Costa Rica Venture

We woke up early on the morning of the 15th to trek out of the rainforest and start our next adventure under the sun.  The group hiked with great speed, following the twists and turns of the Rio Savegre until we reached the trail's end.  Melanie and Callie led the way, encouraging us all to tackle the hills (and the mud!) with adventurous spirits, while respecting the beautiful natural surroundings.  Upon reaching San Isidro de El General, we hopped on a bus and travelled toward Uvita, a range of beaches just past Dominical in the province of Puntarenas.  After settling into our tents at El Chaman campground in Marino Ballena National Park, we headed to the beach to catch some afternoon rays.  Audrey took to the soft black sand immediately, burying herself until she became invisible to the nearby eye, while Maria and Louisa used the smooth surface to show us their brilliant soccer and juggling skills.  The following day, surf lessons began in the warm water of the southern Pacific.  Graham stunned us all with his spring-board arms, as he popped up onto the surf board with ease, while Maddie revealed her potential future as a professional surfer!  Before our second set of lessons in the afternoon, we visited the nearby waterfalls (cataratas de Uvita) where Emily received a natural mud mask from a local shaman, and Jillian swung like a monkey from a rope swing into a deep pool of water beneath a catarata.  Later in the afternoon, Carlie befriended two Costa Rican children and happily chatted and played with them in the sand, and Elizabeth likewise shined as a kind and caring soul by continuously giving hugs and smiles to all those around.  The big waves came out on our second full day of surfing, but Catherine showed no fear, and rode a monster wave all the way to shore, and Keira surfed with such gusto that she actually broke two leashes!  That night, while Leia was relaxing in a hammock between two coconut trees, she was serenaded by precious little ones staying at the same campground, and we all slept peacefully under the nearly full moon.  Today we surfed one last time, packed up, and headed to El Cairo where we will stay the night before taking a boat ride tomorrow morning to the mouth of the Pacuare River for the turtle section of our trip.  Be in touch again soon! 

  Trip Update 7-28-08

Day 12 - July 21,

After surfing in Uvita, we had a full day of travel with which to cross the country. During the bus ride we all jammed-out to some all-time favorites via Mollie and Marc´s ipods.  We arrived at night to the Rios Tropicales Operations Center. This was our stopover before heading to the Pacuare National Reserve to work with Ecology Project International (EPI)

After a fresh buffet-style breakfast, we hopped on a bus to head to the boat launch point of La Trocha.  This ride took us through very rural pueblitos, or tiny towns, and down some quite bumpy banana plantation roads.  One can feel the Caribbean vibe strongly here, with the abundance of palm trees and prevalence of the calypso-influenced music.  At La Trocha, we boarded two boats and made way up the canal to the north station of the Pacuare Reserve.  On the way, we saw two sloth, a crocodile, and beautiful birds.  Keira snapped tons of photos as she always does.  Upon arrival, we loaded our packs for a 5-minute walk through the forest to the beach-front site.  We would be spending the next three nights in a cabina, 100 meters from the Caribbean Sea.  After lunch, we started our first of several class sessions of turtleology.  We broke into presentation groups to perform the different stages of nesting.  Graham (aka G-Crackah) rocked a rap as his back-up beat-boxers (Callie, Jillian, and Leia) kept the tempo to the turtle dance.  Our instructors said that they had never seen such creativity as our group brought to the camp.  Just before dinner, we picked our night patrol groups:

7:30 - Maddie, Louisa, Keira, Leia

10:00 - Callie, Melanie, Audrey, Maria, Graham

12:00 - Catherine, Elizabeth, Emily, Jillian

Each group over the next three days did each 4-hour patrol session looking for big mama turtles ready to nest and baby tortuguitas, ready for new life.

Day 13

We woke up a little groggy from a late night of patrols, and although we didn't actually see any turtles, the first group did see a false crawl.  This is when the mother turtle comes ashore but returns without nesting.  It was exciting to see the size of its markings.  After breakfast, we took a minute for ourselves before our next class session at 10:00.  Marisol and Sophia, our instructors, briefly explained the life cycles of sea turtles, their habitats, and the threats to their existence.  Graham, Catherine, and Elizabeth had learned lots of this in their 8th grade year, so they were quite excited to get some more hands-on experience.  To lighten things up a bit, the instructors lead us in a game called Bibbity-bittity-bop, which was hysterical.  Maria and Marc found themselves in the center all the time.  We were all ready for lunch at 1:00, and in need of the siesta that followed.  We had a surprise activity for the afternoon that was an amazing treat.  The guides took us across the canal to Julio's Restaurante for an ice-cold Coca Cola Classic and Snicker's bar, but more importantly for a quick Salsa dancing lesson. This led smoothly, however chaotically, into a full-on dance party headed by Callie and Melanie.  They started a dance-off, but then recruited everyone to join them.  Elizabeth and Catherine showed us their Spirit Week dance, which was a choreographed, 4-minute masterpiece.  Audrey showed us some of her break-dance maneuvers before Louisa lead the group in the Superman dance.  Everyone was breaking a sweat and splitting their sides in jaw-bursting laughter.  Upon our return, dinner was waiting for us on the table.  We tried to fill up on some fried chicken and rice & beans for another night patrol.  This time the 2nd shift saw over 50 tracks of baby sea turtles from their trip to the ocean.  Instructors' estimated that they were seconds too late.  A little disappointing, but exciting nonetheless.  A strong storm came in and cut the 3rd shift short.  The group was a bit upset that they could not finish their patrol. 

Day 14

We had a really neat activity planned for after breakfast this day. The instructors split up the group into two smaller groups for a Rain Forest hike around the nature preserve. We split up so that we would not be as loud walking through the jungle and hopefully increase our probability of seeing some wildlife. Both of the instructors had a lot of experience working in the jungle so they were very good at spotting different species of plants and animals. They were recognizing species of birds by the sounds they were making and then they would explain the purpose of those sounds. We all felt very privileged to be working with them. Just after we began our walk, we came upon a family of Howler monkeys moving through the trees. Keira, Leia and Mollie were entranced with how recognizable their features were and how curious they were of us. It is amazing to watch how easily they jump from one limb to another and to realize that was where they live. A little later down the trail we were fortunate enough to spot another species of monkey, the White Face Capachin. They are a bit more aggressive than the Howler, and they too seem very curious of what we were doing. All in all it was a very successful nature walk and we all felt like we had seen something very new and different than what we were used to. We had worked up quite an appetite for lunch, and we were very ready for another siesta to prepare us for our last night of patrols. We took our time relaxing and did not reconvene until 3. For the afternoon activity, we were asked to draw from our imagination a species of our own design, which obviously turned out incredible since we have such an imaginative group.  Before we could present though, we were asked to participate in an excavation of a turtle nest which consists of digging up the sand and checking to see how many eggs hatched and how many did not. As Mollie and Jimbo were digging out the sand, a baby sea turtle was found trying to make its way out. It was super exciting to know that we saved this turtle and had a hand in helping it make its way to the ocean. The other part was a little more scientific. We counted the eggs that hatched, but then we took those eggs that did not hatch and broke them open to see which of development the turtle was in. We returned to the camp after we recorded all the data and got ready for dinner. It was the 10 o'clock shift that had the luck because they actually walked up on a whole nest hatching at once. There must have been 25 turtles all trying to climb their way out of the nest and move towards the water. It was an amazing sight and nobody will forget.

Day 15

The 10 o'clock shift woke up bragging to the others of what an incredible experience it was to see all those little sea turtles at once. We wish everyone could have seen a big mama actually laying the eggs, but we were happy that we were a part of this conservation effort. We had breakfast and then got together to do some closing activities with our instructors. They were very appreciative of our group and how positive everyone was throughout all the activities. We had a chance to show our pictures from the day before and we had flying turtles, all powerful cats, and soaring elephants. It was a good close up session. We headed for the boat dock around 11:00 and were hopeful to see some more wildlife on the way out. We all left feeling a nice sense of accomplishment in our efforts to help with the conservation of sea turtles.

Trip Update 7-28-08

Day 15

We woke up from a good nights rest at the Operations Center in El Cairo. Breakfast at the Ops Center is always plentiful with all you can eat omelets, rice & beans, cereal, and fruit. After we filled up, we headed for the Reventazon River. Over the next few hours, we rafted down class 2 and 3 rapids on the Florida section of the river. This is the rainy season in Costa Rica, and it had been raining for days in Siquirres so the river was very high and very fast. We split up into three boats of six and moved down the river with our full attention. Callie and Kirsten started a chanting war between the boats, but Maddie spoke up quickly with the very clever, "Numero dos has the most!" and before we knew it we were running a very big class 3 rapid called the Upper Bambu. We were all soaked and the water was freezing, but luckily the sun had come out for just a few hours to keep us warm. We ran about 8 miles of the river in about 2 and a half hours. When we got back to the Ops Center, heaping piles of rice & beans with barbecue chicken was waiting for us. A huge rain storm came in after lunch that caused a little delay in our plans. During a short dry spell, we piled in a few cabs and drove to the town square in Siquirres. We made a short stop at the internet cafe where everyone had a chance to check in on life in the states. They concluded that they were not missing out on anything and that Costa Rica was the place to be. They spent the rest of their time wandering through the market and checking out local tiendas where a few of them bought silly shirts, most notably Melanie's rapper t-shirt. Others made a quick stop at the MegaSuper to stock up on some groceries, mainly cookies. Maria "the cookie monster" Olson loaded up on her favorite Costa Rican treats - Chikys. We made it safely back to the Ops Center an hour before dinner to do some reading and relaxing. After dinner, our leaders of the day lead us in a very thoughtful Moon-Up about the most significant life changing moments in our respective lives. It was an emotional and bonding experience. 

Day 16

Before breakfast, we all had to pack for a four day trip on the Pacuare River. We ate quickly and were on the bus by 9:30 headed for the put-in on the river. It was about a 45 minute drive from the Ops Center, and there were a few other boats leaving at the same time so it was going to be a busy day on the Pacuare. We kept the same rowing crews as we had become pretty confident in our skills by this point.  This section had class 2 & 3 rapids until the Rios Tropicales Lodge half way down the river where we would be staying the next three nights. The rain came in strong about an hour in so we didn't stop to eat lunch on the river. We rafter about two hours which was about 8 miles to get to our beautiful camp of cabins built right next to the river. Our guide, Juan, showed us our sleeping quarters which were plenty cozy due in part to the thick rain forest all around the cabin. They served us hot bean dip and watermelon-mango smoothies as an appetizer. At 7, we ate dinner and everybody turned in shortly thereafter from a tiring day on the river.

Day 17

We ate a breakfast of pancakes with honey and maple syrup, fresh pineapple and watermelon, and fried ham.  We would be needing the carbs very soon as we took an hour hike through thick primary rainforest to the small town of El Tigre to do our first day of community service.  At the town school, we were greeted by the young students who were excited to see us.  The girls had learned two dances to Costa Rican pop songs that they performed for us.  The school girls then invited our group to dance along and learn some new Costa Rican moves in the process.  Elizabeth and Emily hopped up and encouraged everyone else to join them in the fiesta.  We all took a breather before starting up a game of Duck-Duck-Goose.  The school children loved this new game that we introduced to them.  After the staff prepared us a delicious lunch, Audrey, Callie, Louisa, and Catherine helped spearhead the tree-planting effort with Jimbo.  They planted about 20 trees around the lot with the intentions of beautifying the property and providing an outdoor learning area.  The rest of the group distributed the gifts we brought for them and spent the rest of the time coloring and playing games.  On our way back we stopped at a soccer field and played 8-vs-8 with some of the school kids.  Jillian, though claiming she never plays soccer, showed great natural ability on the field as she made great passes and burned by her opponents.  The return hike to the lodge was super slippery and adventurous.  Maddie suffered a minor setback as she lost a strap on her Chaco sandals, and had to weather the trail with essentially a shoe and a half.  We made it back to the lodge safely after a challenging hike.  The group cleaned up and got ready for dinner and made it an early night to bed.

Day 18

After waking up for an early breakfast at 8 am, the group was disappointed to find out that the rain would be keeping us from making it to our second day of community service.  It rained heavily all day, and never let-up.  It rained so much that talk surfaced about having to hike out instead of rafting out as the water level was rising too high.  Though they couldn't go back to El Tigre to help again, the group was content with lounging around the beautiful property, reading and having fun with one another.  When the rain died down in the late afternoon, Jillian, Audrey, and Keira took a dip in the on-site lagoon and swam under the waterfall.  It was a nice ending to a mellow day.  After dinner, we packed up with high hopes of running the remainder of the Pacuare River the next morning.

Day 19

We awoke the next morning, anxious to find out whether we would be able to raft out or not.  Fortunately, the water level was just barely under the high water mark.  We loaded up in the same boats and prepared for the 14-mile section of class 3 and 4 rapids. This section was even more beautiful and thrilling than the first leg of the Pacuare.  We passed by breathtaking waterfalls, and through picturesque canyon walls. We needed a lot of strength in the front of each boat this day.  Although Graham was hesitant at first, his raft guide, Juan, took one look at him and pointed to the front left of the boat.  Likewise, Callie, Maria, Audrey, Keira and Louisa helmed the front of their respective rafts and braved the giant rapids head-on. Everyone had an incredible time on this, the test of their previous two days of rafting practice.  We made it to the take-out point after about two and a half hours on the river, and headed back to the Ops Center to gather our belongings and eat a much-needed lunch.  We were just two hours away from our remaining 2-night San Jose stay.  We were looking forward to taking hot showers and combing the streets of the capital for nice souvenirs to give to our friends and family.