On the fourth day of our volunteer program, a Monday, our first organized outing was planned. Everyone, including the nine or so biology students, and the two principal investigators of the research project (Dr. Spotila and Bibi Santidrian), joined us volunteers on a leisurely long walk along the beach to a black sand paradise where we could swim in calmer waters. Along the way we had some marine biology lessons as we investigated the tidepools, seeing creatures such as sea urchins, water snakes, and numerous fish. The photos cannot adequately convey the lush beauty of the area.
The fifth day was very special, as an estuary tour on a boat was planned for us. You know the ride at Disneyland, the jungle cruise? Well, it really was like that, only better because it was real. The estuary is like a wide swampy river with many twists, kind of like a maze. It's all lined with mangroves, and all the animals and sounds of the rain forest, with the exciting addition of crocodiles. We ended up seeing about six of them, and many exotic birds. Our tour guide was famous for spotting the wildlife and for imitating their sounds, especially that of the howler monkey. He seemed to call them out for us when we went looking for them on the walking part of the tour, for suddenly we had a show above us, complete with a baby monkey. The show also included one cheeky monkey liquidly relieving itself onto an unsuspecting volunteer below.... just a little bit though. She actually wasn't the least bit upset, cause how many people can say they had a monkey pee on them in Costa Rica? The most awesome part of the tour was when we got back on the boat, and he stopped it at particularly pretty spot asking if anyone wanted a banana. What a great idea, I thought.... tropical fruit in the tropics, right? But THEN he broke out some pineapples and cut them up for us. It was the best pineapple ever. Perfect.
That evening's shift was more exciting than usual. Melanie and I were on the same team and we were lucky enough to see an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle come up to nest. This turtle is itself amazing in size, although it is only roughly half that of the still elusive Leatherback. When we were finished with our patrol duty, it was just after midnight, and some of the biologists felt inclined to go over to Kike's Place for a relaxing drink. The place was just closing, but the turtle researchers are so well known there by Kike and his family, that we were welcomed to hang out at the bar all by ourselves to drink and then to close up the place when we left. So we enjoyed the great Costa Rican rum with Coke, then four of us went for a late night swim and game of waterball. Good times, good times.
|  | 
|
