Parismina

So after we left Tirimbina, we drove to a place called Parismina. This is a small town located on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica. It was a fairly long afternoon of traveling (remember we didn't leave Tirimbina until late morning). We drove through some pretty areas, as well as others dominated by banana plantations. They were everywhere - Chiquita and Del Monte, primarily. We would be driving down a road for easily 10 minutes without seeing anything but banana trees.

The Chiquita banana plantation we passed on our way to Parismina. Soil erosion, massive chemical inputs, and human health risks are all environmental problems associated with large-scale banana production. 

Each banana tree had a plastic blue bag over the fruit, which prevents flies from laying eggs in the fruit and thus creating the perfect bananas that every American desires, of course with a few strings attached. Those bags contain many pesticides to prevent bugs from attacking the fruit. They are also used just once and then thrown away, creating a tremendous amount of waste. Each of the two plantations we passed contained massive water-tower-looking tanks that actually contained all of the pesticides and herbicides that will be used on the plants. It was amazing how large those tanks were... 

After a few hours driving through nothing but banana plantations, we finally made it to Parismina, or at least to the dock where we would load into boats that would take us to our hotel in Parismina. Basically, the area we were staying in was an island (man-made), which was one of the results after the creation of a small canalish-thing. 

It was a short boat ride to where we were staying (I wish I could remember the name of the place). It was super cute (and had a pool!). We stayed here for only 2 days, but those were some pretty amazing days (well, nights actually). 

View of the hammocks and gardens from the dining pavillion

The cabins we stayed in

From the boat (canal view)

We arrived in the afternoon to Parismina, and had most of the afternoon before dinner to settle in (for most that meant taking a dip in the pool). After dinner, we had a lecture on sea turtles! After lecture, probably around 8:30 or so, we piled back into the boats and took the short boat ride across the river to Parismina (the town). We were greeted by three members of the local Turtle Rescue group, who were going to take us on a typical night patrol along the beaches of Parismina. We were split into three groups (one per guide) and took our separate paths down the beach. Unfortunately after 3 or so hours of walking, we didn't spot any turtles (which was okay - we already planned on coming back the following night). 

So the next day, we left in the morning after breakfast to go on a boat ride on the canal, mostly doing bird watching. We saw some pretty amazing birds, along with some White-Faced Capuchins and lizards. 

Egret

Riding through the canal in Parismina (Atlantic Coast)

We spent all morning out on the water and returned to the hotel for lunch. Later that afternoon, one of the turtle patrollers, Jerry, came and gave us a talk about sea turtle conservation, particularly in Parismina. He and a few of his friends started the program nearly 15 years ago. He explained how Parismina (where he grew up) was primarily a turtle eating town. Starting a turtle conservation project did not initially go over well with many of the residents in the town, but they continued anyway. Every night they would go out and patrol the beaches. Eventually, they got a website set up and were able to start recruiting volunteers to help  protect the sea turtles. Each volunteer pays $27.00 per day ($17 goes towards their homestay family and the other $10 goes towards paying patrollers at night). In total, this conservation project releases 10,000 baby turtles a year. Sadly, only 1 in a 1,000 of these babies will survive to adulthood. Most threats to sea turtles are human-caused, such as climate change, beach erosion, bleaching corals, destruction of nesting sites, light pollution, hunting, and fishing. Plastics are also an important factor, as the turtles can mistake them for jellyfish (their main diet).

Jerry talked for a while about the importance of conserving not only sea turtles, but wildlife in general. One thing he said really stuck with me, which was that one of the biggest ways people can help is to reduce, REFUSE, and recycle. Refuse to purchase harmful plastics, refuse to participate in the industries that cause the most harm to wildlife. It was a very interesting, and rather brilliant, twist on the famous saying. Anyways, after the lecture, Jerry took us over to the beaches by Parismina to show us the hatchery they are building. It is a 3m x 15m area of sand to put clutches of turtle eggs in. To "build" the hatchery, they have to sift through all of the sand in that area to remove branches, plastics, and bad sand - a process that can take many weeks to complete.

Jerry talking about the hatchery

Hatchery in progress

After looking at the hatchery, we went to a local craft fair in Parismina. This fair has jewelry and other crafts made by people in Parismina. 90% of the profits from this craft fair went to the locals, with the other 10% going to help protect the sea turtles. It was an amazing experience, as we not only got to interact with more locals, but a portion of the money was going to such a great cause!

We got back to the hotel later that afternoon, and after dinner we were on-call for turtle-watching. We went later in the night to look for turtles (I think we left closer to 10:15). We split into three groups again, and split up down the beach. Not 20 minutes later, we got flashlight signals from the group ahead of us that they found a turtle! We power-walked down the beach and got to the site of the turtle. At first, it was so dark that I couldn't even make out the shape of the turtle. But when Jerry took out his flashlight, I saw the most beautiful, gigantic sea turtle (about 1.8 m long).

This isn't anyone from our group (creds to Google), but just so you can get an idea of the size of these turtles. We weren't allowed to bring cameras because it was a) too dark and b) flash would affect the turtles

By the time we reached this turtle, she had already finished laying her eggs and had begun to bury them in the sand. Her flippers are huge and incredibly strong and powerful, and we watched her move the sand and make her way back to the ocean. While she was heading back to the water, the patrollers and volunteers started the task of digging up her eggs from the nest. They do this with every nest they can find in order to prevent poachers from finding them from the turtle tracks. They have very little time from when the eggs are layed to move them, as doing this too late could kill the babies inside. 

After we watched her go back into the ocean, we split back into our groups and started heading back towards the entrance to the beach. My group was the first to leave, and we ended up finding a second turtle! This one luckily had just gotten to the beach, and we got to watch the entire process. We watched her dig the hole with her back flippers, as well as lay the eggs! It was an unforgettable experience! 

Leatherback Sea Turtle
(Photo credit to Google)