Accommodations

Friday, July 13^th

All day was spent intensely cleaning for the Inauguration tomorrow, but we did get a short ocean break as well as a meeting break to discuss what needs to be done tomorrow morning before the event starts. Since today wasn’t particularly eventful, I thought I would talk about the park in more detail. 

There is the main building, which doubles as both a visitor center and as a volunteer hangout place. There are signs throughout the building in Spanish and English explaining about the turtle life cycle and other various facts. There is also a small pool where the alligator gar are kept as well as a hammock. Above the visitor center is a small two room dormitory where all of the male volunteers have been housed so far. Off of the visitor center is a small kitchen with two fridges and a little gas stove. The cooking conditions are pretty rustic and it definitely feels like I’m camping half of the time. I get all of my food at a little tienda (shop) up the road about 15-20 minutes. They have some fresh produce as well as LOTS of pasta, so what I end up eating most of the time is pasta and veggies...not exactly the Guatemalan food I was expecting haha.  There is also a small office and storage room off of the visitor center, but most people do not go in there very often.

The rustic kitchen set-up

There is a cage with about 15-20 freshwater turtles and tortoises, which as I mentioned before get released frequently into the mangroves. There is also a cage with about 10-15 iguanas, which also get released periodically. Finally, there are two cages, each with one caiman (essentially small crocodiles). They are actually pretty aggressive, so I try to do as little with them as possible. The park has a guard dog named Fanta, whom I love! He goes on our night patrol with us and barks at all the parlameros. He acts like a big dawg, but he actually is a very sweet dog.

The showering and bathroom conditions are also similar to camping. The shower pretty much just dumps water on you and for the most part it is pretty cool water, but I don’t mind because it is so hot here all the time. The girl volunteers live in a small hut with a bunch of bunk beds. I got the only single though, which is nice. I have a shelf and also tons of room underneath my bed to store stuff. There is also another small hut in which Glenda the park director lives in. 

 

My bed!

Towards the beach, there is another small open walled building that houses four other hammocks. It is a great place to cool off and take a nap during the day. If you walk further towards the beach, there are two hatcheries (a big stone one and a smaller wooden one). Next to the large hatchery is a small pool and hut that is used to care for injured turtles. Also next to the hatchery is a watch tower that I use mostly to watch lightning storms, but is supposed to be used to watch for turtles.  

The hammock and napping spot

 

A view of the two hatcheries and the watch tower

The conditions are pretty rustic, but they fine for six months and it is so pretty that I can’t really complain.