Huevos, Tortugas, Moscas y Cervezas

El Tortugario, Cuyutlan, Mexico.

For three weeks Allison and I devoted our time to learning about and working with los tortugas del Tortugario. We decided to take this trip with the hopes that we would learn alot, work hard and hopefully make some friends. We accomplished that without a doubt, plus had time to enjoy what Mexico knows best: Cervezas!

We began this trip by taking the 24 hour Bloor bus to the airport, on a Friday, at 3am. Taking an hour bus ride, in a bus that is crammed - like doors won't shut crammed - with "I can't stand I am so drunk" people, and bags that are capable of breaking your back, was our first mistake.

Our second was getting a flight that involved three planes, to get to a place five hours away. Just to save a few bucks.

Our third, was not knowing any Spanish upon arrival. I figure what's a better way to ask for help, from an old Mexican woman who can't speak a word of English, than to start speaking Korean to her? Apparently that one Spanish course in grade 10 wasn't as fresh in my mind as I thought it was.

Allison and I arrived in Mexico hungry, dirty, sweaty and tired. Take these four adjectives, subtract the hungry and add itchy and you have our life for about three weeks. How can that not sound like the best three weeks of your life? With the help of Joselo, our younger older brother (younger than us, but essentially our guardian) we literally had the time of our lives. While he was super shy at first (as you might see in the video) he was sometimes willing to speak in English, always willing to teach us bad words in Spanish and never missed an opportunity to dance, sing or have a drink. If you are going to live in Mexico you have to learn to work hard, but to also enjoy life. Don't get so caught up in your day to day routine and forget that the best times you have are surrounded by family and friends (with food, beer/tequila).

Here is a video of where we cultivated most of our memories while in Mexico.



Before we left for Mexico we were super excited to embark on a major learning experience. At one point I was told that this opportunity might not be more than just a gathering of hippies looking to party, and to be honest I wasn't so happy about that. Allison and I didn't take this trip to "save the world," but we did want to expand our minds in some sort of way that didn't involve partying and only partying. This, thank goodness, was not the case. We were the only volunteers on this conservation site, living in very simple conditions, among people who didn't speak much English, in a small town that couldn't have been less touristy. We witnessed an organization that is dedicated to preserving the species of that area that are in danger of extinction with the hope of educating those people who pass by their gates. This is a non profit that is operating in a country/city with few resources. It doesn't have much, but it uses what it has to do the best that it can do.

Here are a few pictures documenting our travels. The first bunch represent the daily duties we performed during our work hours. Something that was always really cool was when you could have a full conversation, discussing the different hatching conditions of turtles, dependent on the colour of sand, in Spanish. Our form of communication went far beyond just words as charades became a part of our daily routine. While Allison's Spanish stayed pretty stagnant (she prefers grand gestures, and grunting, over words) I dedicated an hour or two a day to learning as much Spanish as I could. My learning curve was huge and I felt totally motivated, for about a week and a half, until I realized how much I didn't know haha. It was all good though. I used what I had, when I could, and I was proud of myself for it.

So let me briefly explain the sequence of our duties. Our day began at 10:30 pm when Allison and I (rotating days) would head out on a four wheeler with one of the local workers, Carlos (who didn't speak English or play charades hah). We would look for turtle eggs and only turtle eggs.. Like I said, it's either you or the poachers. Each turtle lays about 80-120 eggs. Each egg can be sold on the black market (as a delicacy served in restaurants) for 50 cents each. When workers make an average of two to three dollars an hour, you can see why this has become such a popular "profession."

Carlos goes out every night and collects as many eggs as he can. We were fortunate enough to be able to join him on his journey and there is no doubt that this was a highlight of our trip. There is nothing like being on a beach, in the middle of the night, hearing the waves crashing on the sand, seeing a million stars in the sky, and watching a turtle walk up and lay its eggs in the sand. Go one step further and turn the four wheeler off, sit in complete silence, rub the turtles shell to see it glow from the phosphorus elements from the ocean, and dig underneath its shell to catch its eggs in your hand, and you have yourself and opportunity of a lifetime.

See the following photos to get a glimpse of what it was like. I was totally unable to remove myself from the experience so there are only a few pictures that Allison was able to take.


The turtles are able to dig pretty deep holes!




Just one of the many weird looking eggs we found.

After the incredibly thrilling experience of the night patrols, we had to be up only a few hours (or maybe one hour) later to incubate all those eggs. The first few days it was fun. After that, I am not going to lie, planting those eggs was a bit of a bitch. The process involved digging a deep hole with an ancient looking contraption, carving it out with your hands to create a vase shape at the bottom, counting each egg while inserting it into the hole, covering it and recording it, all in black sand that is hot as hell, and Mexican sun, which is also, hot as hell.







After our morning escapade of egg planting, we would move on to turtle cleaning. The best was cleaning las chiquitas (what we would call the baby turtles). The babies were as cute as you would imagine them to be and even cuter because they hated having baths. In no way did they want to be cleaned and they would flap their fins in total protest. Until you rubbed in between their nose and their forehead that is and they became relaxed to the max. Not much more to say other than the fact that these little guys were cute little pooping machines!











In addition to the baby turtles, the mamma and pappa turtle tanks needed to be cleaned. There was no way around this one. This was just not fun. You could never really wash away all of the turtle shit, and the turtles just always seemed to be in your way. Moving them was never easy and scrubbing the floor was never fun. It's all in the name of an experience though! One thing I did love was seeing the total disregard the turtles had for your presence.







The highlight of our trip came about two weeks in when we witnessed a phenomenon of mother nature that you don't often get to see (well not in the city anyways). All of our hard work throughout the week led us back to the beginning of the life cycle where we were able to witness the birth of the baby turtles that had been incubated 45 days prior (that is how long they take to hatch). This was totally by fluke that we got to see it, but we are so so happy that we did.















This was our daily routine, just after lunch. To go down to the beach, burn the hell out of our feet (has anyone else experienced the pain of black sand?) stand in the water and watch the power of the ocean crash down at our feet.



...and inevitably surprise us with one or two waves that were just a little stronger than we thought they would be....



And here is just a glimpse of the few activities we participated in during our time away:

My daily study session


One of the few mangrove boat rides we went on, where the mosquitos totally destroyed us.




Allison conquering the Pacific Ocean on her surfboard!




Joselo giving us one of his many shows;






Ahhh, Coco Locos. A reward after a hard days' work!




One of my most popular daily activities. Scratching my mosquito bites until they bled.


Next are a few of the many living things we shared our space with:

Lobo, our second guardian besides Joselo. One of the most beautiful, smartest and toughest dogs around






Just so you know, that IS a scorpian, and yes, it CAN kill you.








So it wasn't all work in Mexico. Joselo introduced us to his friends: Jose, Ed, Manuel (and others) and they made sure to show us a good time!

Two of the 50 workers at Glass nightclub wearing the ever so stylish virus masks.


Ed, Jose y Manuel!


Please notice the travel dresses. I can assure you that we were extremely underdressed for this place. Wrinkled dresses, flipflops, bug bites, no make up and so so hair, did not make us fit in with the oh so classy Mexican women!


So we tried again the next weekend!


Allison starting the night off.


Allison ending the night off.


I almost won a prize! But I didnt. Because I am not Mexican. And got my name butchered in the process.


The boys preparing our going away dinner followed by a going away dance party! It was the BEST and I will never, ever forget how awesome, and how welcoming these people were.


Manuel working hard to cook us some delicious carne (meat).


The El Tortugario crew.


Mexico es numero uno!


The sweetest present given to us by Joselo. A collage of our time together en Mexico!


I would like to end this post of with some of the misunderstandings that took place due to our lack of knowledge surrounding the Spanish language. Please enjoy.

1. Trying to tell Carlos that Allison would like to go on patrol with him. By me saying "Te Quiera," I was really saying "She loves you." The very awkward moments between her and him the next day was only explained after I realized my mistake.

2. Allison and I are incubating the turtle eggs while some tourists approach us. One little boy comes up to us and asks what happens to the turtle eggs. While Allsion can understand some Spanish, she can in no way speak it. She then proceeds to tell the boy, using the few words that she knows, that these turtle eggs will hatch into ants (we know the word for ants because they inhabited our beds!)

3. Allison saying "Es muy cailente," and the guy next to her not knowing if she is speaking about him or the weather (caliente is to express hot, calores is to express heat).

4. Me, not knowing that bug in Spanish is "bicho," and thinking Eba - a girl with limited English - just called me her bitch.

The End

Dawna