hueveros

breakdown of last week:

we had a group of american first-year college students come for a week...it was really strange to hear so much English! it´s amazing how much i´m used to hearing three other languages and just not knowing what anyone is saying. unfortunately for them, a storm blew through and it rained nonstop all week. they´re gone now, and the camp feels quiet. but i like it. back to our little family. back to the stream of german, spanish, and english mixed together like gallo pinto.

all was quiet on the turtle front. baby turtles were sleeping as the rain pounded on the sandy ceiling above them, and we passed the quiet hours with Uno, ipods, and books. thank god i brought my hammock...it´s the perfect rainy afternoon nap location :)

last night was eventful...i´ll just say first for the record that everyone is safe.
local Ticos occasionally come to the beach to steal turtle eggs. we call them ¨hueveros¨. they carry sticks and wade across the river ( which has crocodiles) and sneak the eggs. luckily, we have patrol duty all night long. last night was the first night they´ve showed up since i´ve been here. as soon as they were spotted, wilbur, one of the leaders of the camp, ran back to wake up the big guys. they brought out all our machetes that we use to clear the trail, and alejandro´s BB guns.
all night as i walked up and down the 2 km beach, scenarios ran through my mind like a thriller movie...how i would react, if i was wearing dark enough clothes... it gave me a great boost of adrenaline, but in retrospect i´m very glad that all i saw were two guys running off in the bushes, spooked by our flashlights and the machetes in hand.
the good news? many turtles last night! better news? we saved every single egg. in 45 days, they`ll hatch and i´d sit on the beach with a BB gun just to make sure they get to the ocean. it´s so amazing to see their little flippers frantically moving as they run with dogged determination into the waves.

another sunday, another day off. after a week of rain, the sunshine today feels like a gift and I can´t wait to run into the sea. life feels so good here. like the rush of california doesn´t exist, and we can just play on the beach in the sun, knowing that there are hundreds of baby turtles out there somewhere.