On Friday morning, the bus picked Marjorie and me up in front of Fiesta del Maiz. You are probably wondering what that place is—in a nutshell it’s a restaurant with a giant corn sign. It was great to finally meet the other interns! Most of them are from Indiana, and they have the cutest little Midwestern accents. We all bonded instantly. I’m not exaggerating; it was so nice to hear about the experiences of others in similar situations. A few of the girls have the advantage of knowing Spanish. Must be nice. Along the way, we stopped to pick up another adventurer, a Hungarian young lady who had heard about the rescue program. By the time we drifted off the main roads and into the banana fields, you would have thought we had been friends for years. We all knew everyone’s secret stories (the breakup tales were dramatic and yet fantastic) and we knew we could tease each other pretty mercilessly. It was fortunate that we all got along, because our boat to take us to the island didn’t show up for about four hours. Finally we arrived at our camp. We were assigned to these adorable little cabins that contained one solitary cockroach but NO big spiders or scorpions. At least I think so. Soon after we arrived, we experienced a glorious Italian feast. Not exactly what I expected in Costa Rican backcountry! During dinner, we were informed of our schedule for the turtle hunt. We would go out around 11 pm and stay out until about 3 looking for turtles coming from the water to lay eggs. If the eggs were not in the protected area, we were to help with the process of collecting and relocating the eggs to the ‘turtle nursery’. Failure to move the eggs usually results in them being snatched by poachers. Since we had a few hours before the undercover mission began, I booked it to my cabin to take a nap. Soon though, I was decked out in my very official turtle catching shirt, sweatpants, and about two bottles of bugspray. I’m really bummed none of those pictures can be recovered. Not.
As soon as we got to the beach, we saw our first turtle. She was in the middle of laying a boatload of eggs, and it did not look fun. Due to the arrival of some government guy checking on the procedures of the program, we weren’t able to be as hands-on in the operation as originally intended. That was fine, though, we still got to watch the whole process. The leatherback turtles are MASSIVE. They look like dinosaurs emerging from the water. I don’t know how else to describe it. As we combed the spread of beach to look for more of these creepy creatures, we were able to continue to catch up on life. The ocean drowns out a lot of sounds, so the turtles didn’t really hear us coming. Katey and I talked extensively about Praxis and teaching (we both passed, thanks for wondering), and the fact that we live parallel lives right down the street from each other in western Maryland. Seriously, ask us sometime, it’s wild. Anyways, we ended up seeing three turtles that night at various stages of the egg dropping process. As a night owl, I found the whole experience remarkable. I could walk on the beach talking to friends and watching shooting starts every night! Eventually, we went back to the cabins and I took a pretty thorough shower. Honestly, there was no way for me to feel clean the entire weekend. I was either sweating my brains out or I was covered in dirt and sand OR some lovely combination of the two. Also, the fact the shower was a hose didn’t really help. Anyways, bed felt great. The next day, we conducted a thorough beach clean-up after breakfast. I decided to multitask and wear a bikini for the cleanup (no sense in wasting sun). Of course, this meant that it started to POUR about fifteen minutes into my hike. We were soaked. We did find some solid trash though, and way too many turtle shells. It makes me sad to think about the poachers crushing them, but you can understand the motives. It’s a very poor area with limited sources of income, and people pay a pretty penny (or colones) for the eggs.
Later in the afternoon we were given a cruise of the river. We were able to experience monkeys up close and personal, but fortunately the crocodiles kept their distance. The reptiles are really funny; we saw a few of the Jesus Christ lizards that run on top of the water. Quite a tour.
Our evening hunt the second night was structured in a different manner. We could volunteer for the 8-12 shift or the later (12 to whenever) shift. I actually volunteered for the earlier shift. Usually I’m all about the night, but I was worried about throwing off my sleep schedule for the week. I’ve finally adjusted to waking up at 5:30 without an alarm. Anyways, we did not see any turtles in my shift. It was rather damp and cold out, and I guess turtles are picky about their climate. Marjorie and I combed the beach religiously for four hours, talking about lord knows what because I think we pretty much covered every detail of our lives by about day ten of this trip. At the end of the four hours, she opted to stay up and I went to bed. I applaud her desire to see a turtle, but in the end I got eight hours of sleep. Who wins?
The next morning was drizzly and cold. In case you are keeping track, this means I have not accumulated any new tan at this point. In fact, I think I was losing color. We packed up camp and headed to the dock in the pouring rain. The trip from the island to the drop-off point was nothing short of intense. We probably traveled around 50 mph the whole time. I was wearing a poncho (thanks for packing that, Dad) so I wasn’t completely soaked. It was crazy though. They weren’t kidding about the rainy season here.
Although I was thoroughly disappointed to see the experience come to an end, I know that the friendships made on the trip will continue. I know that sounds so cheesy, but we all really bonded over turtles. I also think this experience is one that I will be able to incorporate into the classroom. As a potential Global Diplomacy teacher, I will spend a great deal of time talking about the issue of climate change. These turtles are in danger of extinction due to the fact the water temperature is rising. In conclusion, I have to hand it to Dian for giving us this amazing experience. I also should thank Julie and Paul, our fabulous guides, and the girls for a great time!
In case you are wondering, yes, I still have my fabulous turtle bracelet. How fitting!
No comments:
Post a Comment