There are too many words to describe this trip, exciting, exhilarating, thrilling, incredible, and many more. Working with these kids from Costa Rica was something that I have never experienced before. When I met them, we didn't talk much but throughout the days we started breaking the ice and I found out that they were really nice people. When we talked the most was during the night patrols. Even though they were exhausting, our conversations kept us busy. We talked about life, school, the trip, and sometimes very random things that in the end, was very fun. There was one in particular that was the prankster; every time we patrolled he pulled pranks on us, he was a very nice guy. He tripped us, told us jokes and we did the same thing to him.
When we found a turtle it was so spontaneous and hard to accept. The turtle was the size of a bed! When we took the measurements we had to start from the back of the shell and head to the front. There was a moment in which I made eye contact with the turtle. It had a very piercing look with eyeballs the size of a golf ball and when I looked at her she gave me this feeling of wisdom, and regret. I really can't describe the feeling, it was just so powerful and prudent, it was unbelievable. When I touched her shell it was like touching an old leather book, and the skin was smooth and cold.
Later in the trip we had the miraculous chance to watch the baby turtles go out of their nest and go towards the ocean. I filled my whole camera with pictures of them, it was so remarkable. I couldn't believe that something as small as a computer mouse could grow to be the size of a door! Three days after the hatchlings left their nest we had to go back to it and take out all the shells of the eggs and open the ones that hadn't been born. It was sort of disgusting but I really had fun doing it, especially because of the faces my companions made. The whole process was very amusing. First we had to grab a sharp object and make a hole in the egg. Second we had to open the egg pouring the yolk in our hands. If there was no embryo visible the instructor had to search for it. There were four stages of the embryo: first where it is only a white dot, second when it is a little more visible, third stage when it's a third of the size its supposed to be, and last when it is the size it was supposed to be but just didn?t hatch.I will never forget Costa Rica: the friends I made, the remarkable encounters with turtles, and the showers!?
2 comments:
This was a pretty good description of the trip by Mike. The turtle was really impressive not only because of it's big size, but also the noises it makes and the way it looks. The kids we worked with in there were also really cool and I still mantain contact with with them. The rest of the trip was also a lot of fun, especially the rafting part. Five hours of fun with a wet lunch stop, I say wet lunch because it started to rain a lot when we were eating and there was no roof to cover the food or anything, it was fun.
Our trip to Costa Rica is an experience I will take with me for my entire life. I surely recommend it.
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