¡Bienvenidos a Parque Hawaii!

I've arrived safely at Parque Hawaii, via a van with the door tied shut with twine. At the moment, I'm one of 10 volunteers from the US, Germany, England, France, Canada, Israel, and Guatemala. Most of the volunteers stay in a bungalow provided by ARCAS, the organization that runs Parque Hawaii. To maximize my exposure to Spanish, I'm staying with a host family 10 minutes by bike away from the park. My host mother's name is Karen and she has a 6 year old son, Jonathon. Karen's husband is in Maryland doing construction work. They are very welcoming and offer me fresh coconuts from the trees in their yard. Deliciosa!

Daily life as a volunteer at Parque Hawaii begins with chores such as feeding the animals, helping prepare breakfast, checking the turtle hatchery temperatures, accepting turtle egg donations, burying eggs, doing exhumations of old nests, and my favorite; releasing baby turtles. Besides having the largest sea turtle hatchery (tortugario) in Guatemala, ARCAS cares for vulnerable and endangered animals including parrots, iguanas, parakeets, baby raccoons, caimans, green turtles, chamarro turtles, sabanera turtles, and galapago turtles. I love that I get to observe and care for the animals. 

After the morning chores are done, a group of 3 other volunteers and I go to one of 5 local schools to teach English or environmental education lessons. The students are eager to learn and thankfully, they are accepting of my less than perfect Spanish. I am inspired by their ability to sit still in a hot, humid classrooms and study diligently without complaint. 

At night, all the volunteers split into pairs and patrol the beach looking for turtles and parlameros, the local men who collect turtle eggs to sell in the market or to tourists. The most common species to come lay its eggs at the beach here is the Olive Ridley sea turtle though on occasion a leatherback will arrive. In Spanish, Olive Ridleys are called Parlamas, hence the name parlameros. I have yet to find my "own" turtle to collect eggs from. So far I've only seen one that was already done laying eggs, which the parlamero agreed to sell to the hatchery for 8 quetzals ($1) per dozen. The turtle had layed 8 dozen eggs so the parlamero did pretty well. 

Eating turtle eggs is popular in Guatemala because they are said to be an aphrodisiac but since Guatemala has a population growth rate of 2%, the highest in Latin America, the practice seems a bit unnecessary. Since all turtle eggs will be harvested due to the high demand, the goal of patrolling nightly is to get as many of the fresh turtle eggs as possible to the tortugario to increase hatching rates. In the wild, the hatching rate of turtle nests is about 50%. At the ARCAS hatchery, the hatching rate is 87%. If the eggs are sold in the market, the hatching rate is nonexistent. No matter how many turtles hatch, only 1 per 1000 will make it to adulthood. Most baby turtles are eaten by predators when they enter the ocean and others are killed by fishing operations. Turtle life is tough! 

I am still learning the basics about turtle and reptilian biology but I hope to be able to share some interesting facts soon! So far the most fascinating thing I've learned is that the temperature of the eggs during incubation determines the sex of the babies. At ARCAS, we try to maintain a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius to hatch equal amounts of both sexes. In nature, there are more females than males with a ratio of 10 to 1 (lucky guys!) but since sea turtle populations are rapidly declining most hatcheries try to equalize the output of sexes in order to ensure that there are enough males for the females to mate with. 

Sundays are the only days the volunteers have off at ARCAS so it is time I sign off and find a liquado. Thanks for reading! 

At last, I'm in Guatemala!

I've made it to Antigua, Guatemala and I feel like I'm half dreaming. If this post makes little sense, please forgive me because I don't think I slept last night. I arrived 2 days late because the weather in Kodiak kept me home a little longer than expected but that's okay because everything has worked out better than expected!

I got picked up from the airport in Guatemala City and was entertained the entire car ride to Antigua. Buses and cars were breaking down all over the highway, a man was walking about 10 goats on the shoulder of the road, people collected trash using salad tongs. Clouds of exhaust and stop and go traffic made me a little queezy but luckily, I survived. As soon as the van began to bump along the cobblestone streets of Antigua, I felt relieved and like I've returned home. After 10 years of being away from Antigua, I recognize much more than I expected to. The churches, volcanoes, and markets are all the way I left them. I even recognize the smell of the city. A mix of fresh bread, exhaust, tropical flowers, and coffee is how I would explain the scent. It is cool and humid here, but tomorrow I go to the coast where I am told I will cook.

I have been placed with a host family for the night and they are very welcoming! As soon as I arrived, I was fed delicious fresh fruit and some spaghetti. I'm sharing a room with a girl from Syndey, Australia who is volunteering in a local orphanage. There is another volunteer staying at the house and as soon as he heard I'm going to the coast to do turtle conservation work he said I'll hate it because they have the volunteers pick up trash from the beach. Hah! Luckily, a little marine debris cleanup has never scared me.

After a short nap (my host father blasted Michael Buble the entire time so I mostly just layed in bed and sang along), I walked to the Maximo Nivel headquarters for orientation. I found out I'll be living with a host family with other volunteers which is what I had hoped for. It sounds like I'm going to have a great time in Hawaii working with the locals and the wildlife!

I also got a cheap little phone to make occasional calls home. If anyone wants to write me a letter or a postcard, I have a mailing address now! Email or facebook me if you'd like it.

I have to go back to my host family's house now to eat dinner with them and to get ready to go to the coast tomorrow morning! Thanks for reading :)

10 days with Island Trails Network

A freshly cleaned beach on Shuyak island

Andie, myself, and Maria: marine debris queens

Yesterday, I returned from 10 days of cleaning up marine debris with Island Trails Network on Afognak and Shuyak, both islands in the northern part of the Kodiak archipelago. The experience was fantastic; I got to clean and explore remote Alaskan beaches with a crew of 5 new friends. Wildlife was abundant and seeing animals such as whales, sea otters, seals, sea lions, bald eagles, merlins (the bird, not the wizard), and Kodiak bears became a regular part of daily life. The crew I was a part of worked long, hard hours but it was incredibly rewarding to see the difference we made by ridding beaches of trash. An unexpected perk of the trip was that I got so distracted by digging up seine nets and styrofoam buoys that I forgot to worry about my upcoming trip to Guatemala… the one that I leave in 4 hours for! Wow, time sure flies when you're saving the world. Haha!

Unfortunately, I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked but here are some of my favorites from the trip:

Maria and Lören take an "Afogsnack" on Afognak

The "Island C" before we loaded it with 10,000 lbs of debris in the first 3 days

A whale waves "thank you" to Island Trails Network for all the awesome work they do!