La Tortuga Feliz

I honestly don´t know how to sit here and descride what I experienced at La Tortuga Feliz. It definitely had its ups and downs. First I will describe how I got there and how the arrival went. When Kori and I arrived in Bataan we were ment by the guy who runs the turtle project, Robert. For some reason there were 18 of us that arrived that day, which apperently is a very large number of volunteers to arrive at once. Robert told us that we had 3 hours to kill in this tiny town of bataan because we had to wait for the tide to rise so our boat could make it through the canals. 3 hours later 4 taxis pulled up and Robert told us to put our bags in the taxis and get in. We traveled through banana plantations and the jungle for about 40 minutes when we arrived at the mangrove canals. Two long boats pulled up to take us to our camp. After riding the canals for a while we road the end of the pacuare River. As we were about to go into the final canal stretch Robert told us we had to get out of the boat so we could lift it over the sand bar. He then told us that if we see any crocodiles just kick them away, with a smirk on his face. About 20 minutes later we arrived at the project and were met by the other volunteers.

When we arrived we couldn´t help but notice the amount of bug bites on some of the volunteers that had been there for a while. They showed us around, told us how camp worked and the chores that needed to be done. Basically camp was a few huts, a seperate kitchen hut, a raised, outdoor bathroom and shower area and a large cabana roofed area were we would hang out. Electricity consisted of a water pump that ran on solar power, which made rainy spells interesting and a light bulb that usually ran out of power between 7:00 and 10:00. It was a hell of a place but we all were suprised at how well we adapted.

Now to talk about what we came for, the tortugas. The reason that this area needs volunteers is due to the illegal poaching that still occurs. The island we were on had about 25 residents. Pretty much all the residents that didn´t work for the project were poachers. Also about 80 percent of the poachers were very bad drug addicts. One of our main duties was to walk a 4 mile stretch of beach (8 miles both ways) literally in the middle of the night while we looked for nesting turtles. The poachers would walk by us on a regular basis with machetes in there hands and not a word would be said. When we arrived we were told that there is a non confrontational policy with the poachers and basically who ever finds the turtle first gets the turtle. Throughout the entire experience I was lucky enough to see a leatherback( the largest reptile in the world), two green turtles and the very rare Hawksbill. It truly is an amazing experience to be able to sit on the beach in Costa Rica and watch these extremely large creatures dig holes and lay there eggs. When they would lay there eggs we were responsible for hauling the eggs back to our hatchery. The hatchery consisted of an 8 foot net that went around a blocked off sand area with a tiny metal hut in the middle. We had to have someone on guard 24 hours a day to ensure the poachers would not cut the fence and try to dig the eggs up. On one occasion we had a poacher cut a hole, but luckily our volunteer on guard must have came by because the poacher never followed through. Sometimes we had shifts from 2 to 6 in the morning, it would get vey hot in the hut, it would be pouring rain and pounding down horrible lightning, and be extremely boring but it was always worth it when a nest of Leather back turtles would come up and we were responsible for releasing them into the sea. There was one time were I got to release about 15 baby turtles into the ocean right as the sun was rising. It was beautiful!

I also saw many other creatures on the journey. Sometimes when we had time to kill we would take a kayak or paddle boat and see Camens, birds, jesus christ lizards, howler monkeys, white face monkeys and who knows what else. ONe of the projects neighbors who was a guide came by one day with a tercio pelo (Fur de lance) . This is the most poisionous snake in Costa Rica and will kill a man in 5 minutes if bit. Of course I ran to get my camera and took a bunch of pictures holding it. Another day a volunteer was taking her clothes off the line when she saw a scorpion... as it was stinging her. One night I reached into my back pack after one of my walks and had a spider literally the size of my hand jump out of my bag, over my hand and onto the wall. Lets just say that got my heart beeting.

I think La Tortuga Feliz was one of the most amazing and interesting experiences I will have in my life. I feel like I really have done something to make a difference in this planet and I feel that I have a very good sense of what Costa Rica is really like. I also have to make sure to thank my aunts and uncles who suggested this type of volunteer work because I never would have found this part of the world without them.

When it came time to leave Me, Kori and Mike along with 9 other volunteers made our way out and headed to Puerto Viejo to make up for some lost partying. I am so lucky to have met so many amazing people from all over the world. I´ll have to save Puerto Viejo and Bocas Del toro, Panama for another time because there is just to much to say. I hope everyone is well and I miss all my friends and family.