Tuesday August 15

So far so good. Not had to patrol with the guy who will now be known as McAsshole.

Toook the chicken bus into MOnterrico yesterday to bid a fond farewell to JAred. Everyojne really got on with him and it's a real shame he was only here for 4 days. After he went for his bus, a few of us went for a beer at Jonny's hwere we quickly found out that no-one could stand McAsshole. Unfortunately that means that there is stiff competition to avoid patrolling with him, but at least it's menat that the rest of us have bonded well over our mutual irritation! Especially over the fact that he doens't eat any vegetables - and I mean ANY. Only potatoes and maybe onions - but only if they are finely chopped - WTF?!! There are quite a few vegetarians at the project and we take turns cooking. It's funny to watch him pushing anything that's not pasta or rice coloured around his plate in distaste!

No more turtles found so far except dead ones. The nights have been warm which tends to keep the turtles in the sea. Oh there was one live turtle found but she fell asleep mid-laying apparently - weird.

Went kayaking in the mangrove river this afternoon with Sam. That was so beautiful and peaceful, and a bit too sunny as I burnt myself a little. Sam is a wildlife photography student so she was hoping to get some great photos. Our inability ot keep the kayaks from crashing into our subjects kind of messed up our shots though!..........

....Just got back from night opatrol. I ahd an early shift tonight, 9pm-aapm. It's extremely hot and humid. There's a clear sky but no moon yet so it was very dark. Kept getting the crap scared out of me as I almost bumped into parlameros every 200m. Fireflies were cool though.

My feet are a mess with bites and burst blisters and nothing is getting the chance to heal. I even had to start wearing socks and sandals today - shock! HAven't looked in a mirror since I've been here so god know what state the rest of me is in.

McAsshole went to bed early tonight thank goodness. Amongst his many random and uninteresting stories he was telling about how he told his Spanish teacher that English is so much easier to learn than Spanish since it only has 3 tenses - past present and future - none of this perfect/imperfect nonsense that Spanish has. Yes I can hear you linguists gasp in shock!

I'm soaking wet with sweat and it's going to be long and steamy night - and not in a good way. Let's hope there's not a rat scurrying around immediately above my head on my top bunk like there was last night. Ysabel found 2 scoprions in her bed last night. Eeeeeeeeekkkk!!

47 degrees

During the day here in HAwaii you are pretty much free to do what you want. There are tasks to be done but you don't have to do them if you don't want to since a lot of the time we are tired from night patrols. However I like to keep occupied - I have so far shown everyone that it is perfectly possible to keep toilets and kitchens clean and sanitised. But it did take a lot of elbow grease! Other activities have inclded plastering a water tank for the turtle rescue centre, cleaning, painting, cleaning, beach clearing, cleaning.

I am one of about a dozen people here. Scott and Sarah are an English couple who kind of run the place. Rachel and Emma are sponsored by the European Volunteer Service (EVS) to do some 'science'. Rebecca is a Kiwi who is alos kind of part funded by the EVS somehow and part self funded. Ysabel is here from Peru. She's a tour guide for all over South America nad has been given 6 months to discover Central America and is spending 3 months on this project. Correen is a 17 year old Canadian high school student. Sam and Alice are wildlife photography students at Blackpool. Anne is a more mature New Jersey software consultant. Noticed that it's all girls so far except Scott? Well that's what it was like when I first got here. The next day Jared arrived for a long weekend. He lives in Oregon and is employed by rich parents to get their kids off the rails and back into college. Then yesterday Derek arrived from Vermont. He has just sat his bar exam for environmental law. And finally and by all means least, there's Colin, a guy from Dunfermline who annoyed me as soon as he openend his mouth. He's almost everything I hate about Scottish people. When he introduced himself and I asked if that was another Scottish accent I was hearing, by way of reply he lifted his shirt sleeve to reveal his Scotland tattoo and the words "we shall be a nation again". All his t-shirts are Scotland/football related. He's sitting at the same table as me right now and has just shown me his diary - with a great big Scottish flag on it. He's already gone on about Scottish independence and how Mcconnell is a patsy for Blair. He's not a horrible person but I wouldn't want to socialise with him in any way in Scotland never mind Guatemala. I feel a tiny bit sorry for him as this is a very new experience for him and he looks a bit out of his depth at times. He just got divorced and the proceeds from the marital home are funding this trip. He is on anti-depressants and has nothing and no-one waiting for him back in Scotland. Aw - too much information in 24 hours mate!

Just as long as I never have to go on night patrol with him and we can stop hijm playing his awful music (4 non-blondes and Robbie FFS) then I'm sure I can cope. His arrival has significantly spoiled my enjoyment and chilled-outness though.

47 degrees celcius (in the sun) today. Phew.

Middle of nowhere, Guatemala

I think it must be a couple of weeks since my last entry - where was I then? Queenstown I think. There I skied and bungy'd - the latter being the most terrifying thing I've ever done. It was a bungy swing I did rather than a bungy jump. This still involves a vertical drop but starting out away and level from where the rope is anchored. When the rope becomes taut you then swing out rather than bounce up and down. Also you don't have to jump off - you are winched into position in a harness dangling over a cliff edge (eek), then you have to remove safety clip (eek) being careful not to pull other bits and pieces (eek) and then finally when you are ready you pull the release (eek) and then wheeeeeeeeeee.......
After I opened my eyes a few seconds later it was an awesome experience. The swing is situated on the side of a mountain looking over Queenstown and the lake and the view was stunning - I didn't want to be winched back up again. However the first few seconds was gut wrenching - literally. My eyes were tightly shut and I let out this primeval gutteral sound. My stomach muscles were sore for days afterwards because I'd clenched them so tight. Anyway great experience, glad I did it but can't say I'd do it again!
So now I'm in Hawaii, Guatemala. It took 35 hours to get from NZ to El Salvador. Exhausting. I stayed a couple of days at my aunt's in Santa Tecla and went to see some ancient Mayan carvings that were found buried in a coffee plantation a couple of hours away.
WE also spent a couple of days in Antigua, Guatemala where I experienced my first active volcano and earthquake. Mt Pacaya has been at its most active for at least 10 years. You can see the lava flowing just a metre away and, boy, is it hot. That night I awoke thinking that someone was having violent sex beneath my room by the way it was shaking. Turns out to ahve been a lot more innocent - it was a tremor. Definitely made more sense than my middle of the night theory. I guess I might have been more scared if I'd realised what it was at the time!



I am writing this - actually phyically writing with pen and paper - on Sunday August 13. I am at a nature reserve called Parque Hawai, south of Monterrico on the Paacific coast and I've been here 3 days. The park is situated by a beach that is a popular turtle nesting area. It is also a popular turtle egg plundering area. We spend our nights patrolling the beach for tortugas (turtles) and parlameros (egg plunderers). If we find a turtle we wait for her to lay her 100 or so eggs, then we dig the eggs up and rebury them in the hatchery. If we find parlameros with eggs, they are required by law to give us a donation of 12 eggs which we also then bury.
My first night, I was due to patrol at 4.30am. It got stormy about 10pm which is perfect weather for the turtles so I went out then too and found a turtle!! Beginners luck. It's quite rare to find your own turtle. I wish I'd taken my camera - no doubt I won't see another one if I have my camera with me.

The storm itself was brilliant. I'd never seen such fork lightning before - networks right across the sky.

We are housed if a fairly open construction with a palm thatched roof. I'm sleeping in what is effectively a ledge above the common areas which acn be noisy - there's a squawking parrot outside and a fish tank immediately below full of prehistoric alligator garr (fish) which becmome active and splashy at night. Also since people have different shifts throughout the night there is a lot of noise from alarms, people climbing in and out of bunks and general chit chat, so a good night's sleep is hard to come by.

Free time is spent lying in hammocks or on the beach but generally in the shade. I've just checked the termperature and it 31.5 deg C in the shade. At night it's a chilly 29.5 degrees.

Along with this tropical weather comes the downside - mosquitos, fire ants, cockroaches, sandflies and rats. My legs are covered in bites and sores. Walking on the sand so much in sandals just rubs off the skin wherever the material is in contact with the sand.

Have got the chicken bus into town today to type this up but best go now as have to go for lunch and beer!!

Hasta luego