First Spanish Lesson

Wednesday, July 18^th

I spent most of the day working on the small hatchery. In the past, for whatever reason they don’t turn the sand over in that hatchery like they do in the big hatchery. Turning over the sand helps get rid of bacteria, rocks, roots, and dead eggs as well as aerates the sand. There is no reason to not turn over the sand in that hatchery…especially due to all the time and money spent on the eggs that go into it! So I took it upon myself to motivate the volunteers to dig this hatchery as well. We made good progress and got about halfway done.

In the afternoon, I went to Alice’s house for a Spanish lesson. We started out with some basic greetings and phrases to use with the parlameros on the beach. My best bet for getting more donations is interacting with them and getting to know them. She also gave me some great advice on how to handle volunteers and various other things around the parque. It was especially helpful because I’m in charge of the parque for the next week and half. Glenda is going to a mangrove conference for a couple days then she gets a week off. She has been working for 2 months straight basically, so for her sanity alone she really needs this time off…even if it does put more stress on me. Luckily, I have some great volunteers here besides the German girls that have been a tremendous help.

Alice also gave me some helpful tips for living in Hawaii…like the fact that there is an ice cream truck that sells ice cream cones for 2Q or .25 cents. SO CHEAP! There is also a cake lady here, so I don’t need to go to all the way to Monterrico for cake. Alice is just full of useful information and I’m so lucky to have become friends with her!

On patrol that night, my new Spanish phrases came in handy. I was able to speak with several parlameros and see how many turtles had come out on the beach. It turns out that it was a slow night for turtles, but it was nice to be able to communicate with them and let them know I’m interested in information. In fact, one that we had talked to came up to us later and told us about 2 turtles that came up in Monterrico. It was really nice to be included in the information mill that occurs on the beach. Once I learn some more phrases I can have some longer conversations with them.