A DOLLAR A DAY

last night we heard this noise that woke us up. it sounded like someone was trying to open our door, but we lock our door at night and the doorknob was not moving. at first, we thought our house mates were coming home from the bar and couldn't get the door open, but the noise kept going and we didn´t hear anyone speak outside. maybe it was an insect eating at the wood, or the dog playing with its chain. the noise kept coming on and off for 15 minutes. it was scary.

early morning i got up at 7 to get ready for our lagoon tour. i picked two baby bananas to have with my cornflakes. the milk for the cereal was rich and creamy, like milk i had when i was in England. it comes in a big juice box and you only put it in the fridge when you open it to drink. Sandra made us tea while we waited, but Anibal never showed up. it turned out val didn't confirm and there was miscommunication. at 9, we went back to sleep for two more hours. Stav came by with the schedule. she didn't schedule us in because we´re doing a noon to 6 shift today.


















lunch at 11 sandra made us plantain chips, cabbage salad and a slice of bologna. new volunteers were being shown the house. i don´t know if they will be staying.

hatchery A is so far away, especially since i kept stopping for shells. the 6am to noon shift had one of chris´nest hatch. the babies were kept in the day box. i spent the first 2 hours collecting shells, then i worked on my word searches. beach cleaning came at 2:45. marvin and the boys went to playita to get some hawksbills. when it got cooler and the sun was behind the forest, we let the hawksbill go, then the leatherbacks (keeping 15 for chris' research). the beach cleaners left. but we had to stay until our hatchery shift was over. stav and chris did a few exhumations on nests that hatched a few days ago. they checked to see if there were still babies, how many eggs didn't hatch and if there were dead babies. i released 8 late babies. some were disfigured. digging up the nest was such a smelly job. 15 minutes before the end of our shift, we took the temperature of the nests and the air.






























































































































































































missed phone calls we made good time, we got home at 6:35 pm. sandra said ren called and so did my mom. i couldn´t eat much during dinner because i missed canada day and the fireworks back home. sandra said ¨eat! eat! i have to tell your mother i am taking care of you¨ (in spanish of course). my mother called and i got to talk to her and my dad! i felt so much better afterward. i can look forward to their call on friday.

secret arrangements val told me that sandra said henry called and asked her to take us in. volunteers are not allowed to switch where they are staying. He said ¨please sandra, they need a family. the station is not a family.¨ i´m so glad he takes such good care of us. after my call, i was able to finish my dinner. we had rice, omelet, and cucumbers.

our own canada day while on the phone, i got two mosquito bites on my right middle finger. it quickly swelled and i wasn´t able to take off my ring. Asdrubal walked by our room and i showed him. we talked for a bit, and then moved the conversation to the kitchen. i took a shower, then we went to the bar at 10 pm. we both ordered coke and rum (there was definitely more rum than coke). it was a very quiet night. we watched spanish music videos until midnight. then we went home to sleep for our early morning lagoon tour.