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Published: March 15th 2008
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Hola amigos!!
OK, so I spent the last week in the park in Gandoca! Its been fun, but really exhausting as well! We arrived on Sunday noght and caused a little confusion, as we werent really expected, so there was no room for us at the station. By us I mean 3 other girls from the school and me, by the way. So, we had to move to the cabinas which are cared for by locals in the Park. Its quite comfortable here and we have got running water and electricity. Only problem is no phone, no Internet and no bus or anything.. It takes like 45 minutes to get to the Station by Taxi. We settled in quite well, although we had to move twice since we are here.. Students arriving and going and we moved to the station, without electricity, rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus the occational dessert, which was rice pudding by the way, who would have guessed... Oh well. The people are all really nice here, all staff and volunteers and I get to practice my Spanish, which is going rather well, as long as I ask the questions and people are not
party pictures..
thought I owe you some... trying to tell me, that the washing machine is broken or something... But I will get there! Its quite hot here, which is good! But we are building a hatchery for all those tiny little turtles at the moment and that means, we are spending like 5 hours a day on the beach, sifting and shoveling sand in a 15 x 5m area.. Its hard work, but I seem top be getting used to it and am not aching with every move anymore.. We got our Training for the Patrols on Monday so were sent on Turtle watch that night straight away. It all sounded so exciting. So, as son as we see a turtle, we are meant to measure it, check for marks, check for tags and if we are lucky enough to have seen it in time, we have to try and catch the eggs in a plastic bag, before the turtle closes the hole. the whole process takes about 1 hour plus 30 minutes for the relocation of the eggs, if we have to relocate due to the location. First option is always toi leave them where they are though. Hope this all makes sense... Anyway. Went
on my first patrol from 8- 12pm on Monday. I was so excited. It was quite light ono the beach and as we are not allowed to use our torches, it was very helpful. Although I tripped abyway, several times, ripped my pants, but didnt fall! So, we walking on the soft sand, the stars and the moon lighting the way, the sea on the rioght, the forest on the left. it was so beautiful, I saw like a million stars, it was so clear!!! And the all those fireflies and some other bugs that were glowing in the sand! I was like, wow, I can do this, this will be fun, lets find a turtle!! After about 2 hours of walking in the freaking soft sand, tripping over logs and other things, my mood turned quite quickly!! You see, we were alking in a group of 5 or so, no one said anything and you are left alone with yours thoughts, a good thing generally, but after 2 hours I just wanted to go home! Had enough! I wa so relieved, when w finally handed over the bags to the next group! Ahhh! Finally went to bed at 1am
Birthday girl!
with eco-friendly wrapping paper... had to wash off all the sand and stuf! Soo tired!!
I was dreading teh next night, after we worked on the hatchery and my patrol didnt start until midnight! So, kind of weird, but iI went to bed at like 7pm right after dinner. Can you imagine? Its like being a little kid again... Oh well. Woke up in time and started the patrol with about 10 people as we had a school group visiting. So that night, at 1.10 pm I saw my first turtle!!!!! Woohoo!!!! We walked past it at first, but when I saw it, it was soo huge!!! Unfortunately the eggs were añready laid so we had t dig them out. The only thing was, with the big group of students our leader asked us volunteers to keep patroling and just had one volunteer stay with her. So I didnt actually see the whole process which was a real shame!!! anyway, us 3 new people kept walking the beach at night, not really knowing where we were going and I was kind of freaking out with every niose that came from the woods... So we bumped into the other group on sector a, told them
we had seen a turtle and all the students from that group ran off to see it.. mhhh... We walked them, had to also walk them back to their group, which was not back at the meeting point when expected and then we saw 3 signals, meaning another turtle!!!! Students ran oof again.. We after them and so I saw another turtle!!! Woohoo!!! this time I got to see it walk back in the see and also the eggs, 109 of them, plus another 40 off yolkless ones. How amazing!!!!! It was so coll and I was on a mega high for the rst of the night, although, there was not much left of Turtle watch, so less walking the beach!
I have not seen a turtle since Tuesday, so, more walking, but I am slowly getting used to it...
Right, have waffled on for a while! Just wanted to give updates on the Turtle Adventures!!
Thanks for all emails and ecards for my B-day! Got to celebrate a bit, but am not allowed to drink anything in the park, which is fine though!
Have a great weekend everybody! Not sure when I will get access to the Net again!
Hasta luego!
Katrin
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Mama u. Papa
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Happy Birthday
Hallo Katrin, herzliche Glückwünsche zu Deinem Geburtstag senden Dir, Mama, Papa, Andrea - Carsten, Thorsten. Wir hoffen du hast einen schönen Tag mit den Schildkröten und deinen Freundinnen.Wir hoffen du hast eine grosse Geburtstagstorte mit Kerzen bekommen wie sich das gehört,oder? Mach weiter so,bleib wie du ist wir haben dich lieb. Liebe Grüsse von denen , die zu Hause geblieben sind. Papa und Mama