Costa Rica: Post-Trip Reflection

It’s almost surreal to already be back in Ann Arbor–the 2 weeks that we spent in Costa Rica definitely flew by! I am insurmountably grateful to have had the opportunity to volunteer at the Ostional Wildlife Refuge, to experience Costa Rica’s beautiful and vibrant culture in the short time that we had, and to bond with some fellow members of my EGL (formerly) new-admit class on the VA trip.

One part of volunteering at Ostional that I had not anticipated was getting the chance to bond with a diverse camaraderie of non-EGL volunteers: there were university students from Spain and Germany, a 30-something-year-old man from Canada, a girl who had just graduated from high school in New York, and a marine biology student from Florida.  It was a great experience getting to know them during our shifts and our free time at the station, and it goes without saying that we are envious of the volunteers who will be spending 4 months in Ostional!

Regarding the work that we did at the refuge, I am so thankful to have been able to contribute to sea turtle research through our night shifts and transectos, and to have worked so up-close with Olive Ridley turtles during the arribada.  It was such an amazing experience! We will miss the beautiful country that is Costa Rica, everybody at the station, surfing in the afternoon, salsa lizano and gallo pinto, our kind and welcoming host families…among so many other things that we can’t possibly list in one blog post. We are immensely grateful, and we cannot thank EGL, Maximo Nivel, the Ostional Wildlife Refuge, and our incredible Costa Rican host families enough for helping make this once-in-a-lifetime experience possible for us!

Already looking forward to next summer’s VA trip!

-Monica

Costa Rica 2017: Days 4-6

8/17/2017

We finished our first night patrol and it was amazing! We had to be very cautious of where we walked because the beach was full of turtles from the arribada. It was all hands on deck throughout the night. We were a group of seven and everyone was busy. We counted the number of eggs being laid, the time to lay the eggs, measured the size of the turtles, and checked for any tags on the turtles to see where they came from.

The hardest job ended up being protecting the turtles that we were analyzing from other turtles. The beach was so concentrated with turtles that it is very common for them to run into each other when trying to find a spot to lay eggs. We quickly learned that Olive Ridley turtles are very strong and persistent. We were sweating by the end of the night because we had to redirect so many turtles.

We all got a late start after a five hour night patrol. Fortunately we had the day off as most of our work will be during the evening while the arribada continues. We spent a large part of our time playing cards and learning new games from the other volunteers that are at the conservation. It has been amazing to meet them and learn why they chose to come to Ostional to aid the efforts to conserve the turtle population. We have been able to meet people from all over Europe, North America, and Central America.

Tonight we start transectos. This is a method that the conservation uses to keep track of the turtle population and they present the numbers from this work to the national government. To complete the transectos we walk up the beach, starting from the tide line, with a 2 meter pole. Any turtles that are laying eggs, in range of the pole, are counted. We do this for every 50 meters along the beach. We repeat this process every two hours starting at 8p.m. and ending at 6.a.m.

 

8/18/2017

The transectos were a long night for everyone. I think we are starting to become nocturnal. The number of turtles coming up onto the beach seems to be decreasing. I think the arribada is slowing down.

Everyone has been finding a new routine here to pass the time until our night shifts starts. Starting with getting up late from the night shifts. We decided to all go for a swim in the Pacific Ocean. It was amazing, we could have stayed in the water all day.

Reed has seemed to find a new host family at the local pizzeria. This is the most popular restaurant in the small town of Ostional.  The favorite item among Reed and the other volunteers has been the smoothies, specifically the pineapple and watermelon flavor. After trying it for myself, I would have to agree with the other volunteers, it is absolutely delicious.  Christian, however, still argues that the lemon smoothie is the best.

Monica, Derek, and Andong have been the fitness conscientious of the group and have been going out for morning runs on the beach.

Christian and myself have been learning how to cook traditional Costa Rican dishes from our host mother. Our favorite dish has been fried plantains which seems to pair perfectly with every meal.

 

 

8/19/2017

Just finished another night of transectos, we recorded very few turtles last night. The leaders have said that the arribada has finished. We were so lucky to be able to experience this phenomenon. After a number of long nights working with the turtles, we have been allowed to take the next three days off to experience more of Costa Rica and prepare ourselves for post arribada volunteer work.

Christian, Reed, myself, and another volunteer, Ben, decided to go for a swim during our time off. During our swim we experienced a different, more unruly, side of the Pacific Ocean. We had a slight scare but I am happy to say that we all made it out safely. I’m sure we all learned a lesson about the strength of oceanic rip currents and the importance of swimming in groups.

After a tense swim in the ocean, we all decided to take a calm walk on the beach and soak in the full beauty of the conservation. Reed made some friends with some of the many dogs in Ostional and the rest of us explored some rock formations that stretched out into the ocean.

On our walk back to the station, we got caught in Costa Rica’s winter weather. Not even the constant downpour could not dampen our mood as we are set to take the next few days off and visit Tamarindo.

Hasta Proxima! (Por la segunda vez)

-Richard

Costa Rica 2017: Days 1-3

Buenos Días from Costa Rica!

We’ve finally made it to our VA country and wow a lot has passed!

8/14/2017

Last night when we arrived in San Jose, we were greeted with Costa Rican “winter” weather: a constant downpour of rain… When I checked the Apple Weather app, it would apparently rain during our entire time here! Thankfully, the rainy weather only lasts from late afternoon to evening time.

We got up early in the morning to enjoy a wonderful breakfast made by our host, Vicky Ortega!

Then, we made our walk over to the Maximo Nivel institute for our orientation, enjoying the views of the city along the way!

During our orientation, our guide Nina (fun fact: Derek and Nina went to the same high school) gave us information about the country’s culture, safety tips, emergency contacts, and all that other exciting orientation information.

What truly got me pumped about this trip is the Arribadas: a rainy season that usually lasts three days in which literally thousands of sea turtles would come up on to the beach and lay their eggs! We were lucky enough to arrive at a time where there’s a good chance for this natural phenomenon would occur… fingers still crossed!

The day was still young after our orientation, so our group explored the city of San Jose, finding amazing sights and meeting interesting people!

When we were looking to buy mosquito nets, we met another traveler. He was a British middle-aged man who seemed pretty happy to talk to us! He stressed the importance of finding a moment to just be alone, take in your surroundings, and try to reach a moment of revelation…

We ended our day with a very fun and tiring Salsa dance class! Though after that, I guess my moment of revelation was that I am a very poor dancer!

8/15/2017

We got up even earlier today to take a bus to our mainstay for the trip: Ostional. This was a draining, crowded 7-hour bus ride, but I’d like to think our spirits were still undeterred.

We arrived to the small coastal town, lugging our bags down a beaten path to the conservation station. Nina introduced us to the project coordinator, Jairo. He will be scheduling shifts for us while we are here. We also met other volunteers: Maggie, Ben, and Tarek who are staying for a longer time.

Reed and I then met up with our host family’s mother to get settled in to our new home, 75 meters north of the station. Her name is Nery Para Reyes, an owner of a small hotel in which we will be staying in. She also has a three-month-old puppy named Osita who quickly found a place in my heart!

It was already late evening at that time, but Jairo organized a time for us to go see the turtles! Even more good news: the arribadas were occurring this week while we are here! You’ll have to take my word for it now until I can show y’all with a picture, but during that evening, there were hundreds of sea turtles out laying their eggs. There were so many that I had a hard time to not walk into one!

8/16/2017

Today we begin our first night shift of the trip! Before we do that, the group meets up at 2:00 to go over another general orientation, specifically about the turtles that we are working with. The majority of the turtles that we will encounter are Olive Ridleys, also called Loras!

There are seven stages to their egg laying process: 1. Arrival on the beach 2. Finding a spot to dig oneself into 3. Dig hole to lay the eggs 4. Lay eggs from anywhere from 50 to over a hundred eggs 5. Cover eggs with the sand 6. Camouflage the spot 7. Return back to the ocean. This process usually takes 45 minutes – 1 hour but can be longer.

Our job for our night patrol was to find turtles in stage 3, count how many eggs were laid, measure the turtle, and finally tag it if not tagged already.

Not many turtles show up during the day in the arribadas, but that is why most of our shifts will take place from 8pm to as late as 6am.

I can’t wait to talk more about our patrols here and our other Ostional experiences!

Adios till then!

-Derek

 

 

 

Day 0: Costa Rica Pre-Departure Excitement!

Hola!

After about 7 months of anticipation, it is hard to believe that in 24 hours, I will be landing in San Jose, Costa Rica! I am so grateful to have this opportunity with EGL to volunteer abroad, to thoroughly immerse myself in Costa Rican culture, and to assist in sea turtle conservation in Ostional. We have everything all packed and ready to go, and we even got our “trip crisis” out of the way early with one of our members forgetting his passport in Ann Arbor when he’s flying out of Texas–but we got it averted in less than 5 minutes, qué dicha!

To give a little preview of the types of activities that we will be doing at the wildlife refuge, the six of us will be relocating turtle nests into hatcheries, partaking in nightly beach patrols to help prevent turtle egg poaching, helping with beach cleanup, as well as supporting various tasks within the local community when we aren’t directly working with sea turtles on the coast.  We are all beyond excited for this incredible opportunity to experience the country’s vibrant culture, and to explore the myriad of Costa Rica’s beautiful sites.

I can barely contain my excitement for the next 2 weeks, and the Costa Rica VA group is looking forward to sharing all of our experiences post by post on this blog!

Pura Vida!

– Monica Bian