Huevos, huevos, huevos!

Wednesday, June 4^th

I felt much better today and was actually able to help out with some painting projects. Many of the trees in Guatemala have been attacked by a fungus, so painting the base of the trees white helps prevent them from becoming a host. I had seen a bunch of trees painted throughout Guatemala, so it was nice to finally find out why. We painted about half of the trees at the parquet. It made me kind of feel like I was in Alice Wonderland where they have to paint all of the flowers.

Later in the afternoon, we went back into the mangroves to catch some fish for the caimans and the alligator gar that are kept here at the parque. This time we went a different way through the mangroves to come to a large opening with a lot of current. Mariachi, the parque helper, used a large circular net to catch some small fish. There seemed to be a ton of fish in the mangroves because every time the net came back it was FULL of fish. With every load that came in, we sorted the fish into a big and small bucket, with the small fish going to the gar and the large to the caimans. 

 Mariachi dumping a net load of fish into the boat

When we returned, one of the directors for the ARCAS organization, Colum, came to visit and so I had a nice chat with him. It was interesting to ask some questions about the organization and about his thoughts on various issues. We had a big pasta feed for dinner and everyone helped chop and cook. There is a really fun atmosphere here at the parque!

Later that night, we went on another patrol. It was another beautiful night, but in a much different way. There was a lightning storm off in the distance that illuminated the sky and clouds with each strike. It gave the whole patrol a kind of ethereal feel. About 100 meters on our patrol, we found our first set of sea turtle tracks. We raced to see if the nest was still there, but unfortunately it was already taken by the locals.

In Guatemala, it is still legal to take turtle eggs, but they have to give a 20% donation from each nest to a hatchery. However, since there is little enforcement, most of the time they don’t donate the eggs, which means that the organization has to buy them. The majority of the eggs received at the hatchery are due to buying nests from the locals.

Disappointed with the lack of nest, we kept walking. Every log and dark object on the beach or in the ocean seemed to look like a sea turtle. We were all so anxious to find one! Finally, we came upon two locals who were sitting in front of a turtle waiting for her to finish laying her nest. Colum asked them for a donation, but they said that the season here hadn’t started. The locals often wait for the official start of the season party before they are even somewhat willing to donate eggs. Therefore, we had to buy them at 35 quetzal a dozen, which with about 100 eggs per nest is about $40. Luckily, the price of the eggs comes down later in the season when there is an increase in nests. However, there is still a shortage of money at ARCAS, so many of the eggs cannot be bought. What ARCAS really needs is more donations. If anyone reading this blog wants to help out by sponsoring-a-nest, I would really appreciate it! Here is the link:

http://www.arcasguatemala.com/en/donors/sponsor-a-nest-program

 

After we bought the eggs from the locals, we savored our time with the turtle. We watched her as she made her way back down to the beach and into the surf. I can’t even imagine the strength it took for her to travel so many miles through the huge waves and the large riptide that this beach is known for in order to lay her nest. It was truly magical to be a part of her nesting experience, even if it was marred a little by the dealings with the locals. We were overjoyed to have our first nest for the hatchery and we sped back so that we could bury the eggs. Another American who is here volunteering bought some fireworks, so that we could celebrate the 4^th of July, but burying the turtle eggs was much more worthwhile. We all learned the process for burying the eggs and now we just have to wait about 50 days for them to hatch!

 

Our first nest!