On the cliff overlooking playas Langosta and Tamarindo
Baula tortuguitas (day old Leatherback turtles)
Asai loves her log. She was "fetching" it in an estuary against a current going out to the ocean!
Hunter and me!
Sunset at camp.
The Wisconsin ladies and Lynne.
This the island I swam to!
Crazy Christian and Hunter.
So I thought it would be fun to keep journal entries from this year's travels in the same place. I tried to create a seperate Blog for my entries from Costa Rica, but I think I would have had to have a whole seperat account (if you know how I could do this and still have it at www.ecloern.blogspot.com please let me know).Pura Vida 13-Jan-2006
HELLO EVERYONE!!!I HOPE THAT YOU ARE ALL ABLE TO GET TO THIS AND READ IT. SORRY THAT I HAVE NOT BEEN KEEPING BETTER TOUCH, I HAVE JUST BEEN HAVING TOO MUCH FUN. THE BEACH WE LIVE ON IS AMAZING. PURE WHITE SAND, CLEAR WARM WATER, AND NO SHARKS, SNAKES, BUGS, NOTHING!!! WE ARE PRETTY MUCH ROUGHING IT. THERE ARE 2 PORTO POTTIES AND THEY WERE FULL TO THE TOP WITH YOU KNOW WHAT AND MAGGOTS, BUT OTHER THAN THAT EVERYTHING HAS BEEN PERFECT. (THOSE GOT CLEANED BY THE WAY). I THINK I COULD EASILY PACK UP AND MOVE HERE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. THE ENVIRONMENT AND PEOPLE ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, AS WELL AS THE OTHER VOLUNTEERS. I EXPECTED TO LEARN A LOT ABOUT COSTA RICIAN CULTURE AND TURTLES, BUT AM PLEASANTLY SURPRISED TO HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THE OTHER VOLUNTEERS. JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF A TYPICAL DAY, I WAKE UP ANYWHERE B/T 6 AND 9 AM, EAT BREAKFAST (HILDA, THE COOK, IS A SWEETEHART). SHE MOSTLY DOES RICE AND BEANS, PANCAKES, RICE AND BEANS, VEGGIES, RICE AND BEANS, OCASIONALLY SOME EGGS, OH AND SOME MORE RICE AND BEANS!! THE COFFEE HERE IS AMAZING, BUT GETS ME PRETTY WIRED. I WONDER HOW LONG IT WILL BE BEFORE THEY CUT ME OFF. SOMETIMES THERE IS AN EXUMACION TO DO AT THE HATCHERY (LIKE A NURSERY FOR NESTS THAT HAD TO BE RELOCATED). TYPICALLY, THE EGGS TAKE 60 DAYS TO HATCH AND WE ARE ABLE TO KEEP PRETTY GOOD TRACK OF WHEN TO EXPECT BABIES! WE GO TO HELP DIG THEM UP, TRAKE RECORD OF HOW MANY EGGS THERE ARE, HOW MANY LIVING BABIES, HOW MANY INFERTILE EGGS, AND HOW MANY EGGS DIDN'T MAKE IT TO FULL TERM. IT'S PRETTY NEAT, I'VE ONLY DONE THIS ONCE SO FAR. THEN, WE HAVE THE WHOLE DAY TO PLAY (VOLLYBALL, SOCCER, BOOGY BOARD, WE'VE MADE FRIENDS WHO HAVE THE HOOK UP (: )AND MAY WORK A 4 HOUR SHIFT AT THE HATCHERY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS, MAKE SURE PEOPLE AREN'T NAKED (IT'S A NATIONAL PARK) AND MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARENT' WALKING ALONG THE AREA OF THE BEACH WHERE THERE COULD BE TURTLE NESTS. THEN MORE PLAY TIME, SWIMMING, READING, LISTENING TO MUSIC, CARDS, CONNECT 4 (THE TICOS ARE REALLY GOOD AT THIS GAME; I HAVEN'T WON ONCE). LUNCH IS AT 12; DINNER, AT 6. THEN WE NORMALLY HANG OUT. I AM TRYING TO READ PART OF A NEWSPAPER IN SPANISH EACH DAY, AND AM USUALLY ABLE TO DO THIS WITH SOMEONE TO HELP EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME. WE PARTOLL IN 2 SHIFTS USUALLY B/T 7 PM AND 4 AM DEPENDING ON THE TIDE. I HAVE HAD THE RARE LUXURY TO SEE 3 DIFFERENT SPECIES, BUT MOSTLY THERE ARE BAULA TURTLES COMING UP TO HATCH THEIR EGGS. I THINK I HAVE WORKED ON ABOUT 5 OR 6 SO FAR. THEY SAY THAT THE #S HAVE DROPPED FROM ABOUT 2000 TURTLES A SEASON TO 50 IN THE LAST 10 YEARS. WE WALK UP AND DOWN A 3/4 MILE BEACH WITH 20 MIN RESTS IN B/T ALL NIGHT WAITING FOR A TURTLE TO EMERGE. WHEN SHE DOES, WE WAIT FOR HER TO DIG A BODY PIT AND THEN AN EGG NEST. ONCE SHE STARTS THIS, SHE IS IN A TRANCE AND WE CAN GET TO WORK SCANNING HER TAG, MEASURING LENGTH AND WIDTH OF HER "SHELL" CHECKING FOR SCARS OR OTHER MARKS AND CATCHING THE EGGS IF THE NEST WILL NEED TO BE RELOCATED (IT HAS TO BE HIGH ENOUGH ON THE BEACH THAT THE TIDE WON'T GET TO IT). I LOVE IT AND IT'S AMAZING TO BE ABLE TO BE SOOOO CLOSE TO THESE GIANT CREATURES IN THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. WE GET TO SEE THE FULL CYCLE FROM THE LAYING OF THE EGGS TO THEM HATCHING ABOUT 2 MONTHS LATER. WELL, I'VE BEEN ON THE COMPUTER FOR SOME TIME NOW AND SHOULD CHECK OUT. LOVE TO YOU ALL, ELIZABETH
que la vara 20-Jan-2006 yesterday, the last of the wisconsin girls left in the morning. it was really hard for me since they were the last of the group to go and my favorite two girls. it is very quite now. eddy and fabricio were so great about cheering me up and entertaining me all day which was really sweet. i think it must have been hard for them to say good-bye as well, and focusing on cheering me up took their minds off theresa and amber's departure. we had a 6 hour shift last night. we started by checking out the vivero (hatchery/turtle nursery) and had 28 tortuguita baulas digging their way up out of the sand. happily, this was a strong bunch and all made it out to the see pretty quickly. then, we came across a negra (green turtle) which are rare on this coast. she did a salida falsa (only comes up out of the water and doesn't lay any eggs etc...). the rangers like to get as much info as possible, so eddy flipped her over to scan her, take measurements, etc... we walked up and down the beach, and i didn't really expect to see anything since it was low tide (you have a better chance of a turtle coming up at higher tides), but on one of our runs, we saw a laura (oliver ridley turtle). she laid 41 eggs that i got to relocate. there are many interesting differences b/t the different species. for example, the lauras don't lay any infertile eggs as do the baulas. also, their babies come up from the sand in pairs, 2 by 2, and the baulas come up 1 at a time. only 1 in a 1000 turtles that hatch make it to maturity, and out of a baula nest, there could be 100 eggs, and of them perhaps only 60 are fertile to begin with. it's amazing they've made it this far.well, i guess that's it for now. when i get back, i'm going to help fabricio do an exumation of a nest that hatched the other day. we dig up the rest, count the shells that hatched, and then open up the ones that didn't make it full term. they get grouped into 3 categories (before eye spots, after eye spots, and full grown). we did one the other day, and eddy threw the nasty yolk all over theresa, amber, and me. it was pretty gross, but amber smeared it all over his face which was even better. hey, there's no TV, so we have to get our entertainment somehow. but even for me, this was pushing it. i miss and love you all. i'll be in touch soon. elizabeth
San Carlos 24-Jan-2006 well i made it safe and sound to san carlos. we worked until midnight on friday and i didn´t even bother going to sleep b-c we had to be up at 2 am anyways. we left around two thirty to do the 30 min walk to tamarindo and caught a bus at 3 am. from there we were on the road for over 8 hours to san carlos. it was a long ride. we got into san carlos around noon on saturday. from the minute i entered fabricio´s home, i have been waited on hand and foot by his mother and younger brother, jason. they live in a very modest home in the middle of town. we walked around town, went to see the main catholic church beautiful! and ran into many of his friends and family. at 7 we walked to the stadium to watch a soccer game. it was amazing! these players have such talent. i´ve never really watched a real soccer game, and loved it. the crowd could give the raider´s black hole a run for their money. we got back around 9, had dinner, and then i went out with jason to meet up with some of his friends at a bar. we had a really good time. jason is quite different from his older half brother. he´s much more extraverted, had a girlfriend from japan, has learned to speak english pretty darn well in the street, and works 2 jobs, 7 days a week. he sings opera extremely well. his friends were all very friendly, we had good conversation, and everyone in general is so friendly. when a song played that they liked, no one hesitated to just start singing along. when we walked home, jason made sure that i was on the inside of the street, something that i didn´t pick up on, and was confused about at first, but have now realized that they all do that. it´s pretty cute.yesterday was amazing. we spent most of the day at fabricio´s sister´s house. just to clarify, his dad had 11 kids by his 3 wives and then other women, so it´s very confusing. he passed away from cancer this november. anyways, this is a half sister who lives in town and has 4 kids, two nieces that fabricio has a great relationship with. one is about 14, the other married with a 5 year old and 24 years. we spent the day in their home, and then carai, the 24 year old, and her husband esteban offered to the hour drive to la fortuna to see a very active volcanoe. so we hopped in their car, and made our way to volcan arenal. it was so beautiful, pitch black with red eruptions in the night. it looked like fireworks. carai and her husband are two of the nicest people i have ever met in my life. they are so in love, and they way they talk to their 5 year old would melt your heart. i think spending the day with them was the most i´ve missed jeffrey so far. i really wish you could have been there, babe, it would have been so romantic.yesterday, i slept in, big surprise, and we took a bus to another nearby town to visit fabricio´s dad´s last wife, flor, and some more of his siblings. i think we ate for like 7 hours. she just kept cooking for us! the food was amaing. for an afternoon coffee snack, she did these crepelike treats that were made mostly from corn. you´re supposed to put a pudding on top and fabricio said add some pudding and sugar. he meant sugar to my coffee, but i added both to the crepe and they all thought that was pretty histarical. not bad though. we just hung out and chatted with the family and friends that stopped by all day. flor is such a neat lady and loves to tell stories. she has coconut trees out front, and at one point, grabbed this 10 foot pole, and poked a couple off. then she pulls out this machate and perfectly hacks off the side, pokes a straw into it, and hands it to me to drink. delicious! i think we are going to hike to some hot springs today, which sounds great. guess that´s it for now. we should be heading back to guanacaste on thrus. love you all, Elizabeth
Back to Playa Langosta 1-Feb-2006 hello everyone,so i finally made it into an internet cafe. we got back to tamarindo last friday night at 10pm. luis, another ranger from playa hermosa, came to visit on his days off from his own job, to work with us. he is a real character, and a good friend of fabricio. i was really glad that he came with us. we spent the days kayacking and playing on the beach. learned a lot from him, he has his own way of doing things and is much more thorough that some other people. he also does a great job of speaking in a way that i can understand, and has an interest in languages himself, so he really takes time to help me with my spanish. he's working with a woman from japan for 6 months at playa hermosa, so has of course, picked up some japanese. it was pretty funny. we've had some natural nests hatch and one in the hatchery. one nest of loras, one negra, and 2 baulas. got to work a turtle every night, and as there are hardly any volunteers right now, i have got to take on a lot. i think i will soon be "promoted" to "mini ranger" status which means that when a turtle submerges, i will work her myself with them supervising... very exciting.luis and lynne (the 55 year old canadian) left on monday morning. it was really hard to say goodbye to them as lynne was the last from our original group and luis is such great company. she went to spend a couple days with him at his house... he's quite the guide. he will hopefully come back at least once more during my stay to help out. one of the rangers, diana, bailed at the last minute, leaving only fabricio and eddy to work. as it was, they work 1 month straight with 5-7 days off, and now things will be even more difficult for them, i think. luis has generously offered to come and help out on his days off from playa hermosa so that eddy and fabio can take some time off. we'll see how that goes.hilda, the cook, has this week off, so the guys are cooking. have to say, they're doing a pretty good job. the fruit here is all amazing, so between that, beans and rice, i'm pretty much set. i have decided not to eat any more seafood, so haven't had any in the month i've been here, and don't plan on picking it up again when i go home.we had a howler monkey come right up to camp yesterday as well as 3 blue magpies (spelling?). that was pretty fun. guess that's it for now. love and miss you all. hope all is well in cali. besos, Elizabeth
Tofu Dinner 4-Feb-2006 Buenos,It's about 9 am on Sat. morning, and I walked into town with Peter, a 50+ volunteer from Seattle. Have enjoyed receiving emails and comments on myspace from you guys.Right now it's still just Fabricio, Eddy, Peter, and me at camp. The guys love to give me a hard time and tease me, but really are sweethearts. Last night, they cooked tofu for me for dinner and really make an effort to prepare food that I can enjoy, though it's never really been a problem. I am officially hooked on coffee. It's sooooooooooooo good here, and I drink about 2 -3 cups a day, which is a lot for me. I will definately try to bring some home.Tomorrow, we are supposed to get a new girl. All I know is that she is blonde (not even how old or what country she's from ). I hope she's fun. We will see. It's always interesting to see how the group dynamic changes with new arrivals. Hilda the cook, should be back on Monday, and that is also Peter's last day.Last night we had 2 tutles, but they were both difficult to work with. The first one did a false crawl (headed back to the ocean before laying any eggs ). We still like to scan them to know which turtle came up. Fabricio can be sooooooooo intense when working a turtle b/c it's so important to him. We scan the digital markers in their right and left shoulders. He chased after her to at least know what turtle she was and the damn scanner didn't work. He was like, "hijo de puta "(son of a bitch, aka one of his favorite phrases) and threw the 2000$ piece of equipment into the sand. Well, then it turned on, so he went to scan again. Mind you, she's halfway in the water by now. I ran to him to write down the info so he could do the other side, well, he was running towards me, and we straight up crashed into one another. Classic. In the end, we got the info we needed and it turned out that she came up latter in the night to lay eggs. It was nice to have scanned her to know that it was the same one. Another turtle, was making really weird paths in the sand... like maybe she'd had one too many cervezas! It was strange. Actually the whole night was. It was kind of raining, and we had thunder like mid-western heat thunder. The sky cast an almost electric blue sheen on the sand, water, and breaking waves. It was just kind of errie (spelling?) and then combined with the turtles doing strange things, kind of felt like a scene from SIGNS.Earlier in the day, we had done at exumation, actually it was at 6am. Fabricio left me to do it alone, and he went to dig up another nest. Well, this one was pretty nasty: smelt like a combination of our port -o-potties, and a dead body. As I dug deeper, it got worse and worse. There were clusters of maggots everywhere, and the sand on my skin moving around, felt like maggots to me. Even at 7am, I had broked a sweat digging a hole deeper than my arm (which meant, yep, that my face was right down in the maggot filled stench and heat of the hole ). The sand was dry and kept collapsing. I got maybe half of the empty egg shells, dead turtle bodies, and decomposing crap up out of the nest and called it quits. Guess everybody has their limits, and this was definately mine. I waited for him to come back, gagged, and explained that that was the international sign for GROSS! He kind of laughed, finnished up, and I jumped in the ocean to clean off. When we were walking back he said in Spanish, " You as a biologist, wouldn't hack it. On a scale of 0-10, you get a -1". I'm like, "No kidding, man, that's why I'm not a biologist!" I think he gets a little bit of a kick out of us thinking that a job he loves is gross. Anyways, I had better head out and get back to a tough day of hammocking and reading and playing in the ocean. How am I ever going to be able to handle going back to California. Oh, and I have a new mission to befriend a surfer for a free lesson. I'll keep you all updated on my progress. Think I may have a potential brother and sister that could help me out. We shall see. Miss and love you all. Besos, Elizabeth
Another Week Gone By 7-Feb-2006 buenos tardes,it's about quarter after two on tuesday, and i can't believe another week has gone by! sunday was another goodbye to peter from seattle and we have 2 new volunteers from london: sean and henry. they are about 19 and are on a customary year off b/t high school and university. both really nice guys. on monday, we added noelle, a 25 year old, environmental policy major from chicago, to our group.we have had 2 baula turtles a night for the last 2 nights. i have been training the new volunteers and doing as much work on the turtles with them as possible. have to say, i am pretty good at digging a turtle nest, as we have had to relocate most of the eggs that have been laid. i'm sure this skill will come in handy in the future; definately will have to add it to my resume, wink wink.felt a little home sick this morning and fought back some sniffles realizing that, "hello i'm in freakin' costa rica on a beautiful beach!" so i stopped feeling sorry for myself and headed down the beach with my ipod (thanks for the great gift, my love) and went for a little strole. i was just thinking about home, and jeffrey, and how it was pokey's 14th birthday yesterday, and little oliver and maximo, and how much they must have changed, and i got a littte homesick. both eddy and fabricio noticed me sulking in my bed, and stopped in to see if there was anything they could do to cheer me up. really, the constant kindnesses that occour here with such frequency are amazing.finally getting my mom's package with... surprise clothes, well swim suits, was enough to fully cheer me up, so even though i would have liked it sooner (it's been in the mail office) today was good timing to get something in the mail.we had a game of volleyball at the hotel's court yesterday. chipi, the hotel lifeguard was nice enough to lend us a ball and before we knew it there was a good match of about 6 on 6 going. the only 2 times i have ever seen anyone use the court in the 5 weeks i've been here has been when we've started up a game and other hotel guests come to play. kind of funny, we're not even guests of the hotel. well, i've been online for about an hour, and should head back. i love and miss you all, and though i am in no hurry to get home, at least i will get to see all of you soon.-con besos grandes, Elizabeth
Tortugas Tortugas Tortugas 20-Feb-2006 WOW, I think that the title speaks for itself. We have had so many turtles in the last two weeks. Lots of babies being born too. All very fun. I don't think it will ever get old. The babies are so precious. I think the baulas look like penguins, though I don't know why.I've gotten all settled in with the new group. Noelle, from Chicago, completed her 2 weeks and took a bus back to San Jose today. It was nice to have another girl around. This group is definately active and likes to keep busy. We've spent many afternoons around Tamarindo. Hunter, from New Hampshire, says "hola", literally, to any person that makes eye contact with him, so we have meet a lot of people through him. He's a pretty big joke and always in a good mood. The London boys are really cool and very different from what I think of as a typical 19 year old American guy. Henry is reading a book called "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man". I can't remember the author's name, but this book is a trip. Don't know if any of you have heard of or read it. I'm also reading "Love in the Time of Cholera", and am of course enjoying that as well.I am all about sleeping in a hammock under the stars and have already asked Jeffrey if he can look into putting one up for me (just kidding), but it really is nice and my back feels much better. I did some quasi-snorkeling with Noelle the other day. She had a mask and snorkel, but I had only brought my goggles. It was sooooooo worth it. I did fine with just the goggles, and saw over 10 different fish! There were some little electric blue ones, black with bright purple heads, big schools of 50 fish, puffer fish, blue, black, and yellow fish, a white and black stripped one, and many more. It was fun, and only a 4 minute walk from camp, so I expect I will do that again soon.I met Christain's roommate, Alex, also known as "Papito". He's equally nice and taught me to play SuDoKu. I have plenty of free time, so it's a great form of entertainment. He only does the medium and difficult levels, so has been saving the easy ones for me. OK, so they're not at all easy for me; in fact I haven't been able to finish one on my own so far, but it keeps me busy.I really think that I am going to have a hard time adjusting to life back home, and frankly, don't really want to. It's clear to me whey there are so many foreigners who have just decided to live here. I felt that my life was crazy and hectic even in the moment, but after taking a step away and living in a totally other way, I just can't imagine the craziness of the Bay Area. Jeffrey, maybe we can become park rangers. Haha. Or maybe we can invest in some hemp and macramé and make jewelry to sell on the beach. I know they could use a market that is open after 9 pm. Think about it. Guess that's it for now. Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Besos, Elizabeth
Maximo de Milano28-Feb-2006 Ok, so it has been quite a while since I have really been online, but that is good b/c it means that I have been having fun outdoors. I think I was last on last Tuesday and was talking to my dad getting ready to go out on a boat with Marco, this crazy Italian tattoo artist. I think this was last Tues. We went out fishing on a small boat, and he said that he didn't want to go too far out since it was windy, the ocean is unpredictable, and he has flipped the boat a few times. Um.. ok. We went with his dad, Maximo, and friend Teseo who is also here for about 4 months every year working as a DJ at local clubs. They are all from Milan and are quite characters. We first stopped to do a little snorkeling and I saw many of the same fish, but some new ones too. Getting back into the boat proved to be quite entertaining as the sides are high and there is no ladder. Poor Maximo really had his ego bruised when he discovered that he could no longer get in on his own. So here's Marco in the water with waves coming straight at him with his father (not a small man) on his shoulders shoving him up into the boat. I am proud to report that I didn't need help up. We didn't end up catching anything, but it was good company and fun to do something different.On Wednesday I went into Tamarindo and ran into Marco again and he invited me to go out with them at 6 am on Thursday with 2 other friends visiting from Milan. On the walk there, I saw a man laying on the rocks, and he didn't look quite right, but I thought I recognized him from last week and he didn't look right then either. I later found out that he was dead and had been in the water for a couple of days, his face was worn down to the bone and his eyes had been picked out. I am really glad that I did not get a closer look. Anyways, I meet the Italians at 6 and we headed out. Another windy day. They brought cantaloupes, pears, espressos, and crackers for breakfast. They didn't catch anything, but we did see a Humpback whale's spray and tail flap in the water!!! We also saw baby rays (about 20) jumping and playing in the waves. It was pretty spectacular. I feel so lucky to have been taken so well care of by everyone that I have met here. We were out pretty much all day.On Thursday I had gone into Tamarindo and ran into Marco... again! And again they invited me to go out with them. This time they were going through an estuary that connects Tamarindo beach with Playa Grande. Entering this estuary was like going back in time to an ancient world. We went with 3 Nicos (Nicaraguans) who know the area very well and within 10 min. we spotted a crocodile! Of course Marco jumps in after him. We took the river back quite a ways and sopped for the guys to do some "gimnasticos" in the mango branches. One of the Nicos was pretty drunk and went to swing from a branch about 15 feet in the air and it broke which we all got a pretty good laugh from.I have made friends/acquaintances in many places and it's nice to run into someone that you know everywhere you go. I have picked up some Italian since there is a large community here. We continue to have turtles every night and got a "new" one the other night. Meaning she did not have a microchip, so she is new to us. Lots of tortuguitas since we have around 150 nests still waiting to hatch. Christain and Alex from the hotel continue to help me work on my Spanish, which I appreciate immensely. I taught Christain "This is an A and B conversation, so why don't you C your way out of it" yesterday. He got a kick out of that one. Guess that's all to report here. I'll be home so soon. Besos to you all, Elizabeth
Island Swim 1-Mar-2006I almost forgot another adventure from last week. There's a little island about 3/4 of a Kilometer from the beach in Tamarindo. I have been wanting to swim out to it. When we'd been boating, you have to swim out to the boat to bring it back to shore and that swim is about 1/2 of the distance to the island. I had done it a couple of times, so I felt confident that I could make it to the island. Tara, another volunteer, rented fins, a snorkel, and mask to go snorkeling one day. I brought goggles with me, so I just used those. We made it there in about 20 min. I was partially freaking out about sharks, though, rationally, the chances of running into one is of course very slim. However, Teseo did say they saw a small Reef Shark off the island a couple of weeks ago. Anyways, despite the wind and choppy waves, we made it there and spent about 2 hours snorkeling all around the island (maybe 20 meters in diameter)and basking in the sun. The beach part of it was practically all shells, some pretty large. The wind continued to pick up and getting back was a little bit of a struggle, but we made it. Tara has been having a little bit of a hard time here, but she said that it was by far her favorite day so far!
