Cano Palma Biological Station- Day 2 (June 16th)

I arrived to San Jose, Costa Rica yesterday and was picked up by a pre-reserved taxi to bring me to my hostel "Gaudy's Backpackers hostel".  The place was really great! it had everything, flatscreen TV with movies, pool table, fooseball table, hammock, kitchen...anyway, it was a very comfortable one night stay.  At the hostel I met three very nice guys, Roland from Switzerland, Noam from Israel, and his friend, who unfortunately I do not remember his name at the moment :S, they were all very sweet.  Noam and his friend took the taxi with me yesterday morning, so that we could take the buses together to the canal which would take us to Tortuguero...it was a very cool ride :) On a roofed motor boat that held about 25 people.  It started raining while on the boat and they gave us all these huge rain ponchos to wear.  I was the only person who would get off the boat at Cano Palma Biological Station, as all the others on the boat were tourists, including Noam and his friend. So they let me off at the station, and the manager, Todd Lewis, was waiting for me sitting on the dock bench.  Todd is a very nice guy, an ecologist, who's specializing in reptiles, he's one of those people you can learn a lot from.
Upon my arrival, Todd gave me a tour of the station and introduced me to the other interns that I would be living the next three months with.  The station is all surrounded by thick forest, the sound of insects and birds is constant day and night.  Lots of bugs, but luckily, I have only gotten a couple of mosquito bites so far...the rooms are netted, as are the beds. I have not seen any bugs in my room except for the odd ant. 
I am sleeping in a dormitory room of 6 beds, which is empty, so I am the only occupant.  The same goes for the other 2 interns who are working with me at the station, Danai and Alex, they both have their own dormitory room of 6 beds, but since at the moment there are only 5 of us at the station, we have our own big room meant for 6 people :) The only people who are here right at the moment are Todd, April, who is my direct supervisor on the turtle monitoring program, Danai, and Alex.  There will be another girl, Lauren, arriving in 5 days, and she will be working with me everyday with the turtles.  The rest of the people who will be here, which are all mainly volunteers, will be arriving around mid-july.

So far I have not seen any of the mammals yet, but I was told that I will for sure within a week's time.  I did see a cayman (crocodile) in the canal right in front of the station.  Todd threw a rib bone into the water, and the cayman appeared out of nowhere within 30 seconds to fetch it :D.  I have also heard the tucans' calls throughout the day.

Anyway, I have been given the "morning patrol protocol" for the turtle walks today, and tomorrow will be my first long walk on the beach....hard work ahead.  It gets very hot and humid here, so it will be a little challenge to walk on the sand for 9 miles in the heat.  We each need to take 1-2L of water to remain hydrated. I will be taught all the methods used during a turtle walk for tagging, recording information on turtle tracks, and taking measurements. Once I get up and running, get tested by my direct supervisor, and once I am able to do all the procedures on my own, I will then become a Patrol Leader and will be leading the volunteers on the turtle walks myself. Exciting times to come!! :)...

I feel very happy to be here, and I am so excited that I will be acquiring so many new skills and techniques...this is an amazing learning experience!

I will try to post pictures soon...(I'm having a bit of camera downloading trouble...but I will figure it out :P )