions, or sit in a chair and read a book. I know what you are thinking, yes, I have a job and I love my job I love working with such an amazing sea creature and I am honestly blessed to be able to do such a thing. I love to get up in the middle of the night and patrol the beach hoping that I will get to see one, mostly because I get to tag now that we have more tags in! I have a goal to fill the hatchery which helps me pass my time. I think that homesickness here doesn't stem from the lack of communication with loved ones at home, because I had that last year and still felt homesick, but that sometimes it is hard to stop feeling like we constantly need to be going all the time and relax and let things just be.

This year had very much felt like the second year of college. Last year, I was unsure of what I would experience no matter how much research I did. This year, I came knowing exactly what to expect and I felt like I fell back into the rhythm of my Costa Rican lifestyle very easily. Even though I didn't experience a real rainy season, and I would say I still really haven't this year, my sophomore year in Costa Rica is going amazingly and I am so happy I came back.

 

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Empanadas, projects, and broken things

I am putting in a turtle tracker for 2013!! Our hatchery is starting to fill up so it is time to start tracking how many eggs and nests are getting put in and starting the beginning of October we should start seeing babies!!

Caught these two getting frisky, i wasn't quick enough with my picture though

Our first night without any volunteers Steph and I decided to get creative with our food. We both love our empanadas but decided that we might try to make it with yuca instead of corn flower. Luckily, it was great success, though they might not have looked gorgeous they tasted delicious. I've turned to a diet of rice and beans and I am totally fine with eating rice and beans at every meal, so I feel kind of bad when we do get volunteers and they ask what is for dinner and I say rice and beans. Apparently, I eat too much rice compared to others visiting from European countries, I'm not very surprised. But, I think that I have my food soul mate with Steph, with the exception that she eats peanut butter, she like me does not like tomatoes because they are a funky texture!!! (I'm not on my own for not like peanut butter though, Luisa was not a fan either)

Mmmm yuca empanadas

Since my blog post on Monday, we had a big storm that night. Santos wanted to come and patrol with us but we had to wait for the storm to pass so it was safe to go out. That patrol ended up being a shortened one since Santos had to be home by 10 because he had work in the morning. It ended up being useless and not worth going out for the hour in the rain because I was going to patrol again after the tide started to go down.

The most stressful part was that right before we left I went to put on my watch and it was blank. I had replaced the battery right before I left and wasn't sure if the seal was still going to be waterproof when I did, however, I was not that concerned. I'm not sure what happened because my watch did not work for like 12 hours and when I went to show Steph what was happening it worked completely fine. Luckily, Lauren (someone I went to high school with) is coming down end of next week to be a research assistant so I am getting a new watch and a new headlight just in case.

When watch wasn't working.

The past two nights we were lucky that San Miguel has been so full because we got Maddie to help us with patrols! Steph and I were each able to take a night off with Maddie around.

There are also two extra studies that PRETOMA is working on this year that Maddie helped us set up. The first in a trash study in high, medium, and low density locations. The project is in conjunction with seaturtles.org, so it will be fun and interesting to see the results and help in a study that will be with a popular sea turtle resource.

The second project, which we have already started in the hatchery, is a climate control study. Maddie is tracking the temperatures of the hatcheries and popular nesting sectors on the beach and will hopefully conduct the study for multiple seasons to get an accurate representation on how the climate change is affecting nesting turtles and their nests.

I am personally excited to be participating in these extra studies even if it means a little more work. It will help keep us busy plus these will eventually become some pretty recognizable studies that I have helped with data collection on.

By the way, yes there was an earthquake this morning. It was a 6.0 and over 80 km north of me. I'm okay and it didn't feel that big, I think the only reason I felt it was that I had just woken up.

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We've got tags!!

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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Katharina, Luisa, and Steph getting some treats from the pulperia in Javilla after eating lunch at Laguna Mar

Nests in the hatchery

We have finally started to fill the hatchery. Though we are still a ways away from filling all the way. I'm happy that we have been getting turtles though, so I'll take it! One of our nests got a temperature tracker for some data that we are collecting. We will put two others (for a total of 3) in the hatchery as well as place three along the beach in popular nesting sectors. Hopefully, the temperature trackers will give us a good idea that our hatchery is correctly replicating the temperatures on the beach, and the genders of our nests.

Mylain, Luisa, Rebeca, Katharina, and Steph enjoying our last night all together

Last night, Steph and I patrolled with our two Ticas (Rebeca and Mylaine). We walked the whole beach and when we got home we found a turtle practically walking into the hatchery to lay her eggs. This happened a lot last year too, I think they just know where their eggs should go. We waited off to the side under some palm trees since it started to rain until she began to dig her nest. I was pretty excited (though in my sleepy state it might have been difficult to tell) this was Steph's first time seeing the "whole" nesting process. While Rebeca and Mylaine were counting eggs I was able to show Steph how we take measurements and what we are looking for. It was a good thing we had volunteers with us! Now if only we could get more tags so I could have tagged her too!!!

Cacti flowers!!

At one-thirty AM Steph and I were up again to walk with Mylain and Rebeca out to the main road and wait for the bus. I have never walked with volunteers before but I liked them so much I decided to go with them. While we were waiting and being eaten alive it started to rain. The bus finally pulled up and it looked like the rain might be letting up a little as well. WRONG!!! The bus pulled up we said our good byes and it started to POUR! Steph and I were very cold and very wet when we got back to the house.

Tonight our German's are leaving, they have been with us for two weeks so the house will be oddly quiet when they leave (maybe more so for Steph since she has only lived here with a full house). We are heading up to Laguna Mar, I offered to buy them a drink since they have been the best German volunteers I have every experienced. (I feel confident saying that online because I'm pretty positive that none of the other German volunteers from last year aren't reading since we never even exchanged contact information.)

Went in search of some plumerias and was successful!

I've also taken to walking on the road this week. I have been wanting to see what some of the houses look like from the street, since I usually only see them from the beach. I found all sorts of cool gems, I find it odd that we have so many vacation homes but they never seem to have anyone in them, what is the point? Maybe I'll buy some land and build a house so that I can live here ALL the time. Mom, dad, you are more than welcome to visit.

 

 

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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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Who Gets a Cold in Costa Rica??!

As the title suggests I have cold. I do not know where it came from. But one day I was congested and then next my throat was sore. I am ready for it to pass though!! Nothing is worse than patrolling with a sore throat.

Here is Shane with volunteers Luisa and Katherina

This morning Shane and I went on a lovely beach walk down to San Miguel. Original plan was to meet Hilary half way since she is leaving tonight, though that did not work and we were waiting at their station house for them when they got back from breakfast. We sat around and chatted with them for a little bit before deciding to head back to Costa de Oro, Hilary along for the ride (so to speak). Found some interesting treasures along the way.

On our way down Shane and I found a piece of a skull. I think I might go back and hold on to it to show volunteers that I kill people when they do not do as asked (only kidding). I am no forensic scientist (just an avid watcher of Bones) but it looks like it could be human, solely based on the fact that there are molars. After finding the piece of the jaw we found a rock. We think somewhere on our beach there really might be a body buried.

Apparently egg plant is in season now, when I got here there was two in the refrigerator and Lotti just brought another one in. When she pulled it out of the box I just looked at here and said, "Seriously Lotti, how do I cook this? I don't even make eggplant in the States." She gave me some ideas for how to cook it so that is what we will be having with dinner tonight- and the next couple nights.

 

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Hatchery Update

Still using Matt's PRETOMA sign from last year

So the final decision has been to cut the hatchery in half. No I am not stoked on it, but oh well it is what it is and I would rather get nests into it sooner rather than later (maybe expand later on if there is time to). Luckily though, I have had Shane here for the past week and he has been so much help! Well maybe too much help, we had almost all the sand filled in the last trench and just needed to level it out so the hatchery would be about 10 CM above ground level. The almond wood Courtney and Victor found last year for the posts are really heavy though so he has been awesome at helping to move them around the hatchery to reconstruct a wall. One of the reasons I'm alright with the size is that we are only filling the hatchery until mid October this year. The deal is that all the walls and posts need to be taken down before we leave (and the project is set to close December 10th).

The front of the Costa de Oro hatchery

Update: Okay so this still has not been posted, mostly due to lack of internet and I wanted to get pictures of the hatchery. However, the hatchery has been finished before I got pictures of the process of building it (whoops, guess thats what happens when it starts raining every night after we work on it).

I was able to fit in 12 rows and 7 collums, which will give us 84 nests to work with. Hopefully This will be plenty and there will not need to be to much nest relocation until middle of October.

We just need to fill in the emptiness with the dirt that was removed from the area before and take down the old green netting from the remaining posts that are not being used this year. After we get the trench filled in, we will be moving the dirt that was removed from that area last year down to the beach.

 

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Hello Cyberspace Followers

My dad informed me that I am not posting frequently enough, though I'm trying to post as often as I can!!

First rainbow of the season!!

Somethings that people might be wondering about.

Yes the water in the shower is still cold and we don't have any water pressure. Luckily though, Don Victor turned of my running toilet though so that next time the power goes out we won't loose all the water with in the first couple hours. Oh yes, the other night Hilary and I woke up for patrol with no power on. We were able to get ready for patrol but when we got back all the water was gone.

The first thing my parents said to me when they saw me today was, "boy you are tan!" That is because the hatchery still isn't finished and though I try to wear sunscreen (I really do! I don't want to be a wrinkly old raisin when I grow up!) I'm still crisping up under the nice Costa Rican sun, tough life I know. Sorry, but I'm really not sorry.

Baby bird in a nest, all you can see in the nest is the butt

Bug bites. There is definitely a combination of things going on here. I got smart about putting on bug spray when I'm working in the sand (sand fleas and no-seeums) PLUS coconut oil really helps!! I have been wearing that every night before patrol plus shoes and my bites seem to be severally less than last year. And, when I am bitten, the swelling is going down so much quicker than last year. I'm trying not to gouge out my bites, I still have scars that haven't disappeared from last year.

Courtney, people ask where you are all the time. Our neighbors from across the street (the ones from San Jose) are here right now and were asking about you while I was "taking a break" from carrying buckets of sand up to the hatchery. There is also a new male dog on the beach he's yellow like the Tres Hermanas, but has some white markings on his face. I was instructed that I am not to be friends with the dogs, I cannot feed them or pet them and when they come to the house I need to shoo them away. This is hard so I yell nice things to them (learned that from Hilary) and throw some sand. I have to tell volunteers that I really like dogs and I have two very adorable ones at home, which then leads to my slide show of Kai and Max and I turn into the crazy American dog lady, which is the look I'm going for anyways.

Muni picking up trash!!!

My Spanish is getting better, or so I think until a native speaker comes up to me and starts rambling off. I'm able to talk to the people around town for the most part. They know to use simple Spanish and talk to me like a child. Except Don Victor, he continues to use weird words that can't even be found in the Spanish to English dictionary we have at the house.

Municipali came by the other day to collect trash, AND THEY DIDN'T MAKE A MESS!! I was hear probably like a good month and a half before we saw them for the first time last year. I thought Don Victor was pulling my leg when he said they were coming.

I have egg plant in my refrigerator, two of them to be exact. I don't even eat eggplant in the states, so I am taking suggestions on how to cook this delicious (I'm sure) vegetable before it goes bad. I thought it was something random to have received for food as well.

 

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I'm Dying of Heat!

No filter, just enjoying a lovely night in Costa de Oro

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but it has been hot today! Not too terrible temperature wise just very very humid, but then again it was humid all the time last year. The weather this year has been a bit cooler and I've seen more rain this past week than in my first month of living in Costa Rica last year.

Hilary playing with our food, this might be why we got along.

Hilary left me this morning. She went back to San Miguel for a couple days before leaving on Friday (?) to go to Manuel Antiono for a couple of days and then heading back to Canada. Yes, we have already planned arrangements for me to move to Vancouver so I be with her ALL THE TIME (I'm not sure if she was aware of that part) and become a Lulu Lemon wearing fashionista (which I already am pretty good at).

Calendar and patrol chart

I've been a little disappointed in the help from the community so far this year. I am taking all suggestions to get more help!!! We had three locals tell us they would help us on Saturday and no one showed up!! Yesterday, we thought one was coming since he asked what time we were working and he didn't come either. Sad face goes here.

With the departure of Hilary, I gained Shane. He is a research assistant from San Miguel sent to help me out for a week. He comes from England where he studies Environmental Science and thinking about maybe going to medical school. He has been in Costa Rica for 9 weeks now and is here for only 3 more before going back to England where he will go one vacation with his girlfriend.

I also had two new volunteers come in this morning. Katherina and Luisa, they are both from Germany and in their gap year (one is just starting and the other is finishing). Katherina was telling me that before she came here she was in LA, I was telling her I grew up just North of LA. Her response, Camarillo? Blew me out of the water, not many people who live in California know where Camarillo is so I was not expecting a German to know. However, she was there for the outlets, go figure, what else is there to do in Camarillo?

Also, while being in Costa Rica, I have decided that Max will be my dog when I get home because I miss him so much. Miya: you can keep Kai, she bites me too much anyways.

My baby boy Max

Snotty nose Kai

Sorry, my blogging has been sporadic. I just figured out how to set up the MiFi today hopefully that will help. BUT with this awesome blog app I can write posts when I don't have internet!! WHOOHOOOO!!!! So really I don't have an excuse!

 

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It's raining

Two patrols down only one nest, it's like the turtles know that our hatchery isn't finished yet. I can't wait to finish it.

Just before it started to rain I was working in the hatchery while Dana and Basty packed up their stuff and Hilary was getting in her nap (I had already dozed off while working in the hatchery and then while sitting in a chair reading my book).

Eric came down earlier to pick up Dana and Basty than we had expected. We thought he would be by at like 4 or 5. He found me working in the hatchery and was surprised to see me, guess he wasn't told I was coming back. Eric and I talked about the hatchery, removed a post that had been left from last year to hang the dog hunting hammock Victor was living in, because it had been attracting wasps and because we were raising the hatchery someone was likely to hit their head. We also came up with a plan to get it done sooner. He was also going to get us more sacks for the sand bags yesterday but it was Mother's Day here in Costa Rica and so everything was closed.

BY THE WAY MOM HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY AGAIN!!! thanks for making my car payments for me

Now it is just Hilary in the house tonight. We have plans to go to Laguna Mar for dinner, since it may be her last night patrolling her in Costa de Oro. Though we have 8 beds available we are still only sleeping in the large one in the coordinators room, we found it foolish to get more sheets dirty.

 

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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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24 hours later

I feel like i often write posts that are titled like this.

I've made it to the PRETOMA office!!! But seriously it was a 24 hour journey. My flight left LAX at 10:15 on Monday night and arrived in Coyote just a little before 10 last night.

The bus journey was an experience. It started off that my taxi drive took me to the wrong bus station, and I think totally ripped me off with how much it cost. So, I had to take another taxi to the right station and I found my bus but waited for 3 hours before we boarded and left. It was seriously the longest three hours ever!! I had been warned that the bus is hot and humid and usually chickens running around, so needless to say I was really confused when it was a charter bus with TVs and AC. It was dark and when I realized we weren't taking the ferry I was concerned that I might only be going to Bejuco, even though I heard other people going to Coyote. I just freak out easily in vehicles I guess, I even have a hard time following the GPS systems in the states because I don't believe them.

This is Luna

I'm in the office now. Have seen Lotti, eaten some food, waiting for Maddie so we can go over the goals for this year before I head into Costa de Oro.

Mom, I know you are always saying no more dogs but the PRETOMA office dog is really cute and she has bat ears. I might steal her.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Greetings from the airport!

This is the beginning of my attempt to blog a little more than last year and provide as much information about what I'm doing in Costa Rica and and what there is to do in Costa Rica. Guess I'll be revisiting the trip with Courtney a little bit. In my attempt to blog more this year I am also going to include turtle facts and maybe other interesting things about other animals around Costa Rica.

All set to go with Mr. Bear

I'm also using a new blog app this year called BLOGSY. It has quite a few stars in the App Store so hopefully it's a tad friendlier than blogger in safari on ipad. Another addition to the blog was adding my Instagram feed. Found to the right (probably on this blog post). This is another attempt to try and include more picures into my posts.

Not very clear but says 50.0

My flight path goes from LAX to Florida. Florida to San Jose. Then I will take a taxi to the bus station and a 6 hour bus ride to San Franscico de Coyote, where I will stay in the office for the night and Lotti will drive me into Costa de Oro on Wednesday. I was stressing out today about the weight of my packed luggage, which is the reason why I have a slackline in my backpack. Now the weight of my luggage was really hard to judge, at one point I was holding Max in one arm and my bag in the other to see if I had reached the 25 lb mark yet. Well, after about an hour of stressing mom went next door and was able to borrow a scale. Leaving the house my bag was at about 47 lbs, which I figured would give me a little bit of wiggle room in case the scales were different... I'm not intirely sure if they were different or something in my bag expanded, but, my bag was at 50 Lbs exactly when checking my bag. There was a big sigh of relief when nothing was said about it.

Mom and Miya are heading up to Camarillo for the week and dropped me off at the airport. So my last meal in California was In n Out, I'm sure tomrorow I will have some horrendous breakfast in the airport in Florida and then some Americanized lunch when I land in San Jose before my journey to Costa de Oro begins.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Returning to Costa de Oro

I have decided to return to Costa de Oro, this time as the project coordinator.  I am super excited to get back on the beach and start working with the turtles again.

Last year I had the privilege of working with Courtney and Victor.  And, while they are both on to new adventures I am excited to meet the new group of research assistants and volunteers I will be working with.  As well as seeing some old friends at neighboring beaches, I'm excited to see the community as well! 

I have been doing some research as to new blog apps for my iPad to bring you more pictures and better blog posts.  Also, I've been reflecting on last years trip and thinking about what I would else I would bring to Costa Rica the first time around.  

Can't wait to share with everyone my next round in Costa Rica starting middle of August!!! 

Video from Michelina

It occurred to me that I never shared this video with anyone via my Blog.
Michelina, our amazing volunteer from San Diego made this video when she got home from Costa Rica.  Because I was traveling around I got to see it but was never able to upload it, due to slow internet.
BUT, better late than never. She did a great job and captured some of the most awesome clips from around the house, turtles, and adventures into the community.