Jordan in Hawaii

Monday, September 24^th

In the morning, we took the tourist shuttle to Hawaii. Once we got to Hawaii, I gave Jordan a tour of the parque and I showed him how to feed the animals and take temperatures in the hatchery. Later in the afternoon, we went to the mangroves and released two turtles as well as collected mangrove seeds. I was happy Jordan was able to see the mangroves because they are so beautiful. We also made a side trip to the field that we reforested. We saw that about 75% of the trees were dead because the locals came with a machine and uprooted all the corn that was still left over, which smashed all of the baby trees. We were all upset, but Glenda took it especially hard. It is one thing to not participate in the reforestation, but it is another to purposefully sabotage it. Glenda and Colum might have to have a talk with the cocode. 

 Paco decided to join us on the boat

 

 

 Releasing one of the turtles

Jordan and I helped Riikka with nest excavations and he was able to see the process as well as a live hatchling! We found one on the bottom a nest, so we released it together at sunset. It was a nice moment to share. 

Jordan and Riikka excavating two nests 

 

 

Jordan and a hatchling

For dinner, we all ate at Myra’s. I wanted Jordan to experience what home cooking is like in Guatemala. It was delicious as usual. After dinner, I took Jordan on patrol. It was a pretty quiet night, but about 5 minutes before we got back to the parque we came across 3 parlameros with a turtle. We waited FOREVER because the turtle kept moving around looking for a good spot to nest. Once she laid her eggs, we bought the nest for 8Q per dozen. I’m happy that the price is dropping so that our money can go a little bit further. I showed Jordan how to bury the eggs and then we headed to bed.