S'more Turtles Please

Don't talk to strangers.

Don't accept food from strangers.

Don't get in cars with strangers.

Don't swim in rivers that may or may not be infested with crocodiles.

So mom, I know you tried to raise me wise, but it seems to me that these rules you had when I was growing up are definitely more like guidelines while travelling abroad.

Well, I'm not sure you ever explicitly told me to not swim in potentially crocodile infested waters, but I'm just assuming that's because you were never faced with that situation. Turns out you might have wanted to make that a rule anyway...

The last four days have been some of the most exciting of my life. This semester I am doing an internship with a conservation and preservation NGO called ASVO, doing somewhat boring office work looking for funds and ways for them to find volunteers for their several projects across Costa Rica. This isn't particularly "Bucky" work, but I am learning that it is important. I wanted to get my hands dirty, to volunteer, to see what conservation looks like from ground zero. So, I convinced me jefe's that it was a good idea for me to go to a volunteer project to assess its resources and learn how I can help make it more effective. They accepted and thanks to the fact that this is an internship it was an all expenses paid for trip.

I received my Mission:

Objective: Save baby sea turtles
Location: Playa Buena Vista, Samara

The trip to playa Buena Vista takes about 6 hours, so I spent Friday night at the ASVO hostel in San Jose. In the morning I took a taxi to the bus station and was on the road to the Nicoya Peninsula (the peninsula on the western coast of Costa Rica) by 5:30 a.m. We rolled into Nosara at around 11:00 a.m. where I was supposed to grab a taxi because that is the safest way to get to my next destination, Samara. Instead, a truck pulled up and offered myself and a few others a ride into Samara. It was a beautiful day and it was a free ride so of course we accepted. There is nothing like riding in the back of pick up with people from all over the world. While in the truck one man offered me something fried which I accepted. I cannot be certain, but I think it ended up being a pig's ear based on the shape. My vegetarian stomach wasn't so happy with that decision, but hey, Pura Vida.

Once in Samara myself and two other girls headed to playa Buena Vista managed to grab another ride to "the mouth of the river" with a perfect stranger. Those were our instructions: go to the mouth of the river and someone will pick you up at 11:30. Ambiguous much? Nope, just Tica style. We arrived early and the river was low enough to cross so instead of waiting for anyone we made our way to the other side. Don't worry there were now crocodiles this time of day. Ahead of us was a completely isolated stretch of beach with no one or no thing in site. Next we were looking for a building of some sort so we began to walk.

About 15 minutes later we happened upon a two story shack which was to be our home for then next 2 days.

Life at playa Buena Vista is of a whole different type. There is no electricity of any kind (sorry mom, that's why I couldn't get in contact with you), the bathrooms and shower are outside, water is pumped into a few tanks every week, there is no refrigerator, you at least sleep with a roof in a room full of bunk beds, but is more like a large open patio, you can't leave once you get here, and its so much easier to just go barefoot everywhere.

*siiigh* I felt at home.

Volunteers come from all over the world to spend 1 week-1 year at the turtle hatchery on playa Buena Vista. While I was there I met people from Spain, France, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the U.S. and Costa Rica. Everyone has a different reason for coming, but all come to serve and learn.

The turtle hatchery is located about 10 meters west of the shack and is a large square plot of sand broken into smaller squares of sand by string. It basically looks like a big tic tac toe grid. Each square of sand contained in the large square plot is a potential nest for turtle eggs that volunteers find. Currently there are about 20 nests because its not peak turtle season, but the capacity for this hatchery is upwards of 100 nests. Without the hatchery sea turtles have a 1:1000 chance of survival largely because of poachers and predators. Because of the efforts at the hatchery turtles increase their survival rate to 1:100! Turtle nests take about 50 days to incubate and hatch, and all but 1 or two of the nests at Buena Vista were found recently.

All volunteers server 2 shifts of turtle watch, one during the day and one 12 hours later. When you are on shift you need to check on the nests every 15 minutes. As soon as I arrived I was immediately assigned a shift and incorporated into the work at the hatchery. My first shift came between 00-2200 hours. The person on shift before you always wakes you up so that alarms aren't going off at all hours of the night disturbing everyone's sleep. My shift partner was Dennis from Germany. We checked the nests in the hatchery every 15 minutes like we were supposed to and sadly no turtles. 5 minutes before 2200 I decided to check one more time for good measure and when I shined my red light on the last nest I noticed rocks. Well, of course rocks don't just appear inside of a protected turtle nest so I scanned the surrounding sand and saw more rocks, but they were moving! I immediately called for Dennis and we got to work.

When a nest hatches you have to do a series of very specific things for the safety of the turtles:
1. Always use a red light. White lights are too strong for the sensitive skin of the tortuguitas. Also, put on a latex glove.
2. Get a bucket and go fill it with fresh sand from the beach.
3. Place the turtles in the bucket.

*At this point in the excitement Dennis went upstairs to wake up Colin who was on shift next and decided to go to bed. Colin came down and decided to go to bed on the benches. Luckily I had woken up a friend from school who came with me so at least it was the two of us. Note: these sea turtles are on the extinction list. My friend and I had arrive barely 12 hours prior and knew nothing about turtles or how to protect them. We were the perfect people to leave endangered baby sea turtles with right? Well, I guess you have to learn somehow.

4. Count, measure and weigh the first 10 baby turtles to hatch. Document this information in a book.
*We had 20 baby turtles
5. Carry the turtles in the bucket of fresh sand to the point on the beach where their nest was originally located.
6. Place turtles 8-10 m from the ocean shore and wait until all of them have reached the water. Protect them from any predators that may try and eat them, but do not help them reach the water.

These turtles were originally found 400m from the shack. By this time it was now 0300 hours, but I could not imagine something more glorious to be doing at that hour of the morning. Once we got to the right location on the beach we placed the baby turtles on the sand and excitedly waited for them to use their muscles and fight the odds of life as they attempted to reach the ocean shore. Turns out we didn't have to wait long. It was high tide at 0300 and to our surprise almost immediately placing the turtles on the sand a huge wave came up and swept the majority of them away. If that wasn't a welcome home for those turtles I don't know what is.

We stayed on the beach until the last turtle made it to the water at 0330. We prayed for the turtles and worshiped God for this opportunity and for their lives. It was a very holy moment for me, being so alone on a beach, in the middle of nowhere, releasing baby turtles into the ocean, with only the starts watching. God was all over this place.

Sunday is the day of rest at the tortuguero, but since I was only there until Tuesday morning I decided to stick around camp and take on a 3 hours turtle watching shift. No turtles this time, but I had an amazing day collecting sea shells and making jewelry with them.

Monday was my first experience of the ins and outs of what a turtle hatchery does. We all wake up at 0600 and immediately begin work. Our work on this day consisted of moving old sand from a newly constructed vivero (small hatchery) and replacing it with fresh sand from the beach. We moved back and forth between the vivero and the beach carrying old rice bags filled with sand until breakfast which is served at 0730. After breakfast around 0745 we went right back to work. Once we filled in the vivero we had to continue bringing in fresh sand until we had a good sized mound covering the whole. It was a great morning filled with encouraging one another, working hard and of course getting sand everywhere. Work stops at 1000, I am not really sure why, but its probably got to do with the fact the sand get burning hot after this point and we do all our work barefoot. The rest of the day is free, except when you have your turtle watch.

I did not know this prior to my time at Buena Vista, but apparently s'mores are a truly North American thing. Most places in the world have campfires, and most roast marshmallows, but no one outside of North America had ever heard of combining graham crackers and chocolate with these. Everyone had the idea of trying these fixed in their minds from the start of the day, so Amelia and I collected cash and went into town after work to purchase supplies while we ran some logistical errands.

In Costa Rica they don't sell graham crackers, but they have something similar called galletas marias. Also, the only marshmallows we could find were the multi colored/multi flavored ones, but they would do the job just right. Chocolate, now that is a problem in and of itself down here. There really isn't such thing as a chocolate bar unless you are lucky enough to find a Cardburry somewhere. In order to substitute for this essential ingredient we purchased Nutella. I think it was a good alternative.

That night we built a fire on the beach and roasted s'mores, shared stories in varying languages and laughed a lot. It was a great mix of cultures coming together to share an unforgettable moment. S'mores can really bring people together while travelling. I will remember that for another time.

My next turtle watch was form 0400-0600. This morning Dennis and I found 3 turtles and had the great pleasure of seeing 3 more amazing creations set off on a grand adventure. At 0600 my friend and I and bid adieu to our new friends and family and headed back to Heredia. We had to cross the river in a canoe because the tide was higher. Once on the other side we hiked into Samara and came home. I arrived back at "la Casa de Mama Kuki at 1730.

I know this post was long, but it was truly a surreal experience for me and I just had to share it ALL with you. Now, here is what you can do:

Whenever you go to the beach pick up garbage, especially plastic bags. Some species of sea turtles confuse plastic bags for medusa jelly fish, one of their favorite foods. It really does help, I got to see the turtles you could be saving. DO IT.

Recap:

Objective: Save baby sea turtles

Mission accomplished.