Brock On.

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD!

Thursday October 15, 2009:

This was by far my favorite day of our trip. In fact, it was honestly one of the best days of my life. I mean that. Whole Heartedly. It. Was. Amazing. Now let me tell you why...

We had signed up to do a canopy tour this morning. [Side note: Canopy Tour=Zip line] Well, we woke up late, and in our scramble to make our "shuttle" we left our camera in the hotel room. Bummer right? Totally. BUT the canopy tour was amazing. We rode on a bus into the mountains/hills for 45 minutes. The guide explained what we saw, and I really enjoyed seeing the "backcountry" with scattered houses, open fields, rivers and cows. Once we got to where we would take the tour we got to walk through a butterfly conservatory first. So beautiful. These big gorgeous butterflies of all different colors were just fluttering around us and landing on plants and on the walls. We even got to see some cocoons in the process of hatching.

Then it was time to harness up and we were given instructions of how to ride and what to do. Shawn and I both joked that we should have brought our own harnesses [because the fully adjustable ones they had have absolutely NO padding and are not the most comfortable]. So we zipped across the river and then we had to hike up the mountainside for like 15 minutes. Then the fun began! We basically zip-lined from one tree to the next all the way down the mountain side. The workers were really fun and jokesters. They would clip you in, push you off the ledge and then yell "No! Wait! Wait!" like they'd done something wrong and you were going to drop to your death 200 feet below. Thankfully the didn't do it all the time, and they didn't really do it to me or Shawn, but I don't think we were as scared as some of the other people. Actually, the scariest part to me was not the zip-line ride, that was relaxing and very enjoyable; it was waiting for my turn to go next. We would land, then they would clip us in to a cable around a tree, and then we'd have to wait on this 2 foot wide ledge til it was our turn to ride on the next line. Holy Cow looking down was SO scary...and the ledge did not feel very sturdy--sometimes you could feel the whole tree sway. Oh and we didn't just zip-line either. We did 2 rappels and they had a rope swing where they'd clip you in and then you'd swing across to the next stand where a worker would catch you. The whole tour was a blast, and it was wonderful to be up in the trees and to see wildlife. And yeah. Totally glad we did it. Sad we don't have any pictures...but loved it.

We finished up, and they fed us lunch. It was good, and what I would call "authentic" probably because I don't really have any idea what I ate. Then we rode the bus back into town and it poured with rain. Once we got back to our hotel we had nothing else planned for the afternoon. So Shawn suggested we take the rental car and try and find the sea turtles [History note: One main reason I wanted to go to Costa Rica was to see sea turtles, but there weren't any near where we stayed in Manuel Antonio because turtles can't lay their eggs in white sand, they need the black volcanic sand that covers most of the rest of the country. Anyway, I didn't think we were going to get to see any] Shawn had asked around and found out that there were turtle conservation efforts in Matapalo maybe 30 minutes south of where we were staying. So we packed up the car, and headed out for a road trip and hopefully an adventure...

We got on the main road, and hoped we would be able to find Matapalo. Unfortunately, the roads are not named or labeled or anything in Costa Rica. I was trying to follow where we were on the map, and I knew we were close, but there were no signs and then we crossed a river that was labeled...and it was passed where we were supposed to go. Shawn suggested we drive to Dominical because we'd already passed Matapalo, and he'd wanted to see Dominical. We made it to Dominical but missed the road to the beach [once again no signs]. We pulled off and looked at the ocean and took a few pictures.

This was a great view of the ocean, but there was no way to get to the water.

[Yes, we were there together picture]

And, it wouldn't be a vacation without a good pose in front of the rental car...

Which we hopped back into and drove back into Dominical to try and find the road to the beach...and we missed it again. So Shawn said, "Do you want to go to the beach, or head back and try to find the sea turtles?" I said, "Let's go to Matapalo and try to find the sea turtles" so away we went.

LUCKILY, while we were driving back I saw signs for a hotel in Matapalo, so we followed those signs down a side street [that we would have never seen from the other direction] and followed the sign again because it took us closer to the direction of the beach. We kept driving, and you'd never believe it, but we found the beach! So we parked our car and got out.

And it was vast...

In both directions... and we had no idea where the sea turtle conservation area would be...

Shawn asked me which way I wanted to walk and I said right, so we started walking up the beach. It was beautiful and very different from Manuel Antonio. There was hardly a person insight. And then... there was a group of people hauling sand out from behind a sand bagged area. I thought, "I wonder if they're building the conservation place!" So I asked Shawn to ask one of the girls. He approached her and started talking with her in Spanish. Her Spanish was horrible! [Side note: she was not hispanic...she definitely had fair skin] But Shawn turned to me and said--This is the turtle place. And she said, "Oh I do much better in English!" Shawn explained that I really wanted to see sea turtles and that we'd driven down there to find this conservation area. She invited us up to the building. While we were walking in I saw some people studying hatched turtle eggs and I started to get really excited! [I mean, even if I didn't get to see any turtles, just finding the place was a miracle!] She took us to the back of a building and showed us this:

BABY SEA TURTLES!! They'd hatched during the day and they're really senstive to light, so they have to keep them in a dark container until its dark outside and then they can let them go into the ocean. I asked if I could take a picture and she said yes, but I couldn't use a flash. They were so cute just crawling around in the bucket. I was in heaven--so adorable!

How can you not love this cute little guy??

Anyway, the other girl had to go back to work with the sand bags, so Francis who was watching over the baby turtles explained a little more about what they do at the conservation area. They are all volunteers from around the world [the first girl was from Sweden, Francis was from Scotland] who come help out. Basically every night they do patrols to find sea turtles laying their eggs, or nests of eggs that have already been laid. Then they document scientic information [there are 2 marine biologists that Costa Rica pays to help run the whole thing] and then they transplant the eggs to the hatchery, where they have a 24 hour watch so no poachers can get the eggs. And then when the eggs hatch the make sure the turtles make it to the ocean [but they have to crawl through the sand on their own, because the sand imprints on their flippers so they know which beach to return to when its time to lay their eggs. And if they don't transverse the sand they don't know where to return to lay their own eggs...I thought this was fascinating] Francis said they had a headquarters where they stay/eat/sleep/coordinate and that we might find one of the marine biologists there and the could tell us more.

Here is a picture of the hatchery.

We walked over to where Francis said the headquarters would be, and only one other woman was there. She told us more about the patrols [because we mentioned wanted to go on one]. She said they take 3 hours--up to 5 if you find a turtle/eggs...and they usually don't start until 10 pm or like 2 am. We were kind of bummed when we heard that because we still had to drive back to Manuel Antonio, and it just wasn't logical to stay up all night as it was around 4:30pm. She said well lets look and see when and who is going on the patrols for tonight. We checked 3 times...and the board said 18:30...6:30...They were doing a patrol at 6:30pm!! In 2 hours, and when one of the marine biologists came back she said it would be ok for us to go! [Side note: I am so grateful for a loving husband who was willing to do all this...just because I wanted to see a sea turtle...]

So we chatted for a bit about what would happen, and what time we needed to be back at headquarters. Then we walked back to our rental car and drove it over to headquarters. Then we went to get something to eat at the bar next door...which they had to open just to serve us. But it was delicious food, and it cost less than anywhere else we'd eaten so far. By the time we'd finished eating it had started raining, and we'd left our rain jackets at the hotel...so Shawn bought a sweet umbrella at a convenience store and we rushed back to headquarters.

Manuel was leading the patrol, Francis came and another girl came. It was pitch black and pouring rain. No lights except for the occasional use of a red one. The beach up and down is 12 kilometers. And away we went. Manuel showed us what to look for [he is the head marine biologist, and has been doing patrols every night for 8 months.] We walked all the way up the beach without seeing anything...well except we did see some poachers. Holy Cow scary! and Their dogs barked at us. Manuel just flashed our red light at them to let the poachers know we were there too. It stopped raining, thank goodness. We waited at the top of the beach for about 15 minutes and then we headed back for the remaining 6 km. I was kind of sad we hadn't seen anything--but it had been an amazing night. We got to talk to Francis about the gospel, Shawn talked to Manuel in spanish Forever. The sky had cleared up and the stars came out-the only time we saw them while we were in Costa Rica. And, amazingly, it was stormy over the ocean so we got to watch thunder and lightning from a distance over the water. It was simply beautiful. Shawn came over to me and said you know, even if we don't find anything, it feels good to have helped in some way. Right as he finished saying that Manuel called us over and showed us some turtle tracks!! She had already returned to the water, so we just needed to find her nest and get the eggs. I was so excited. Really words cannot describe this whole experience. Manuel was explaining the process while trying to find the nest-he showed us how she tried to hide where her nest is and he showed us how we have to dig up the eggs like she digs the nest. Once he got to the eggs, I put on gloves and helped get the eggs out of the nest. She laid 89-The average is 100. Francis took the eggs back to the hatchery to be transplanted there. And, we continued on our way, looking for more tracks.

I was minding my own business, partially wishing that I had gone with Francis to see what happens at the hatchery, when Manuel started moving really fast and said something to Shawn in Spanish. He didn't show us the tracks like he did before...so I wasn't sure what was going on, but I followed everyone up the beach. I was standing there and notice this big mound and think oh no! The poachers have already been here and dug up the nest! [Remember: this is in the dark...we don't use a light unless we have to.] And then Shawn says--"That's the Turtle!" and I said, "It is?!?" The turtle was there, laying her eggs, and I got to watch! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! So Manuel was notating everything, and trying to measure the turtle and make sure she was tagged before she finished. She was already tagged, so they'd found her laying eggs before, so he wrote down her tag number. She was about 35 cm by 70 cm. And Manuel said I could touch her--so I did! I touched her shell and her front right flipper. He showed us how she was older, but not young anymore because of the design on her shell, and he explained when she started rocking back and forth that she was almost done because she was packing the sand down and covering up the nest. He marked the nest--using our umbrella [holler!]. And we watched her turn and kick sand up everywhere to hide her nest. Then I asked if I could follow her back to the ocean and Manuel said that would be fine. So I did. She would waddle for a bit and then stop like she was exhausted, and then she'd get a burst of energy and waddle some more and then stop. She did this one more time, and stopped right when she got to the water. The water was barely touching my feet, it was maybe an inch deep and then a huge wave came in--I got wet up to my mid thigh just standing there...and she was gone. The big wave took her back out to sea. It was such an amazing experience for me, I had basically gotten to see the whole cycle...and her dedication to come on land and lay all those eggs and then leave them. I felt so much respect for that turtle...and so much appreciation for my Heavenly Father and all the creations of this earth. It was a spiritual moment for me. Simple and sweet. I went back to the nest where they were digging up the eggs...and told Shanw he should pull the eggs out this time [because he didn't get to the last time]. This little turtle-she was a trooper-she laid 113 eggs! While we were finishing that up Manuel finished walking the remaining stretch of the beach to check for any more tracks. We all walked back to the hatchery, where they already had a hole ready for the new eggs. We thanked them all, and went on our way...but we got one last picture before we left.