April 3rd, !SO MANY HUEVITOS!

Today was MAGNIFICENT. I was up around 7 45, and on the beach by 8. I walked for a little less than 2 hours looking for nests before I found one! My instructions were to walk until I found one, and then to stay with it until Fernando or Noe came to help me. I was by myself and walking until I walked over some tracks. I followed those suckers to behind a sand dune where I could see sand flying up into the air. My imediate reaction to the flying sand was, "frick oh my god, LOOOOK!!!! FRICK!!!" and sure enough...a momma tortuga all by her lonesome was building a nest. This was the first one I'd ever seen and I got to experience it by myself. It felt quite special. I took some pictures and just sat down, probably 15 feet away. She hadn't finished building the nest (which takes about 10 minutes) when Fernando pulled up on his shiny white mo-ped, sporting the sexiest gemmed baby phat sunglasses I'd ever seen. He told me that when she is building the nest, you have to stay very far away. When she starts laying the eggs, you dig a hole behind her, exposing the eggs, and then collect them. The eggs are super sensitive to sunlight so you cover them with sand and use your shadow to keep them shaded. Then they are put into a plastic bag and into the darkness of a cooler or basket until they are re-located on the beach, or taken back to camp. On the previous visit, Fernando was telling my dad that there are approx. 100 eggs per nest, and about 100 nests. The eggs per nest part is true but the nest part is a little under. Fernando told me they were expecting about 500 NESTS with 100 or so eggs each. SO MANY HUEVITOS.

At this location, Noe and a man named Juan arrived on their ATVs. Fernando instructed me that I would be riding with Juan so I didn't have to walk up and down the beach. Juan spoke a little English and the Spanish that he spoke to me with, he was sure to speak clearly and slowly. He told me he was 38, with three kids and a wife named Nancy. Between Juan and myself, we found 7 turtles building nests, in which only 4 actually laid eggs. They are extremely picky and that is why the nest building portion of the program is extremely important. If you mess that up, they go back to the ocean.

By the end of the day, I had been out on the beach for 9 1/2 consecutive hours. Fernando sent lunch out for me by ATV. I must say I have become quite efficient at spotting and retrieving eggs. I'm not sure if I can add that to my resume though. The day was wonderful, regardless of how much sun I took in. I had dinner when we got back around 5 45pm, and then showered and was in bed by 7. I watched Juno, returned a call to poppa bear (the first phone call home aside from Lazaro helping my poor self at the complicated airport), and was asleep by 8 45. It was the earliest I've been to bed in I have no idea how long. All I know, is that it felt great.