Que exito!

I gave my first tour yesterday. Maybe 7 or 8 people? The total number that came for the tour was 30. Earl, Carol, and I each had about a third of them. I know plenty of facts, history, and numbers to give a sufficient tour. It is just getting comfortable delivering it and delivering in a logical order. Also there is a bit of crossing my fingers that the group will behave well and ask good questions. Questions are great. Otherwise I feel like I'm just giving a speech in front of each animal.
I felt that my tour went pretty well. Like I mentioned earlier, I just need to work on my presentation. Overall I felt quite satisfied though. One of the ladies in my group is a veterinarian. She was great to talk to and had very good questions. I also had Bron, the Irish woman, feeding me with questions if I hit a dead spot in my speech. That was a lot of help.
I'm sure I get to look forward to another tour in the near future again.

Maria left two days ago to go back home and spend time with her nephew. Bron (full first name I can't quite remember. She just went by Bron.) left today to go back up to the Nicoya Peninsula to return to her turtle project that she was at earlier this year. She was very pleasant to have around. It's too bad she didn't stay longer. I also don't think I could tire of that wonderful accent either.

Received post from my parents today. Postmarked in Raleigh on the 10th and then in Puerto Jimenez on the 21st. 11 days is the best record so far for mail from the states to here. But inside the envelope was our holiday card. The picture on it is from the Charolotte International Airport on November 7th. It is amazing to think that in only a couple weeks I will have been here for 2 months. I was also amazing at how good my hair looked at that point in time. My hair is now longer and frizzier.

I have considered shaving my leg in order to get this paint off. I spend a good while last night working on picking it off. This paint is incredible. Scrub, scrub, scrub to no avail.
Another beautiful sunset.

Capuchin, White-Faced Monkey, Mono Cariblanca, call what you like. Said to be the third most intelligent monkey. 3rd behind Human and the Chimpanzee. For this reason they are used most often for psychological testing and drug testing. All of the one's we have here are damaged in one way or another. One was found in the dark with a box over her head and now rocks back and forth and sucks her thumb. Another had three fingers cut off, teeth filed down, and was in a hotel lobby running back and forth with a cup for donations. These were the organ grinder monkeys. I could talk for quite a while about these little guys. Incredibly interesting.
Meet Goots. Goots is an Agouti. When I first got here I was bottle feeding her twice a day. She is now much more wild and we see her less and less. Good thing although who ever thought a rat could be so enchanting.

Pintando pintando...

Throughout the whole painting process, Maria kept drawing streaks of paint on me so eventually I just gave her a leg and let her go at it. Besides just patterns and whatnot, there is a turtle in the middle of my shin.

Yesterday a new volunteer arrived. She will only be here until maybe Tuesday. 6 foot Irish woman. Great accent. She had been volunteering with turtles on the Nicoya Peninsula for the past 3 months.

So my first tour is supposedly going to be on the 30th...


This is our newest little guy. Got him a few days ago and is doing well. When we got him, you could still see where the umbilical cord had fallen off recently. 300 grams upon arrival.

Beautiful mariposa.

A view from the veranda on the front of my cabina. The gulf is beyond the trees.

Toucan. Beautiful bird. This one is missing the shoulder joint in his right(?) wing due to being attacked by another toucan.

Today has gone by quite slow. Not entirely sure why. I've been busy for the majority of it.
Came down this morning (feeling a lot better) and made up meds for Sweetie and Guapo. Then went to the other side of the sanctuary to help Mirna prepare morning animal food. These meals are fit for royalty. I'll get a picture of them at some point. Came back to this side for breakfast. After breakfast I moved my Bat Falcon to a larger cage and cleaned out his old one. I then helped Maria with the signs for a bit (I'll explain more about them later). Needed some exercise so I went kayaking. Now I've been on my computer for a bit. Feels like it should be much later in the day.

All I remember from last night is a blur of green. Maria, David, and I painted 15 or so pieces of metal of which are going to be signs. Lots of green and lots of metal paint fumes. These signs are going to relay the two messages of "Restricted Access/Acceso Restringido" and "Please don't feed or hold the wildlife/Por favor no alimenta ni retenga fauna silvestre". We have some out already, but I guess we need to have more.
Picture are being very moody and some are wanting to upload while others don't. I'll try and post pictures of this event at a later date.

Tour are beginning to pick up now. We had 21 people yesterday and 14 today. It will probably be like this if not more until after the holiday season. Carol and Earl are expecting me to do tours soon. The only anxiety I have is that the tourists won't feel they got their money's worth. I know tons of information by now, but I just don't know if I can make the tour last 1.5 - 2 hours. I also definitely can't answer every question that would likely be asked. I suppose we'll just see...





The above are all picture of various paths on the outskirts of the sanctuary.


Here is one of my cameras. This is the one that caught the following picture last time.

Unfortunately this is the most interesting photo I have thus far. It is a Great Curassow. They are commonly seen every day without a camera...

Tomorrow I'll also put up pictures of the baby anteater.

Let me know if you would like to be added to a list to have an e-mail sent to you whenever I publish one.

12/15/09

Woke up this morning with a headache and just feeling pretty crappy in general. Took some ibuprofen at maybe 6:30 and drank some water. By the time breakfast was over, I was feeling much better. I'm still feeling a little low energy, but definitely better.
This is also the first day that I have yet to see the sun by noon. Suppose that is good because it is not as hot it could be.

Pretty excited for dinner tonight. We are having pizza. Earl makes a great pizza. I've had it twice so far and it is definitely a meal to be anticipated.

12/16/09

Didn't get very far yesterday in writing...

So we didn't have pizza last night. But I'm sensing it in the near future. All the ingredients are in the kitchen.

So again this morning I woke up feeling bad. I have a nice little fever. I came down this morning and got my morning duties done, then retired back to my cabin and laid down in bed. Slept on a off for maybe 2 hours. Eventually it just became unbearably hot laying in bed. There isn't much wind in these parts, but I'm getting a bit more moving air here in the kitchen than I was in bed.

Yesterday we picked up a baby anteater. Seems to be doing pretty well. He is very strong. You just want to cuddle with him until he digs in claws into you. As of now I'm not having do to nighttime feedings for him. Last night Earl did the every three hour feeding.

12/17/09

Pictures wouldn't upload yesterday or I would have posted this then.

Sweetie and I.

So I'm still having trouble uploading photos, so you only get one today. Lo siento.

Saturday

I was recently asked what it felt like to be living in such a manner that days of the week are a moot point for the most part. If every day had the same schedule and weekends meant nothing, what day does it feel like? How does it feel to not go through the week anticipating the upcoming weekend?
This prompted me to think. I had never really thought about that. For the most part every day here has the same schedule. There are small variations each day and occasionally something larger like an emergency of some sort. 7 days a week I'm up by 6 o'clock. There are no weekends off. Friday does not mean I'm off the hook for the weekend. Sunday is not depressing due to being the end of the weekend.
I think I've come to the conclusion that most every day feels like Saturday. As of now I can't be terribly sure because of the simple fact that it IS Saturday. Saturday makes sense though. Each day I don't feel as if I'm going to work or school the following day. Entienden?

Tomorrow night is supposed to be the peak of Geminids Meteor Shower. I just came in from a maybe 20 minute walk down on the beach. I saw a few, but all just in that annoying place in your peripheral vision in which you can't be completely sure. The tide is rising still and there are really no other large clearings in which to view the sky so as much as I would like to go back out and look some more, there would be little purpose. Hopefully tomorrow the tide will be low enough at some reasonable hour. I may just set an alarm for the wee hours of the morning.

The internet is out again as of about 6 or so. As is the power in Jimenez. It is about a quarter to 11 on Saturday night. Hopefully when power is restored to the town the modem in town will turn back on and it won't need to be reset. If that is the case and it needs it's reset button pressed, I won't have internet until Monday morning. Costa Rica will be getting 3G service next week and Earl is signed up for a 3G card. This can be plugged into the USB port in the wireless router and then we can access the internet using it. Having two sources of internet is a good idea here because one or the other will very likely have problems quite often.

I don't believe I mentioned this in any past posts. Carol has been gone for a little over a week. She has a friend who lives in Zancudo. This friend had to take a trip to the States for a family emergency I believe. The person who was going to house sit for her fell through so she asked Carol. Carol gladly accepted as it also is a good excuse for a little vacation. She ought to be returning Monday though if I remember correctly.

This morning we saw ocelot tracks on the beach. Very exciting! I would absolutely love to catch a picture of one of these felines with my cameras in the forest.

*Thought I had posted this yesterday, but it just got saved as a draft. So I'll just add to this one for today's post*

12/14/09

Went out last night to watch the meteor shower. The tide was already moving up so I found a boat anchor and tied it to the kayak. Went out about 20 feet and anchored there to watch the sky. This was at about 9:00. Figured it might be a little too early, but if so I can just sit there in the peaceful up and down of the water. I'm sitting out there for maybe 15 minutes and the clouds roll in. Okay, so I'll just go back ashore and kill some time. Checked sporadically until 11 and then just gave up. I'll give it another shot tonight probably.

The lapa that we got in the the broken wing a few days after I arrived here is doing pretty well it seems. He won't keep his wrap on, but he is holding his wing very well. Today we are moving him to a larger cage. We had to remove a section of the tin roofing in order to lower the cage into the room we wanted yesterday. Poor little guy has broken a lot of his tail feathers from jumping off his perch. He also must be incredibly bored in there. Twice a day we put in tree branches and he just tears them apart over the course of a few hours.

On our way to town one day.

On the way back from town that same day I believe. Meanwhile off the the left side of the boat (port side?) is the oncoming rain...

Monkey foot.

Hasta luego.

Happy Hannukah

I didn't include it in the last post, but Max the anteater died. He was by far one of the most adorable animals here and just loved to play. The thing about rescuing baby animals that in some cases they are alone because they were abandoned by their mother. It is possible the mother knew that the baby wasn't going to survive so she didn't waste precious energy on it. Who knows the reason for Max though.

I'm definitely glad I'm here in pura vida Costa Rica, but I am a bit sad that winter break is coming up and most everyone is going to be back home. So it goes. At least I have internet now. And I'll be home for summer and have plenty of time to see everyone.

I had checked the camera's a few days ago. Didn't get too much. Two cameras either took consecutively all they could hold or until the batteries died. Scrolling through the photos it is like time lapse photography. One camera caught a bird and something unidentifiable and another caught me. The others caught nothing really.


A huge cruise ship passed by yesterday morning. Apparently can hold about 1,500 people. Earl was saying that in reality they were breaking the law. They were within 2 kilometers of the median tide and that is in Piedras Blancas National Park. $10 per person. Good chunk of money for the Park. That is if they were ticketed. Not going to happen though.


Otros fotos:
Earl feeding Max.

Me and Joey the Kinkajou. Called Martilla in Spanish. It means hammer. These little 6 pound guys can rip open coconuts.

At the school in with Maria's friend and her two of her three daughters.

Sweetie (and Maria) on the hammock.

Vamos a La Feria

12/06/09


Yesterday and today were spent in town primarily at the local high school. It was basically a school fair. There were little booth-ish areas where people were selling things, educating, holding fun activities, etc. Maria and I had a little space where we talked to passerbys about the sanctuary. We (mostly Maria) made a couple posters that had interesting things on them and the name of the sanctuary. It was not the most interesting event really. But it was nice to be in town still.
Yesterday after we packed up at the school we went to the plaza while we waited for David to come with the boat to pick us up. While we waited we played some very intense games of tag with some of the local children. Loads of fun. Much too long since I've played like that. Before and after that there was also lots of laying on the field and picture taking and climbing on each other.
Also while at the fair, one of Maria's friends who lives in Jimenez passed by. She and her 3 adorable little girls invited us to come over after the fair. We did. The little girls were so much fun. We met one of their neighbors, who when asked his name said “digame senor!”. Well Senor was hilarious. He dances and sings, but only if there is music. And when asked how old he is he hold out three fingers, looks at them, and then puts one down.


12/7/09

Today is one month here. Time goes by quite quickly.

Nothing else terribly noteworthy. Just a few short points really.

Max, the anteater, went to the doctor today. He has had diarrhea for three days and is pretty lethargic in general. David took him and the word is as of now that the doctor gave him a shot and he is just looking weak. No idea what was in the injection though.

I've talked to my parents a couple times and they seem to have their plans down pretty well for their trip. Que bueno!

Internet tomorrow here at the sanctuary! It is tico time we are dealing with, but I'm still optimistic.

Yesterday when we left town it was already dark. On the way back was the most amazing thing. Looking behind the boat, one could see all these small bright lights in the wake of the boat. Que linda! I came to discover that it was zooplankton giving off a bioluminescence. Earl was saying that sometime you can see the path of dolphins through the water because there is a tail of light behind them for 2 or 3 seconds. It was also an incredible starry night. So beautiful. Unfortunately I couldn't get to my camera. Hopefully another time though.

Just felt it was appropriate to have a post of some sort on the one month day.
Ahora, voy a nadar!



12/09/09

Tico Time

It is about 8 o'clock now. This morning Earl said that Francisco, the internet guy, is coming today. Pretty exciting, no?

Last night Maria and I went over to David's house for the evening. We left the sanctuary at about 3 or 3:30. The boat ride was about 15 minutes or so. David lives deeper up in the Golfe Dulce. We got there and were greeted by Mariposa, one of their puppies. So very cute. We then were introduced to his family. His two brothers, parents, wife, and little girl. I ate a freshly picked Limon Dulce. Not incredibly flavorful nor sour like a lemon. I liked it none the less. Watched some of the boys play soccer outside for a bit and then went inside and watched the fish being prepared for dinner. Maria and I then went and played with Estephanie (David's little girl). After that we went Kayaking on the gulf. Maria and I in one kayak and David and Estephanie in another. From the kayaks we watch the sunset or in spanish, crepusculo. Very vibrant. I didn't have my camera unfortunately. The fish we ate for dinner was absolutely delicious. Muy rico. Of course along with the fish were beans and rice. Fine by me. I'm a big fan of the two. Mix them together with some Lizano sauce and I'm a happy camper. During dinner we watched a telenovela called “Dona Barbara”. Afterward David, his wife (can't remember her name...), Estephanie, Maria, and I went back to our room. We played a game called Blokus. It was pretty fun. I have seen it around for years, but never played it. I also made a little anklet. Very simple. Only 7 beads.

I must go though. It is almost breakfast time. Beans, rice, and tortillas. Siempre.

Internet soon!!

2:00 pm

Got that internet. Nothing new since this morning, so pictures.

Maria playing with some girls in the plaza in Puerto Jimenez.


An airbrushed painting on the wall at the high school across from our booth.
Our booth at the school.


On the way to Jimenez on Saturday, we saw dolphins. Que Linda!

A view from the boat while waiting at the Puerto Jimenez marina.
The small little pier/marina at Puerto Jimenez.
Winkie putting on some clothes. (I think it was actually a leg to a pair of zip-off pants)
After putting it on...somewhat.