Advertisement
Published: July 16th 2010
There is quite a bit that I left out in my blogs that needed some clarification and explanations. I would like to start and talk about the Costa Rican Life.
After spending 5 weeks down at La Tortuga Feliz, I have seen and learned so many new and different things. The locals that surrounded us were friendly. They are normally shy and timid in nature, but are very fond of the women. They are always trying to persuade them to make them their girlfriends, give them gifts, smooth talk them, but they are also very respectful of them. They gawk at women in bathing suites but nudity is not allowed on the beach, and so they find that offensive. It is a small island so everybody knows everybody for the most part.
The guides that we have working for the project used to be poachers. Some of them just see this is a job and just want to earn money, but others are very fond of the work and research and do it because they like it. These guides are amazing people, and because they are ex poachers, they know almost everything about the beaches, the turtles, etc. They know who the poachers are on the island, but rarely do they ever talk to them. I really enjoyed working alongside with them.
There are rules that we as volunteers must follow. There is a no confrontation policy rule, which is basically saying we cannot confront poachers at any time. If they are collecting eggs all we can do is just keep walking and not engage in conversation or anything. Another rule is whoever finds a turtle first, its theirs. There are among many other rules we must abide, such as what not to bring or do on patrols and hatchery shifts; rules on handling turtles, etc.
Poachers will kill green turtles. They eat the eggs and the meat too. They consider the eggs as an aphrodisiac. They can earn up to 600 dollars for poaching a turtle and taking the eggs. They sometimes drag the turtle up in the jungle and either hang it in a tree or bury it in the sand, then come back the next day and slaughter it. I think in the past there has been one group of volunteers who were unfortunate to see poachers killing a turtle, and I am thankful I did not witness such things on my trip. With leatherbacks, its different. Whenever we find a green turtle on the beach, we stay with it until it returns back into the water, which can take up to 2 hours. With leatherbacks, its different. Poachers only take the eggs but leave the adult there. Because these turtles eat jellyfish, the locals believe eating the meat would be fatal, so they just dont bother with killing them.
The food is very good. Everyday it has been rice and beans, and beans and rice. It does get repetitive, but its always delicious. Breakfasts were usually pancakes, with fruit, and beans with rice. Lunch, well, it was usually the same, but for the most part it was either soup, or pasta, or hamburgers. For dinner, it was either pizza, chicken, and on occasion soup. The coffee was ok. Took some time to get used to it but it was drinkable.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0484s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Shaun
non-member comment
OMG how could you live without good coffee...I bet you missed the Blueberry Iced Coffees from Dunks. haha. That is fortunate that you did not witness poachers killing turtles. That is crazy that they can get so much money from poaching a turtle and its eggs. Is there any truth about the leatherbacks meat being dangerous because it eats jellyfish? Also did you see any cool things wash up on shore or did you see any other cool wildlife or tidal pools?