Saving the tutles, one ping-pong ball at a time

So much has happened since I last had a chance to update on here, so I´ll try to catch you all up to speed as best I can. Just to help me keep my thoughts together, I´ll probably do this blog in several sections.

Monterrico was beyond amazing. We bumped (I don´t know another way to describe buses on cobblestone roads) our way out to the coast and suddenly found ourselves in paradise. The beach stretched for miles, all of it black sand because of the volcanoes. (P.S. When I get up in the morning, all I have to do is turn in a circle and I can see three huge volcanoes... I know, you´re jealous) The water, although too strong to swim in, was amazingly warm and it felt wonderful just to stand in the shallow areas. We were able to stretch out on the beach with books and let our brains recuperate from 24\7 Spanish for a while.

As I said, the beach at Monterrico is well known for it´s sea turtle population, especially since this particular beach is turtle nesting grounds. The turtles come out of the water after dark and lay their eggs in the sand. Unfortunately, poachers make a nice living out of digging up the turtle eggs and then selling them in the local markets as a delicacy. To help save the turtles, many organizations have begun reservations for the turtles on the beach. One happened to be right next to our bungalow. So, Sunday morning we ran (you have to run, the black sand is so hot!) over to see the turtles.

When you walk in, the baby turtles were swimming around in a kiddie pool. They are adorable!!! ¡¡Tan chulo!! They reminded me of that awkward 11-14 year old stage when you don´t quite fit you body and everything seems to hang wrong. Their heads float above the surface while their shells seem to sink, and their fins go in circular motions ( kind of like doing the breast stroke) in an attempt to move forward. Often, they just swim right over each other.

The highlight of the morning for me was when one of the workers at the reservation came over to us with a bowl of muddy ping-pong balls. Turns out, they were actually turtle eggs collected that morning from the beach!! We were given the opportunity to re-dig a hole for them inside the reservation and then bury the eggs in the sand to incubate them!

Over all the weekend at Monterrico was a well-needed break and completely worth it! On the beach suffering for Jesus, as my mom likes to say :)

P.S. For all of you fellow suffers of motion sickness, I would like to recommend Dramamine! After throwing up on the trip out to the beach, I decided to try the much-talked-about miracles of Dramamine. 2 1\2 hours later I woke up. FANTASTIC. Apparently, I slept through a torrential rainstorm, washed out roads, and hydroplaning on the highway. Now that´s a good medicine if I ever saw one.