Day 9 - Travel to Turtles

Today, we started with our last meal at Finca La Anita. It's crazy to think that today was the last day we'll have the rice and beans that we have had for breakfast for the past 8 days. After another lovely breakfast, we loaded all of our packed bags onto the bus to travel to Playa Junquillal to hang out and learn about marine turtles. The bus ride to the beach was so interesting, as we got to see a Guanacaste tree, as well as the varied landscape. We learned that the Guanacaste tree is what the region of Costa Rica that we are in is named after. We also learned that it is protected and can't be cut down. It crazy to think that so much variety can be so present in such a small (by land area) country!

Upon arrival, we ate a lovely lunch of pizza. The pizza was so amazing, yet so filling that we all wanted to eat more, but were too full! At the beach, we went to the Verdiazul hatchery for marine turtles. The woman that runs the hatchery shared so much information about the turtles, initially through signs, then through a talk. The talk was so interesting and touched on so many aspects of turtles and their ecosystems and lifestyles. She also talked about how turtles either are endangered or are becoming endangered due to several factors such as poaching, improper and excessive fishing, and excessive plastic in the ocean.

After the talk, we swam and played in the ocean as a group. It was so much fun to bond, even though the waves were a little scary, as they were quite large. After the waves had tuckered us all out and thoroughly covered us in sand, we rinsed off to swim and play in the pool. We had so much fun -- there was a lot of smiling and laughter. It was a good way to mentally recover, rest, and recharge from the intense science of the past week.

After water time, we had a lovely dinner and are currently preparing to go on our turtle patrols. After patrolling, it's off to bed. I hope we see some turtles and I hope to be able to take a bunch of pictures.

- Elise Crump