Sea Turtles &

I just got back to Alajuela after spending a couple weeks at a ranger post in Tortuguero national park, the world's biggest site for giant sea turtle nesting.

At the post were a mix of police, nat. resource employees, and volunteers (including a Belgian guy). Most of the caribbean is protected by volunteers and conservation organizations in order to prevent poaching of turtles. The eggs are thought to be an aphrodesiac, while the meat is eaten for substinence.

Because we were stationed within a national park, our job was not just to scare away poachers; our goal was to catch them red handed! Armed with automatic weapons and even a graduate of School of the Americas, we we prepared. After the 15 days we had caught 10 poachers.

During off-time, I was responsible for doing superficial searches of tour boats and fishing for dinner.

Now I'm back at my friend Riley's while I set up future endeavours.

I'll get some pictures up here, hopefully soon.