Everyone loves a 4 a.m. wake up call!

And you thought roosters were bad!  For the first week in Costa Rica I was convinced that our neighbors were harboring some sort of hell pig, which was on the verge of death.  From the noises that that thing was making I pictured it to be pushing at least 300 pounds.  Then to my shock and amazement I discovered the noise was coming from howler monkeys that frequently swing by to forage in the trees surrounding our house.  The howler monkey is one of the loudest animals in the world, and their calls can be heard from up to three miles away.  The males are the only ones capable of producing the calls, and do so to warn other groups of monkeys that their territory is occupied.  They also issue these verbal assaults on barking dogs and lawnmowers, and probably just for fun at 4 a.m.

I particularly like how National Geographic describes them in this you tube clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REPoVfN-Ij4

I was able to get up close and personal with one outside of our house:

Visitors, Thanksgiving, and Dengue Fever

At the beginning of our third week in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, Siobhan left for a week to volunteer with a project to help sea turtles (see her blog about this topic for more information).  I continued onward with my normal routine, until later in that week when my friend Justin arrived.  His visit came as a sudden, pleasant surprise, as I got an email from him the day after Siobhan left, and greeted him at our apartment just three days later.  He had been poised to start a new job, but when the start date was pushed back two weeks, he decided to take advantage of the down time.  Having traveled throughout Europe together with our mutual friend Mark in January of 2008, we had already had a lot of adventures together.  During his time here, we spent a good bit of time surfing, eating and cooking great meals, made a successful trip to the casino in the neighboring town, and saw an epic moonbow.  We also had some visitors in the form of a couple neighborhood cats (which we named "Paloma" and "The Grey One"), and had an interesting time hanging out with them on the balcony.  Unfortunately he had to leave before Siobhan returned, so they still have not met.

 

Soon after Siobhan's return I developed a fever, but it passed for the time being and we were able to have a healthy Thanksgiving.  After a jog on the beach, we made a point to go for a quick swim, basically so that we could say we had swam in the ocean on Thanksgiving.  I had never been out of the country on Thanksgiving before, so it was a strange and somewhat sad holiday.  Fortunately we discovered that a restaurant in town was serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  For $20 per person, we got a full plate of food (turkey, potatoes, green beans, beets, and stuffing) in addition to a glass of wine and a slice of pumpkin pie.  The food was quite good and helped lessen the sting of our foreign holiday, but a second helping would have been nice... after all, it was Thanksgiving!

The next morning I awoke feeling ill, and found that the fever I had briefly experienced on Tuesday morning had returned with a vengeance.  As it grew worse, my temperature began to fluctuate in the 101-103 degree range, and I alternated between waves of feeling very hot and very cold.  Being in a tropical location, where a dengue fever outbreak had occurred the summer before, and where malaria is never entirely out of the realm of possibility, I was concerned about getting treatment if needed.  Adding to my distress was simply being away from home, in an unfamiliar place with unknown (to me anyway) health care services.  I spent several days mostly laid up on the couch, but fortunately I was able to fight off the illness, and did not have to go to a doctor or hospital.  As best we can figure, I probably had the flu.

Another reason for concern over my illness, was that my friend Ryan was coming to visit the following week.  I did not want to be a vegetable during his visit, and luckily I was recovered enough that I was able to do most everything, though not always with my typical level of energy.  We spent his first day relaxing and catching up, but on the second day of his visit I felt well enough that we were able to take a trip outside of town for a zip-lining expedition in the canopy.  When we arrived at the facility, we ascended to a platform in a tree, strapped into our harnesses and then the cable, and proceeded to ride the cables from tree-top platform to platform.  Some of the lines moved pretty fast and they were all high above the ground, so it made for a fun experience.  Most of the time we rode the cables lying on our backs in the harness, but we each tried the "Superman" method as well, where with the help of the guide, we flew face first on our stomachs.

 

 During Ryan's trip we also celebrated my 29th birthday for a second time and did some surfing.  Halfway through his time here, three of Siobhan's friends arrived (Ashley, Abby, and Luke), so we all had fun hanging out together (see her blog for more information about their visit).  It has been great having so many visitors, and I continue to be thankful that my illness occurred at the best possible time.

A Turtle Eclipse of the Heart

Costa Rica is only the size of West Virginia, containing just 0.25% of the worlds land mass, yet has the distinction of containing 5% of the world’s biodiversity.  Around 25% of Costa Rica’s land area is protected by national parks, making it the country with the greatest percentage of protected areas in the world.  That being said, Costa Rica faces enormous challenges as it continues to develop.  In coming to Costa Rica, I wanted to experience first-hand some of the diversity that I have always associated with this country.  After doing some research I chose to volunteer with Pretoma, a non-profit organization.  Pretoma has projects throughout Costa Rica, working within communities, thereby  employing locals and enlisting anyone who wants to donate some time to work in the field.  The program seeks to increase environmental awareness by educating people locally and internationally about the impacts of human development on coastal regions in Costa Rica (primarily focusing on sea turtles and sharks).

                                                                                                                                                                                            There are seven kinds of sea turtles in the world, four of which frequent Costa Rican beaches:  the Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Green, and Hawksbill.   All four are endangered, two critically.  The threats to nesting sea turtles are abundant, and entirely linked to human impact, including:  long line fishing/nets with no escape enclosures, habitat destruction due to light pollution (they will not return to nest on a beach where there is too much light because the hatchlings will be confused), and poachers on the beach.

To get to the volunteering site I had a long day featuring multiple bus transfers, travelling partially washed out roads, and traversing large mountains, all paired with my fledgling Spanish.  But the trip was well worth it!  I arrived at Playa San Miguel (located on the south western coast of the Nicoya peninsula) late at night and awoke the next day to find that my backyard was the ocean.  Playa San Miguel has a population of about 300 people and about two and a half restaurants.  The beach is long with cliffs and sea slug filled tidal pools at one end, and an estuary at the other, and is almost entirely deserted at all times.   My daily routine consisted of running on the beach, eating meals at the local soda which served delicious typical home cooked Tico food (rice and beans were present for all three J), and working on the project.  Most of our work occurred at night, and involved monitoring the hatchery and patrolling the beaches looking for turtles.  The predominant type of sea turtle nesting at this site is the Olive Ridley turtle.  They are unique in that they have a shell that is wider than it is long, and are rarely known to nest in arribadas, which occurs when hundreds of turtles emerge from the sea at the same time to nest.   Each night we patrolled the beach in groups (using no lights) looking for the turtle tracks, which are about 2.5-3 feet wide, and can be found above the high tide mark.  Sometimes we would see a turtle nesting, or just follow the tracks to where the eggs were laid.

Olive Ridley turtles can lay up to 120 eggs in one nest.  They dig a tube down into the sand, which has a wider mini-cavern at the bottom where the eggs to rest; this task is accomplished using only their back flippers.  The whole process is actually quite quick, I was surprised by how fast a full grown ~120 pound marine animal can move so quickly on land.  When we came upon nesting turtles it was important not to use any lights or stand in front of them, or else they would potentially head back to the water.  But once a turtle started laying the eggs, she would become totally oblivious to us and we could take measurements of the shell and track size, then tag the flippers, and collect the eggs as she was laying them.  All of the information collected from the turtle goes into a database, which helps to track turtle health and migration patterns.  The eggs were collected so that they could be brought to the hatchery, where they would be safe and the turtles only exposed to red light so as not to disturb the process.  Eggs are also brought to the hatchery to protect them from poachers on the beach (who would take them before the morning), as well as from dogs and other accidents.

During our patrols we occasionally ran into poachers, and even when we did not see them, we sometimes came across nests that had been dug up.  It seemed that there were no outright hostilities between the conflicting groups, and the system operated on a first-come first-served basis.  To combat this constant threat of poaching, Petroma has people monitoring the beach all night long in shifts.  The poachers take the eggs to sell them, and from what I was told they can make up to $20 per nest, which is a lot considering that the average wage in Costa Rica is $2 per hour.  When successful in collecting the eggs, we returned them to the hatchery to bury them (in the same type of nest).  The correct temperature is very important to their development, so the nests we created had to be similar to what the turtle would dig, with an incubation period of about 45-55 days.

 

I was lucky to be there when turtles were still nesting and the eggs were hatching.  So while we were patrolling at night we would check the hatchery frequently, since the eggs were likely to hatch in the dark (giving them an advantage over the tremendous obstacles that awaited them).  The reason that turtles lay so many eggs is that the likelihood of a baby turtle actually making it to adulthood is around .01%.  For the most part they all hatch simultaneously, which gives them an advantage, then they immediately start heading for the ocean based on sight and smell (another reason why light pollution can be harmful, as it can attract them inland).  Before even getting away from shore, they are picked off by birds, crabs, and fish, and can be baked in the sun quickly.  They have no defenses, and are just about bite-sized, so basically anything that wants to eat them can pretty much do it.  After escaping the nest, they have to survive to about 15 years of age before they will return to nest.  Surviving 15 years is a huge feat in itself, since the largest threat to turtles is not the poachers on the beach, but the fishermen offshore.  Turtles need to go to the surface to breathe, so if they are caught on long lines (used to catch swordfish and sharks), or in fishing nets (typically used for shrimp), they will suffocate and die before ever making it back to nest.  Long line fishing is a huge problem in Costa Rica, as it is all around the world.  In Costa Rica this technique is used to catch sharks, predominately for shark fining (which is illegal), and done on an industrial scale by international vessels (upwards of 100 million sharks are reportedly killed solely for their fins worldwide).  It seems that in Costa Rica the laws are in place to protect animals from poaching, overfishing, and shark-fining, but the enforcement is lacking.  When thinking about all the challenges the turtles face, it’s amazing that they survive at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCUGLaHDujk

Successful and unsuccessful methods of protection:

Involving local communities and educating them on human impacts, such as over fishing and habitat destruction is critical.  Even simple things like shielding open-facing lights and installing exits in large nets for bigger marine animals can have a big impact.  Tourism is the biggest source of income in Costa Rica, and people come here to experience the biodiversity.  This source of income can be more lucrative and sustainable for communities than the poaching of eggs.  The latter is unsustainable, and as with all endangered populations, there is a critical number that can be reached at which point there is not enough genetic diversity for a species to survive.

(http://playagrandeinfo.org/docs/leatherbacknature.pdf)

An example of this may be found in Playa Tamarindo, where we have been staying for the past six weeks.  Tamarindo lies at the center of what was once a substantial nesting area for the Pacific leatherback.  However, light pollution and over-development has almost totally wiped out this nesting area.  So now the people who come here to see Leatherback turtles end up paying high prices for guides who may not even find any.  While there are still turtles nesting to the north and south of Tamarindo, there are concerns regarding the aforementioned point of no return, as Pacific Leatherback turtles are critically endangered.

To see what you can do to help:

http://www.pretoma.org/

Life in Costa Rica

Our early-morning flight to Costa Rica led to a long, tiring day of travel.  We took a shuttle from near the main airport in San Jose and arrived in Tamarindo after dark, where we would be based for the months of November and December, and checked into our hostel.  Having little energy to explore the town, we had some dinner and went to bed early.  The following morning we arrived at our pre-rented apartment, La Casa de los Árboles, or The House Among the Trees.  We met our French-Canadian landlord, signed the paperwork, and started to settle into our new home.

Our apartment is on the second floor of a three-apartment building, which is set just outside of town, and about a 5-minute walk from the beach.  The location is great, as we are truly amongst the trees and far enough outside of town to have privacy and peace.  The best feature of the apartment is the large balcony that has a good-sized table for meals and work, two comfortable hammocks, and an easy-to-use gas grill.  The balcony is situated amongst a lot of trees, and we have had many different birds, iguanas, and even noisy howler monkeys, within a few feet from the balcony.  Inside we have a large living room with a couch, television, and desk, and a nice, equipped kitchen too.  The bathroom features an open-style shower with questionable water pressure and a finicky toilet.  Up a little wooden staircase from the main room is a tiny bedroom, which has windows for three of its four walls, and a nice breeze.  Aside from occasional minor issues, such as Internet outages, we have been quite happy with our apartment.  (See the video of our apartment, to be posted soon, to get a better idea.)

 

We spent our first week in town getting to know the area as best we could during the occasional breaks in the torrential, unrelenting rain.  A tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico was effecting our local weather, and for roughly six consecutive days Tamarindo averaged about 18 hours of rain per day.  During this time we managed to join a local gym, and started to get into a workout routine.  However, this complicated other aspects of our lives, as the building's washing machine was not functioning, and the damp environment led to a lot of wet, smelly clothes.  (Eventually the machine would work, but not until we paid about $20 to have our clothes washed at the only public place in town.)

With the rain finally subsiding, we began a more interesting and fulfilling existence.  In addition to our workout routine, I started to fall into a comfortable working pattern, and Siobhan began volunteering at a local pottery store on an almost-daily basis (see her blog for more information on that topic).  Of course since we were only five minutes from a beautiful, tropical beach, daily trips to swim, surf (using the surfboard that we purchased and intend to sell upon departure), and relax became a regular occurrence as well.  Our routine also found us making weekly treks to the large grocery store on the other side of town (about a 30-minute walk), and hauling back groceries in our backpacks.  Our diets shifted to the local flavors, featuring a lot of beans, rice, pineapple, and bananas, among other things.  We tried out several of the restaurants in town too, and quickly found some good ones.

Overall the first few weeks we spent in Tamarindo were pretty quiet and relaxing, which worked out nicely, as we would have several visitors over the coming weeks.

Roadtrip #2: Car-sleeping near the article circle

Having seen the southern part of Iceland a month before, we wanted to get up to the west and north parts of the country while the weather was decent.  When the forecast provided a good-looking weekend, it was time to act.  With the days quickly getting shorter and the weather deteriorating at the same pace, we were thrilled to have a good opportunity.

We picked up our rental car at 9:00 on a Saturday morning, loaded it up with some food and supplies, and shot out to the north on the ring road.  That day we drove alongside beautiful mountains, rugged fjords, and a lot of sheep and horses en route to Akureyri, the second-largest "city" in Iceland with a population of roughly 17,500 people, which is situated in the north-central part of the country along the water on a fjord.  Arriving in the city in the mid-afternoon after five hours on the road, we realized there was no way we could accomplish our aggressive itinerary with a two-day rental.  After weighing our options, we decided it would be worth the extra cost and extra work I would have to do upon our return, to extend our rental for another day.  Finding a phone in a gas station, we were able to extend our car rental until Tuesday morning.  With that out of the way, we decided to spend the rest of the day and night exploring Akureyri, before setting off further to the east the next morning.

Arriving in the center of Akureyri we found a good parking lot near the small downtown area to set up our car/hotel for the night.  We jumped out of the car and walked around the town, seeing an amazing botanical garden (which was quite impressive considering its proximity to the Arctic Circle), some guys playing American football, and the downtown area for some coffee.  That night we got some dinner at a family-style restaurant, and quickly realized that the town was not going to become active until at least midnight.  We decided to watch a movie, and afterward went out for a couple drinks.  Opting not to pay a cover, we found a bar and sat with Marco, a Swiss amateur photographer who was traveling around the ring road (we met up him again in Reykjavik to play a trivia game).  From about midnight until dawn (though we didn't stay awake quite that long to find out), the center of town was full of cars and young people, but was significantly less busy the rest of the time.

 

The next morning we woke up early, and shivering, and headed out to explore the area around Mývatn in the north-central part of Iceland.  This area features a large lake, a lot of old craters, and a lot of volcanic/fissure activity.  It is also one of the most beautiful parts of Iceland that we saw on our trip.  While there, we drove the road looping around the lake, stopping to take photos and to visit a museum on the birds of Iceland.  This museum featured a very strange and unique (the only other place they appear is Japan) spherical, underwater plant, called Marimo.  Also while driving around the lake, we hiked up to the top of a small mountain, which gave us wonderful views of the craters from above.  The entire area looked somewhat like the surface of the moon, minus the light vegetation.  Near Mývatn, we drove over a ridge and suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a steaming area of geothermal activity right outside the Krafla caldera.  After exploring this area, we drove past a geothermal power station, and hiked up to and into the actual caldera.  The landscape was quite dramatic, featuring jagged, black volcanic rock, and a lot of hot, steaming vents.  It was getting dark, so after walking a ways into the caldera, we turned back and made our way to the nearby Mývatn Nature Baths.  This site is dubbed "the north's answer to the Blue Lagoon" and it did not disappoint.  Sharing the warm, thermal pool with only a handful of other visitors, we relaxed in the warm (and in some places, simply too hot) turquoise water.  On the drive back to Akureyri that night, we were treated to a good display of the aurora borealis, and stopped a couple times along the way for photos.  By the time we got back to Akureyri, we were exhausted and accustomed to the idea of another cold night in the car.

On the final morning of our trip, we awoke fairly early (and cold once again), and started the long drive toward Snaefellsness, a long peninsula off the west coast of Iceland.  Our route there ended up being a long, arduous one, as we were stuck on a bumpy gravel road for a good portion of the drive.  We briefly explored a few of the coastal towns on the north part of the peninsula, and then headed out to its tip, where we saw the Snæfellsjökull glacier and volcano.  While there, we explored a lot of interesting, old lava flows, saw some of the jagged, black coastline, and visited a sign paying tribute to Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was set in the area.  After a full afternoon of exploring the region, the rain started to get harder and harder, and we made the journey back to Reykjavik.  Luckily we did not have to turn in our car until the next morning, so we were able to sleep in it one last night... just kidding, it was great to be back in a real bed.

Rotting shark meat...yumyum

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about an Icelandic "specialty" dish:

Hákarl (Icelandic for "fermented shark") is a food from Iceland. It is a Greenland or basking shark which has been cured with a particular fermentation process and hung to dry for four to five months. Hákarl is an acquired taste and has a very particular ammonia-rich smell and fishy taste, similar to very strong cheese slathered in ammonia. The shark itself is poisonous when fresh due to a high content of uric acid and trimethylamine oxide, but may be consumed after being processed. Those new to it will usually gag involuntarily on the first attempt to eat it due to the high ammonia content.

Hákarl is traditionally prepared by gutting and beheading a Greenland or basking shark and placing it in a shallow hole dug in gravelly-sand, with the now-cleaned cavity resting on a slight hill. The shark is then covered with sand and gravel, and stones are then placed on top of the sand in order to press the shark. The fluids from the shark are in this way pressed out of the body. The shark ferments for 6–12 weeks depending on the season in this fashion.