Back home...

They said that the first few weeks upon returning home would be the toughest to handle....they are.  It's been now two weeks since Im back home in Toronto, and I find myself a little bit lost...lost in my thoughts, feelings and memories....sometimes even a little alone.  It's great to be with the family, that's the good part, I love them so much.  When one is away, we feel as if it is only our life that changes...but everyone else's life goes on as well...my family, my nephews, they've all gone through things that I was not there to see happen except through pictures...well, now Im here.

Anyway....yesterday all returning summer internship students got together, and we had a dinner and debrief meeting; it was short, but pleasant.  We shared some of our experiences and soon realized that we're all going through an adjustment period at this moment...which is a little tough.  I got to spend some time with Alex and Danai, two great guys who worked with me during our internship in Tortuguero,Costa Rica for 3 months.  I'm lucky that the company that I worked with "COTERC" is actually Canadian...so I have already been able to see a few of the people back here whom I worked with over there, six so far, and I still hope to see the rest at some point.

As you already know...I didn't just do this 3 month internship, but I was away for 9 months prior to that in Europe.  After a whole year of being abroad, so many places visited, many newly found lifelong friends, and beautiful memories, where do I go from here?  Who knows.

I am taking things one day at a time and dealing with many feelings, some good some bad.  I like to concentrate on the good of course.  I'm a little nervous and uncertain about the future, but always keeping a possitive attitude with optimism.  I love life and I intend to live it fully.  We gotta teach ourselves to make the most of the present, cause we sometimes tend to dwell in the past, or look too far into the future, which is good to prepare for of course..but...it's so unpredictable, that we can't plan everything, we shouldn't, cause one never knows what may cross our path...and when those moments do come along, it's time to make decisions.  That is how we build our life, by making those important, life altering decisions.

I'll be graduating from my International BA this year 2011/2012. To me, this is a great accomplishment and Im very proud of myself for having come this far (although I still have 6 more months to go)...time flies, take it from me...I still feel 20!

I am glad I did all this, deciding to go back to studies in my late 20's and getting involved in these two unbelievable abroad experiences...I feel lucky.

I think there are a few people who I should thank for being possitive influences, for believing in me, and for understanding when they didn't agree on my decisions.  As I always say...people are always put in our path for a reason, we become who we are, with the influence of others, and luckily, I've surrounded myself with wonderful people....they've helped me grow as a person, even if they don't know it...I will thank them, one by one.

Life, life, life...Im letting mine be run by love, professionally, personally....always.  I really believe that if I continue to do this, whatever life brings will be no less than an amazing journey..and I can't wait to start it.  Cause, the 20's were great!!!, but they say life begins at 30...right?? lol  Well, off to a great start :)...two years down, many more to go, we'll see what comes my way...love perhaps?

Maybe I will write another blog....

Peace

BABY TURTLES OFFICIALLY HATCHING

Today we excavated 4 nests!!!

Last days..can't help but get a little happy :D

@ 5 days to my departure from Costa Rica...

Some things worth mentioning that happened today at Cano Palma...

-I counted 18 Golden Orb spiders on their webs just outside my dormitory door.

-Saw 15 Toucans fly over the canal following each other...unusual! but very cool :)

-Got caught in the rainstorm while walking the beach this morning.

-Excavated a turtle nest and found 5 dead baby turtles.  A local couple was watching us at work with their daughters.  Their 3yr old started crying her eyes out when we had to put the dead babies back into the hole   :(  Her exact words were (sobbing) : "Why didn't they get oouuuut?? why could they not come out and swim to the water like the other baby turtles?? why do you want to bury them, why?? :( :( so sad and difficult to explain death to a 3yr old baby. This is her...her name was Aiden...very cute little girl.



-Went into the forest with Lauren, with wellies on and covered in mosquito repellent...did the mosquitoes care? nope...they followed ME only ME all the way anyway.

-Lauren walked into a spider web in the forest hehehhe :D

-We found a brood of Honduran tent-making white bats, a poison dart frog and a HUGE JAGUAR! ok...not the jaguar :P....just shared our thoughts on what our reaction would be if we saw one. RUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!! as if we'd have a chance.

- I took a shower in our beautiful state of the art outdoor roofless showers, and saw several monkeys, including babies on their mothers' backs, jumping (no...throwing) themselves from one tree to the next aiming for the branches :D

-Found Maggie, our guard dog...laying lazily on one of the dormitory beds, which she's prohibited to do. ayyyyy maggieeee...was that my fault? Probably. OK, MOST LIKELY. hehehe

-Lauren and I stayed alone for the night at the station...it got dark and there was a blackout!, what are the chances!! but Carlitos...our very loved and appreciated cook came to visit...we put on some candles, and he played the guitar and sang for us a whole hour :)

MORNING GLORY!!!

A very productive and successful beach morning walk today at CANO PALMA, Tortuguero- Monitoring Sea Turtle nests

WALK START TIME: 5:40AM

WALK END TIME: 9:45AM

Team: Lauren V, Melissa Z.

Adult tracks seen: 21

Nests hatched: 1

142 hatched babies

5 live Hatchlings found in nest stuck in tree roots...we took them to the sea :)



Started our walk with a beautiful sunrise...

This is an example of the adult tracks we find on the beach...this one is a Hawksbill turtle track

The tracks of baby green turtles making it to the ocean...when we walk the beach each morning, this is what we look for...TRACKS.  Location of adult tracks are recorded and followed to the nest...we check if the turtle actually  nested, attempted to nest or just did a loop and turned back to sea.  If the turtle did nest...we check for signs of poaching (people's footprints, stick holes in the sand, dog prints or an open chamber if someone actually took the eggs....we then record all this information and keep an eye for untouched nests to hatch two months later.

More adult turtle tracks...

When we see something like this....then we know a nest hatched.  These are baby turtle tracks...many of them all the way to the ocean...

We follow these tracks until we find the nest they're coming from...then we dig it up.  We need to dig it up not only to see if there are still any live hatchlings trying to get out, but also to count the number of hatched eggs, rotten ones, predated ones, and those that did not develop into a full turtle but died inside the egg.

This time, Lauren dug the nest and I kept count of the eggs and identified them.  Those that never hatched, we open one by one in order to see which stage of development the baby hatchling made it to.  Sometimes we open eggs that have maggots in them or fungi THESE STINK!...luckily, this time, it was a very clean successful nest....(that unopened egg u see in the picture is the only one that did not hatch...the hatchling was not fully developped).

This is one of the 5 live hatchlings we found inside the nest, tangled in roots...isn't it cute?!?!?! :)

See our excited faces?!?! :D :D :D

Just saying hi to baby :D

These two were next...

Some of our Excavation kit: We bring...latex gloves to handle the eggs, measuring tape used to measure the depth of the nest, a GPS for the location, pad and pencils to record our findings....and....LOTS OF WATER!! It gets very very hot and humid...all I can say for excavations besides excitement!! is....SWEAT, STINK, EXAUSTION... 

...AND THERE THEY GO!!! Baby turtles to the Sea...

A little rest stop...

Then we took a nice 15 min swim in the ocean before our walk back to the station, on the hot sand under the sun...

Ohh CRAP.....sorry.....crab!!!

COTERC @ CANO PALMA

-Life at a Biological Station-

You come to work for a certain project, but you'll always end up learning more than expected, since we can choose to get involved in other several areas...time permiting. Coterc has people like us monitoring the beaches for turtle nesting and poaching, others doing bird banding, creating large mammal transacts, collecting data and working on multiple projects regarding local reptiles and amphibians, ethnobotany...u name it, if you want to learn, this is the place to be.

I had to learn to maneuver the canoe to be able to cross the canal to go to work every morning and night. Yes, my transportation to work,... a canoe.

You'll have people coming in and out of the station everytime...u gotta be an easy going person, tolerant of others, and cooperative...if you're not...u won't last in a place like this.

Chores are shared here at the station...we all have duties to fulfill in order to keep the place tidy and in order.  We make schedules and take turns sweeping, cleaning toilets and showers, doing dishes, and even cooking (We have to cook for ourselves whenever we have less than 10 people here, otherwise, a cook comes in for larger groups.)

We take temperature, precipitation, canal water depth, humidity, and cloud cover data every day and every evening.

We feed all leftover food to the fish in the canal, and any meat leftovers go to JUANCHO THE CAYMAN! he's like our pet :)

Be quiet around the dorms at any time of the day or night...here at the station, we work very very early or late at night until early morning.  There is always someone sleeping or taking a nap...you need to be considerate.

Ear plugs are a big help when there are a lot of people here....sharing a dormitory with noisy wooden floors, and people passing by all the time (sometimes like horses!) u neeeeeeedddd those!!

Showers- Cold only...but it is so hot and humid here that most of the time, you won't want it any other way.  There is the occassion however, that you do miss a nice hot bath.  The showers are outside (they have doors of course, but no roof) and you can see the rainforest canopy while taking a shower in the day, and you will see the stars at night. You'll get a little shower companion now and then...a cute lizard, a fat toad, our mosquito friends and spiders....so you'll have an audience...don't be shy!!!

As soon as you get out of the shower, you will start sweating again...make a decision, either be clean and take lots of showers during the day,..OR give up like most and stay stinky...everyone gets stinky in this place! :S

Early in the morning, around 4:30am, the howler monkeys will wake you up...if you need your beauty sleep...again...think EARPLUGS.

If you want to see lots and lots of monkeys, the spider monkeys, play in the trees around the station in the early evenings, around 4:30-5pm...sometimes they have their babies on their back too :), is fun to watch them.

We do NOT walk barefoot on the grass, USE THE PATHS...if you don't use the path or put some shoes on...the army ants will be all over your beautiful toes....and believe me, it hurts!!!

You gotta watch where you're walking or you'll walk right into a spider web...there are lots of those in these forests AND around the station.  They love it right outside the toilets too, watch your head!...but don't be scared, they're harmless :)

Hot day? free from work? cross the canal on a kayak, and go for a swim at the pool of Vista al Mar...the hotel accross the street. Bring your $2 each time...they need some money to maintain the pool...it's not a fancy place....but a nice gettaway to relax.

Take some time everyday to admire the nature around you. Look up at the stars, listen to the ocean waves, to birds singing and monkeys howling...watch the trees sway with the wind, and get soaked in the pouring rain now and then,... enjoy the beauty of CANO PALMA.



WK 11 @ CANO PALMA pics- PART II