Moving Sand

Loading up a wheelbarrow with locals

On Sunday we finally arranged a ride over to Costa De Oro to fill the hatchery. When we got to the house there were people from the San Jose Red Cross renting the place and seemed pretty put off that we were going to be working in front of their house. They even came over to us and let us know that they paid for privacy and that we were invading them.  Maddie and I apologized and let them know that we would only be working at the hatchery and would not walk anywhere near the house. They agreed probably because they knew we were using public land and had the permits to be there.

As we began filling the hatchery with fresh sand we started attracting attention from the locals and people came with their own shovels and wheelbarrows to help us. The sense of community astounded me. Before long Victor, the caretaker of the new house, showed up to talk with Maddie and I about his role at the house. He was incredibly friendly and apologized for the renters attitude towards us and told us if we needed anything at all he would help us.

Ana, one of our German volunteers, helping a local
child unload the wheelbarrow.

As the buckets and wheelbarrows loaded with sand were being added to the swimming pool size hole we made the week before, a young girl tapped me on the arm and said "Muchacha podamos ayudar?" This young girl and her 3 siblings wanted to help too. I was amazed! I grabbed 4 more buckets and took them too the beach and filled them half way with sand and looked at the kids. They weren't reaching for them they were just staring. I asked if I had made them too heavy and they replied that they wanted them filled all the way. These kids were maybe 10 years old and were carrying more sand than most of us. The kids kept trucking along carrying full buckets of sand and were filling them their selves before we had a chance to. Before long I look over and the kids have found themselves a wheelbarrow and were moving pretty heavy loads of sand. The kids could not have come at a better time, everyone was getting tired but nobody wanted to be put to shame by children either.  Overall between the help from the locals and the fact we didn't have to walk over 3 Km to get to work  we were able to fill almost 1/3 of the hatchery with fresh sand.

 I am happy to report that I have now seen turtle 4 nights in a row. We have been getting about 3 nesting turtles each night and everyone has now seen at least 2 nesting turtles.  So we now have 20 nests in our hatchery. 

Costa De Oro

Eggs in a hole
 breakfast made a the station house

The first week went really well. We already have 7 nests in the hatchery and almost every volunteer has seen a turtle nesting. I think this year is going to be a good one! We also have an incredible amount of volunteers 19 today!!!!

The boys testing out a
Gillian's Island type raft.

PRETOMA has decided to open a new project this year on the beach (Costa De Oro) south of Playa San Miguel, but there is still a lot of work to be done to get the project ready.  So Tuesday, the two new research assistants, Matt and Victor, and I crossed the estuary at the south side of Playa San Miguel to get to Costa De Oro. The idea was we would measure and mark a tree every 100 meters so we could make sector posts. However, when we got there we realized that the pilot project from last year had some sectors left up, but were measured oddly. So we had to make a new game plan.  We decide the best option was to just walk the beach and see what we had to work with and we would mark the beach later. While we were over there we saw the beautiful house we would be living in. It is a 3 bedroom house that sleeps 9 and has a real kitchen with an oven!!!  The is also an outdoor BBQ and a pool. 

Just about finished digging out the hatchery.

On Friday we had a group of 9 come in from an organization called CIRENAS. They want to learn how to build a hatchery and what goes into a turtle project. So we all loaded into the cars and drove down to Costa De Oro to start building the hatchery. To build a brand new hatchery you must remove all the sand/dirt until the hole is about 50cm deep. Then you have to place the posts and mesh fence around and then refill the hole with sifted sand. It is hard work and the hatchery is large; we could easily fit 200 nests in it. After 3 days of hard work and lots of help from locals and volunteers we finally finished digging the hole.  Today we are taking a break while we wait and find out if we can use a bulldozer or something to help us refill the hatchery with fresh sand.

As for turtles this week we haven't had one in 4 days but I think its cause the tides are very drastic and are too fast for turtles. Plus, its the beginning of the season. I think it should pick up again this week or at least I hope so!

And the Adventure Begins Again...

My mom and I at the TG hotel.

Now that I have finally made it to Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica, I can catch everyone up on past week. First off I want to thank everyone who read the article written about me in the North County Times and came to check out my blog. If you have any question please don't hesitate to email me!

Wow it sure was an adventure getting to Playa San Miguel!!! After closed freeways, cancelled and delayed flights, my mom , her friend Susie, and I finally made it to Costa Rica, only 8 hours later than expected. Since we arrived so late we didn't have time to drive all the way out to the Nicoya Peninsula until Wednesday morning. So we found a boutique hotel Terrazas de Golf for the night. The owners had converted their house on a golf course into a bed and breakfast and had the most hospitable service!

That night after running a few errands, we got back at the hotel and where greeted with fresh kas juice and an eggplant h'orderves. We played a couple games of Bananagrams on the balcony before calling it a night.

The next morning we were treated with a stunning view of the golf course and an amazing breakfast with fresh fruit, eggs, and gallo pinto. After breakfast we hit the road and drove towards Sarchi. Sarchi is the wood working capitol of Costa Rica and where my parents bought our  dinning room table at 15 years ago. The craftsmanship was a beautiful as ever, but the prices sure increased due to it now being a major tour bus stop. Nonetheless we picked up some fun little trinkets for family and friends before heading 2 hours southwest to the Puntarenas ferry port.

Tin Church outside of Sarchi.

After missing the ferry, driving around the gulf and crossing Amistad bridge, we continued our journey on dirt, winding road in the dark. Which I am sure my mom would not recommend! It took a lot longer than I expected to get to be beach and at one point I thought I had lead us in the completely wrong direction. 

Luckily we when arrived at my friend's (Drew) new hotel, Laguna Mar, he was waiting for us with umbrella drinks. After we enjoyed the drinks went up to bed and had a fantastic nights sleep. The next day, I showed my mom and Susie all of my favorite places around the beach and they even got to patrol with me that night. Unfortunately, we didn't have a turtle, but they found the patrol very relaxing.

Laguna Mar Pool

Friday morning we woke up early and had another fantastic breakfast at Laguna Mar before I had to start my real work.  My mom and Susie brought me to the station house and they were off to travel Costa Rica.

When I got to the house Lotti and Sandra, the Co- directors of the turtle projects, came to update me on the changes from last year and made sure I was ready to begin the new season.

Saturday night Maddie (my co- coordinator) and I did our first official patrol with our new research assistant, 3 volunteers and Wilson, our local.

About an hour into our patrol we came across and Olive Ridley just beginning to dig her nest. We all gathered around to teach the specifics of a nesting turtle and what data we take from each nesting encounter.

After about 30 minutes our turtle had been measured, tagged and all 72 of her eggs were collected. We returned to the hatchery to place the nest into the first spot and in about 45 days we should be seeing our first hatchlings!!!

Turtle Talk

First off I want to thank the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation, Lisa Rodman and all the people who came to the nature center to hear my Turtle Talk. I had a great time sharing my pictures and experiences with everyone. I am sorry the videos didn't work as planned, but I have included the video of babies hatching in today's post.

Secondly, for those of you who don't know, I am returning to Playa San Miguel to work with Pretoma another season. I leave for Costa Rica on July 9th! I am so excited, but still have so much to do to get ready.

So that leads me to my third thing. Living La Pura Vida is up and running again and this time all the problems are worked out (aka I will have internet thanks to my dad's MiFi). So expect a post at least weekly, if not bi-weekly.

See you on the beach!

Halloween in Costa Rica

Monday, October 31, 2011

So after multiple plans fell through for our Halloween night, Amanda and I decided we should just have a party at the house that she and Rossi were house sitting. The house was right on the beach and had a pool. 

Rain on the pool

The party was small but fun. We had 4 of us girls living in the San Miguel house plus Nicole (Playa Caletas coordinator) Rossi, Amanda and one of the bartenders, Mariano.

Hot Wings

We were hoping for a day in the sun at the pool, but unfortunately October didn't let us down. So we spent Halloween watching the rain fall from the safety of the overhang and eating some of Rossi's fantastic, but incredibly HOT chicken wings.

After an afternoon of fun, Maddie and Naomi returned to the Flying Scorpion for the night. Where Rossi treated them to a hotel room and some of his yummy homemade ice cream While Nicole and I stayed in the casita located right next to the pool and also enjoyed the luxury of a real house and bed.

Once again we were back to reality early and ate breakfast at home and were back to work by 10 am.

A Day at the Pool

Since returning I have decided to finish posting stories of my time in Costa Rica. While in Costa Rica the internet was just too slow and I had a couple problems with my computer so it was too difficult to post. Now that I have returned back to the States and have a few free minutes I will continue writing from where I left off.

Wednesday, October 29, 2011

Naomi explaining what happening while I was counting and
opening the unhatched eggs.

As October has been coming to a close the rain has been slowing down unfortunately for Hannah, one of the volunteers who spent a month working with Pretoma, the rain stopped right as she was leaving. Anyways we received a call from an US ex-pat, Zene, who is married to a Costa Rican, Henner, inviting us to their gorgeous eco-hotel up on the top of the hill over looking Playa San Miguel. Her family is in town and she wanted to show them the turtles. Lucky for them we had exhumations to do and there were babies to see.

Cristal Azul Pool overlooking the beach

Maddie, Naomi and me in the pool.

After a couple hours on the beach we hopped in the car took a bumpy ride up the hill to the beautiful resort. When we got there they had a beautiful spread of calimari, mussels, ribs and beer for lunch. After an afternoon in the pool, we got hot showers!

Then Zene and Henner offered for me to stay in one of their hotel rooms that overlook the beach. It was amazing because it was my first night in a big bed without sand in over two months.

Enjoying Calimari in the pool.

Cabinas overlooking the beach

In the morning I was awoken by the most beautiful sunrise. Then I went out to the pool to enjoy my book when breakfast was brought to me. I sat there thinking "I like living on the top of the hill". Sadly I had to get back to reality and was driven back down to the beach by 10 AM.

Liberian Adventure

Naomi and I enjoy the half hour of sun between storms on Saturday.

Wednesday I had the opportunity to leave the beach for the day and go to civilization. The owner of the restaurant we eat at 4 times a week (Rossi), the owner of another restaurant called the Pizzatree (Andre) and I dropped two ladies who were housesitting off at the airport.

We left San Miguel at 7:00am and drove up to Nicoya and dropped Andre off so he could do his shopping there and we continued to drive another 1.5 hours to Liberia (this is the direction of my parents property). When we got there Rossi took us to a souvenir shop so the ladies could bring things back to the states for their family. I looked around but felt the souvenirs there looked like they were cheaply made and way too expensive so I will be saving my shopping for later. Then we got to the airport and dropped the ladies off and continued a half hour north to an actually shopping center.

When we got to the shopping center I had a list of things to get for all the Pretoma volunteers as well as a list of things I needed. One of the things was anti-itch cream for all the bug bites everyone has. I ran into the pharmacy and showed them my legs and said I needed something for the bites. They sold me a tube of cream for $8 but when we got back on the road I was looking at it and realized the active ingredient was lidocane. That’s the same thing that was used to numb my head in January when I had to get staples in it. So needless to say it works great, you can't even feel the part of your body you rubbed the cream on or the finger used for a couple hours!

Our adventure continued to a cute Italian food supplier and Rossi bought all sorts of cheeses which of course means I am even more excited for this weekends meals! Then back to Nicoya to pick up Andre and onto Samara to say a quick hello to Rossi's friend.

As we were nearing home the sun was just about to set, so Rossi took us up to his rancho up on the hill where you can see every beach for 40 kms. It was gorgeous! When we got up there the sunset was beautiful and the first one I had seen for almost 3 weeks (its been too dark and rainy to see anything).

Maddie, Naomi, Hannah and Me enjoying a much needed
break on Saturday at The Flying Scorpion

I ended up making it home just in time of dinner at 6:30 and right after dinner Amanda, Rossi's fiancée and my good friend, called and told me since it was my night off she made me a Margarita with fresh squeezed lime juice.  So I ran back to the restaurant and hung out with Amanda for a couple hours.

As for the seaturtles…. The hatchlings are finally slowing down. We had a week and a half where we were releasing 600 + babies every single night, that’s about 7 nests hatching each night. Now we are back to 1 or 2 nests which is nice because we have been having so many nesting turtles too.