Volunteer Abroad Blog

If you would tell me a year ago I would help build a house, I’d have laughed in your face. But working now at uVolunteer, I learned to keep all the opportunities open.  So I was sent on a mission once again! This time, no little kids running around, no mosquitoes to hide from and no turtles to protect.  I was a builder for a day! Vladimir Aristov, Tia Metzger and Brittnee Walker have been working hard the last weeks, sifting, digging and bricklaying to put together a beautiful house for single mom Lygia.

At 8:00 in the morning we were all waiting for Rojelio to pick us up. Unfortunately, I am still not used to the Tico time, which resulted in us waiting for about an hour to be picked up. When we assumed Rojilio wouldn’t come anymore and already started making plans what else we could do, we saw a blue jeep approaching.

A wobbly 10 minute ride later we arrived at the playground where we were welcomed by fellow builder Rodrigo. The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the half finished house was that Lygia could praise herself quite happy! The house was located on a perfect location. The corner house of 5 with a view of what seemed to me almost half of San Ramon; one of those  panoramas you see on postcards and make all of your friends and family jealous when they realize you’re there…

But we were not there for the view, there was a whole lot of work that needed to be done! Rodrigo divided his little team as follows: Vlad and Brittnee would work outside, sifting the fine sand , and Tia would stay inside the house sanding and polishing the walls (photo). And I got yelled at by the volunteers, as always, for not helping enough and being annoying with my camera. But in the end, when I gathered all my footage necessary for the ‘a day in the life of video’ (which will be posted on YouTube soon) I also had time to try out this grateful project.

In fact, always when I see builders polishing a wall (covering it with cement and then sanding it until it becomes smooth) my fingers start to tingle. It seems so much fun to do that, but unfortunately, doing it in real life was less pleasant. Although I  liked doing it at the start, my arms started to protest after 10 minutes already and it  finally became clear to me why little Tia won the arm wrestling contest we held during our trip.

At 11:00 Lygia, the future resident of the house came by with a ‘refresco’ (cold drink) and some biscuits and to support the builders. My day ended at 12:00 and I was really impressed to see how fast everything went. Seeing the house in the morning and in the afternoon already seemed like a complete makeover to me.

 I can’t wait to see the final result!

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One thing I love about Costa Rica is that, despite the laid back attitude of the people, moving a house goes as fast as the TGV in France. In less than a month, we found a new house, signed the contract and moved from one dorm to another. And what a beauty the new dorm is! Big, bright, beautiful with a backyard, and you all know what that means right? BBQ!!

After all our officers turned into cleaning ladies and movers and with the help of volunteer Adrienne, we managed to transfer the dorm in one day. And of course, a housewarming was the next logic step! On wednesday, uVolunteer officer Meaw prepared a great BBQ with lots of meat, Thai dishes and happy volunteers!

Photos of this event will be posted soon on our Facebook page!

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Author: Fei An Tjan
Date: 15-06-2009

Whenever you think about Volunteering in Turtle Conservation, the idyllic situation of sun, sea and beach might cross your mind. Although this is partially true, Turtle Conservation is very hard work as well! And I am certainly not trying to scare or prevent anyone from doing this project, au contraire, I hope you will all be inspired after reading this article! Though I do want to give you an honest overview of this work, as it might not be as sunny as it sounds and so you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into…

Ask any of the volunteers who have done this project and they will tell you the downsides of the job as well. For me personally, the biggest pain was dealing with mosquitoes, sand flies and sand flees, and I’m not talking about one or two, but I’m talking MOSQUITOES, SAND FLIES and SAND FLEES! Make sure you prepare to be bitten, as you can’t wear insect repellent around the turtles. 

Before I will continue my article on the pros and cons of turtle conservation, I’d like to tell you something about turtles first. Currently, our ocean counts 7 species of Sea Turtles. All of them are endangered or threatened under the U. S. Endangered Species Act (www.seaturtles.org). Although there are some natural causes of why the turtles are getting more and more extinct, It is unfortunately human kind that accounts for the biggest guilt. Turtles are getting stuck in fishing nets, eggs are poached and turtles get killed by pollution and global warming. Look at the list below to understand more of these incredible creatures:

• A female turtle can swim around with a male on her back for months. He will do so to protect his sperm and to prevent other Males to mate with his ‘woman’. You can imagine how tiring this is for the female, so to shake him off, she just gets on land. Sea turtles, and especially Male sea turtles, are not used to getting on land and because the new environment scares them, they will finally release the Female from themselves.

• A turtle’s natural food resource is jellyfish (another good reason why we need to save them!). To prevent the jellyfish to slide out again, the turtle’s mouth and throat contains backward facing spines.

• When eating, a turtle also swallows a lot of sea water. To get rid of the excess salt in its body it sheds tears. When you have never seen a turtle before, you might think it has an infection or is sick, as the tears are kind of a snotty.

• During the nesting season, a lot of females return to the place they’re born. They tend to reproduce 2 to three times a year, but a nest can contain up to 115 eggs. Unfortunately, less than 5 % of those 115 eggs will make it back to that beach 10 years later. The amount of turtles coming back to the beaches decreased so drastically over the last decades that they will be extinct in a few years without our help.

• Once the a turtle is nesting, they turn in sort of a trance and it will be safe to approach them and collect the eggs and information without scaring or upsetting them.

Now you know a bit more about turtles, it’s time to talk business. As I mentioned before, volunteering in Turtle Conservation is not just lying on the beach. Thanks to the logging of trees (deforestation) and pollution, you will also spend part of your time cleaning up beaches. Plastic bags that get lost in the ocean are easily mistaken for jellyfish by the Turtles and will result in them dying when they swallow it. Jellyfish are the turtle’s natural food source and swallowing plastic is clearly not going to turn out for the best. Apart from that, you will make the beach ‘trunk free’, which will clear the way for the baby turtles and their sprint for the water. Consider the fact that the little animals are so small that they can get stuck in a footprint! But the tree logging is also a problem for the adult females that come to the beach to nest. The females are quite picky when it comes to the perfect spot to lay eggs and you can imagine that a beach full of trunks will not help very much…

So you’re done for the day, but most turtles come to the beach in the evening or at night to do their nesting ritual. Unfortunately, poaching, which means digging up the eggs and selling them for a high prize on the black market, is still a big problem. Night patrols are therefore necessary, but not always fun. Being on night patrol means walking up and down the beach for approximately 4 hours with a group of volunteers. While doing this, you will prevent poachers from stealing the eggs and at the same time collect information on the turtles (if there are any) and give the eggs a safer and more sterile home. In the hatchery, the eggs will be under 24/7 supervision.

If volunteering in Turtle Conservation might seem a bit of a no-go job now, I can only tell you that seeing a 1000 KG turtle dragging itself on the beach and laying eggs is priceless! It lets you realize in one quick look why you’re doing all the hard work. Especially when you start to learn more about the background of the turtles you will understand how much your help is needed and appreciated! This feeling probably becomes only stronger when the babies come out and make their way to the sea; you will feel proud you eliminated some big trunks!

I hope I’ve made clear that, even though volunteering in Turtle Conservation might be hard work, you are getting so much more back for it! And hey, imagine carrying your boyfriend on your back for a month, who is really the one working hard?

Read more experiences with Turtle Conservation

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Author: Fei An Tjan

July 3^rd 2009 – July 10^th 2009

Last week, I experienced the true meaning of volunteering and traveling abroad. Due to Costa Rican school holidays, we offered our volunteers a small holiday, while in the meantime letting them experience another volunteer project. Fiorella and I were the lucky ones to come along on this exciting journey, which would start in white water rafting heaven, Turrialba; then we would continue to do some labor in Gandoca, where one of our Turtle Conservation Projects is based and after that, we would probably need the last three days to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo. This week, I will give you a daily update of some memorable moments…

Day 7 and 8- July 9th and 10th, 2009

Our last full day in Puerto Viejo. Fiorella already left earlier that morning to catch a bus to San Ramon, beach time was over and duty called again. As for us, we were desperately trying to catch those last beams of sun and drops of salty sea before going back to the valley again. This resulted in a very lazy day on the beach and the most exciting happening of that day seeing the sun set…

In one week, it seemed that we had all surrendered to the laid back culture the Caribbean is known for. Time did not seem to matter any more and everybody was planning power naps all throughout the day. Though in the evening, all the volunteers seemed to have woken up again, apart from Eli and me, and went out for a last night of dancing. I was impressed that everybody was ready on time the next day to leave back to San Ramon, only to find out that our driver wasn’t!

Our trip back didn’t go without problems. First of all the fact that our driver was about 1,5 hours late to pick us up, and when we finally settled in the car, we got a flat tire just before arriving back home.  At 20.00 that evening we then finally arrived back at the dorm and were welcomed by a whole group of new volunteers.

After an exhausting day I was happy to roll into my bed, thinking that I wouldn’t have want to miss all of this for the world!

Thank’s to all of you for making this such an amazing trip!

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Author: Fei An Tjan

July 3^rd 2009 – July 10^th 2009

Last week, I experienced the true meaning of volunteering and traveling abroad. Due to Costa Rican school holidays, we offered our volunteers a small holiday, while in the meantime letting them experience another volunteer project. Fiorella and I were the lucky ones to come along on this exciting journey, which would start in white water rafting heaven, Turrialba; then we would continue to do some labor in Gandoca, where one of our Turtle Conservation Projects is based and after that, we would probably need the last three days to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo. This week, I will give you a daily update of some memorable moments…

Day 6-July 7^th 2009

Another day of turtle conservation, this time in Cahuita National Park. Fiorella, and I took the 9 o’clock bus to the park to check out this project. Just like in Gandoca, everything seemed very organized. They had a big communal area and even a swimming pool in the backyard. The volunteer coordinator showed us around the sights and took us for a nice walk to their brand new hatchery, where they guard the eggs and new born babies. He also made us realize how happy we should be with our night patrolling in Gandoca, as we only had a 1,5 km beach stretch to walk on, patrolling in Cahuita means 12 km every night! ‘Respect’ was the only word that crossed my mind.

The beach on the other hand, was gorgeous and Cahuita was less remote than Gandoca which made visits to the nearby towns much easier. While Fio had already made her favorite pick: Gandoca, I wasn’t sure which project I liked better. They both had their  benefits. As soon as we were finished the sky started falling down on us. The heavy rain wasn’t exactly inviting to wander around town ór the park, so we ended up ‘inspecting’ the multiple café’s Cahuita was rich.

When we arrived back at the lodge we arranged things to give Eli a happy birthday surprise. For some reason though it seemed impossible to get everybody together in one room and the whole session lasted longer than 2 hours. Hunger took the overhand and we celebrated with an incomplete group. The cake didn’t taste less because of that though!

To be continued…

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Author: Fei An Tjan

July 3^rd 2009 – July 10^th 2009

Last week, I experienced the true meaning of volunteering and traveling abroad. Due to Costa Rican school holidays, we offered our volunteers a small holiday, while in the meantime letting them experience another volunteer project. Fiorella and I were the lucky ones to come along on this exciting journey, which would start in white water rafting heaven, Turrialba; then we would continue to do some labor in Gandoca, where one of our Turtle Conservation Projects is based and after that, we would probably need the last three days to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo. This week, I will give you a daily update of some memorable moments…

Day 5-July 7^th 2009

Trying to get 10 girls ready in the morning is not an easy task. Again, we left about an hour later than planned. And after stressing multiple times that everybody should get their clothes off the drying line, I was not the slightest bit surprised that there’s always one that doesn’t listen, me… Luckily, traveling with myself for such a long time made me get over the loss quite quickly and there was no need for tears. Proxima estación: Puerto Viejo.

After so much action and excitement, I noticed everyone’s relief to spend the last three days on the beach. The weather was amazing and we spend the morning hanging on the playa doing nothing. Vlad, Kristen and Matthew had rented bikes, which would later turn out, wasn’t such a great idea.

After lunch in one of the nice seaside café’s and a beautiful speech that Vlad prepared for us, Tia and I decided we could ‘dink’ back to town with the bike people. Everything went as planned and I jumped smoothly on Vlad’s bike’s backseat, which I had done already hundreds of times in Holland. I found out in about 10 seconds why not everybody in the whole wide world rides a bike: stones! A small rock decided to bother us and before we knew it, Vlad and I were seeing the sand from very up close and personal. When the sand would be a person, it would be one of those moments where your personal space was intruded. From that close we saw the sand…We survived, but the bike unfortunately didn’t. The wheel was twisted, Vlad upset, I even more and we had to take it to the bike repair shop for some fixing.

The Beach Cruiser diaries aren’t over yet though. In the evening, Tia and I picked up the bike, a good excuse for us to leave the house and find some presents for Eli, whose birthday would be the next day. 7000 Colones lighter, we left the bike shop and rode around in town a bit. Also that didn’t last long. Right after telling her that there are a lot of bike accidents in Holland because of tourists riding bikes, Tia, who could only just touch the floor using Vlad’s bike couldn’t keep her balance and almost tumbled into the sea. Luckily she came to a halt by falling on her ‘derrière’ right before she would actually fall in the water. That was number one. Yes, it is exactly what you think. There is a number two! A safety hump. After getting some drinks for the night, the safety hump did exactly where it wasn’t designed for. Dear little Tia got stuck on it trying to cross and BOOM! fell again, this time with all the cans scattered around her on the street. I don’t think I stopped laughing at least until we arrived home again and I think Tia broke a record by falling off a bike twice in less than an hour.

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Author: Fei An Tjan

July 3^rd 2009 – July 10^th 2009

Last week, I experienced the true meaning of volunteering and traveling abroad. Due to Costa Rican school holidays, we offered our volunteers a small holiday, while in the meantime letting them experience another volunteer project. Fiorella and I were the lucky ones to come along on this exciting journey, which would start in white water rafting heaven, Turrialba; then we would continue to do some labor in Gandoca, where one of our Turtle Conservation Projects is based and after that, we would probably need the last three days to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo. This week, I will give you a daily update of some memorable moments…

Day 4-July 6^th 2009

04:30 - The Sunrise Plan was still on. With the sleep still in our eyes we watched the sun coming up from behind the cloudy sky. A magical moment, but when we arrived back in the lodge I was more than happy to fall back in my comfy pillow again.

7:00 – Second time to wake up that morning! But a first glance at the breakfast made waking up a lot more pleasant already! Waiting for us was Costa Rican Arepa (fried dough), cereal, Fresh Fruits and delicious coffee, what else can you ask for on a sunny Wednesday morning?

9:00 – Turtle briefing. Charly, one of the staff members that shared the accommodation with us did a little presentation on the turtles and the work. We, model students who all read the turtle conservation handbook tried to answer all of his questions and I think we proved we did our homework wel.
Did you know that…

• The largest leatherback turtle ever found, was over 3 meters (10 feet) long
• All 7 species of sea turtles are now listed as endangered species
• The natural food resource for turtles are jellyfish
• A turtle sheds tears to get rid of excess salt in its body
• It takes 10 years for a female Leatherback turtle to reach maturity.

14:00 – After another great meal, it was time for our first task, beach cleaning. Thanks to many factors, the baby turtles are prevented to make their way to the sea, logging is one of them. In my blog about reforestation you can read about the logging of the trees and all its accompanying effects. In the case of the turtles, the problem is that the big trunks get lost on the beach and the turtles don’t have enough power yet to get around it. Result: baby turtle dies before reaching the water… So our job was to clean up big twigs and trunks to clear the way for the little ones. Not exactly a fun job and here and there I heard some moaning and groaning (especially when I took photo and video footage), but later that night we would all receive the reward for the hard work of that afternoon.

After the beach cleaning Charles announced the groups for the night patrols. Patrolling is necessary to make sure nobody steals the turtle eggs or worse, slaughters the turtles and also to collect data on the turtles. Because everybody was placed in another group, we heard many amusing stories the next morning, but the important thing is that in the end, everybody saw some turtles and some groups even had the chance to collect the eggs.

19:00 – After dinner naptime.

24:00 - I was grouped in the 24:00-04:00 shift together with Tia, Vlad and Zsuzsana. Charly was our leader. Unfortunately, the groups in the early shifts already did all the fun work and we only got to see the turtles without any action. Though seeing those massive creatures was an incredible experience already. What made the night even more special was without doubt Vlad again. While Tia and I were enjoying the sandy walk on the beach, we suddenly heard a loud “CRACK”, people screaming, than a lot of laughter. What happened? That’s exactly what we wanted to know… Vlad apparently tripped on a branch and made a body roll to break his fall, but by doing that, he miscalculated and roled right into the sea. Cruel as we are, Tia and I couldn’t stop laughing after we made sure nothing severe had happened ofcourse.

4:00 – At the hatchery, we were told that some new eggs had popped and we could escort the newborns back to the sea. As I wrote before, here it was that, I at least, realized how good it was to clean up the beach in the afternoon. It seemed like such a struggle for them to get back to the sea and thinking that they would get stuck behind one of those treetrunks already broke my heart.

After that night, I think we all deserved some sleep. The next morning we would leave for Puerto Viejo to spend three great days baking on the beach.

To be continued…

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Author: Fei An Tjan

July 3^rd 2009 – July 10^th 2009

Last week, I experienced the true meaning of volunteering and traveling abroad. Due to Costa Rican school holidays, we offered our volunteers a small holiday, while in the meantime letting them experience another volunteer project. Fiorella and I were the lucky ones to come along on this exciting journey, which would start in white water rafting heaven, Turrialba; then we would continue to do some labor in Gandoca, where one of our Turtle Conservation Projects is based and after that, we would probably need the last three days to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo. This week, I will give you a daily update of some memorable moments…

Day 3-July 5^th 2009

At 8:00 AM everybody was sort of ready to leave. That means of course we weren’t even close, but at 08:30, everybody managed to drag him or herself in the van. Two hours driving became three hours, getting lost, three hours became four, getting lost again and after four hours we decided to take a break in one of the road restaurants.

So far, we hadn’t found a restaurant where the serving went flawless and this one was no exception. But it keeps getting a little bit better every time and this time it was only one order (mine) that went wrong.

At 14.30, 2 hours later than planned, we finally arrived in the Carribean town of Gandoca. Shock! This place was nothing, but absolutely nothing like I’d expected. After preparing everybody for the worst circumstances, including myself: no water, no electricity, limited light, I was only happy to find this place in such a good state. The house where we stayed was gorgeous and our welcome, with a good cup of Costa Rican blend and some Chiqi cookies was everything we needed after the bumpy ride. We heard that we had the rest of the day off which meant BEACH! No discussion (or other option).

In the evening we went back to the good old times playing cards, reading and other social occupations (photo). What else do you do in a place where there are no computers (apart from mine), no TV and no Playstation or Wii? At 20:00 everybody was tired of playing games and prepared for bed. It would be a short night as the plan was to see the sunrise at 04.30. So no chitchatting in the room, lights out and off to dream land.

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Author: Robert Cox

Sunday morning, July 12. I wake up on what I think will be a lazy Sunday to find my host family with questions:  Robert, do you like horses? Would you like to go with us this morning to a place where there are many beautiful horses? I give an energetic Si! Thinking we are going to a farm with horseback riding, I put on jeans and sensible shoes. But instead of heading to the open country, we go to the town of Naranjo.

As it turns out, July 12 is the date of the annual Tope Naranjo. A quick look in my translation dictionary tells me that ‘tope’ means ‘butt.’ A second look tells me that another meaning is ‘to bump.’ Despite my initial confusion, eventually understanding dawns on me.

The Tope Naranjo is a parade featuring area cowboys and cowgirls in their finest finery, mounted on their brushed and groomed steeds wearing their finest bridles, harness, and saddles. The cowboys’ colorful shirts, boots, belt buckles, and hats are brushed and shined to perfection.  The riders bump in the saddles as the horses prance around. Thus, ‘tope.’

By 10 a.m. the horsemen and women have gathered at the western edge of Naranjo. The event’s sponsors, the local Lions Club, are registering the riders for the competition with green arm bands and labels with their contestant numbers on them.  The horses pawed the loose dirt impatiently as their riders tried to steady and quiet them. 

At 1 p.m. the parade began. The horses paraded out for the judging. As far as I could tell, all the hard work and effort was all for a blue sash which the winner could wear proudly across his chest. Meanwhile, vendors hawked cold drinks, and charcoal braziers scented the air with barbecued meats.  I invested 1000 Colones for some kind of mystery meat on a stick, but being hungry, it tasted fine to me.

The worst job there, however, fell to my host, Fernando.  He donned a bulky costume featuring the logo of his employer.  He looked like a cross between the green M&M and Barney the Dinosaur (only in green). After a hot march behind all those horses, he was able to remove the sweltering costume. He downed two bottles of cold Fresca in seconds.

I’m sure some happy cowboy won the coveted blue sash, but I think the real winners were the Lions Club of Naranjo.  Their goal seemed to be to lure as many people as possible out into the sweltering heat, and then to sell them cold drinks at a good profit.  Of course, the Lions everywhere are noted for their acts of charity, so no one complains.     

This was one colorful event not described in uVolunteer’s descriptive literature, at least not this year.

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Author: Fei An Tjan

July 3^rd 2009 – July 10^th 2009

Last week, I experienced the true meaning of volunteering and traveling abroad. Due to Costa Rican school holidays, we offered our volunteers a small holiday, while in the meantime letting them experience another volunteer project. Fiorella and I were the lucky ones to come along on this exciting journey, which would start in white water rafting heaven, Turrialba; then we would continue to do some labor in Gandoca, where one of our Turtle Conservation Projects is based and after that, we would probably need the last three days to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo. This week, I will give you a daily update of some memorable moments…

Day 2 – July 4^th 2009

After a big breakfast we were ready for some adventure! Finding the river wasn’t a big hassle, but the one time we did have to ask for directions, the person turned out to be our guide. We only found out about that when we arrived at our destination.

At river Pacuare (translated: when it’s a rainy and sunny day at the same time) the boats and safety kayakers, who had to save us from drowning, were all set up. After a short tutorial: ‘rafting for dummies’, we were off to raft the white water. Luckily, we had the two men in our boat that our group was rich. This means I was often very tempted to pretend I was rowing, but instead just enjoy the incredible scenery where we floated by. Of course, I never did and put all my efforts in managing that paddle…

So far, a flawless day, and it only got better when we saw the lunch that was served: Guacuamole, pineapple, mangos, tortillas, tuna salad, a-mazing! Unfortunately, we weren’t the only hungry ones around and Brittnee got bitten by the biggest ant I’d ever seen in my life. A miracle he didn’t swallow her in one go. Apart from that, the rest of the day went very smooth, no drowned or wounded volunteers.

In the evening, after a needed nap, we decided to celebrate American Independence day in one of the local bars. A place called Ole Ole became our hangout for the early evening where we met all the rafting staff again! Now isn’t that a coincidence? Later on that evening, our whole group moved to the local discotheque where we all witnessed a priceless dance performance by our own Vladimir (now I know why Russian dancing is that famous) . A fun night out ended with a great night’s sleep again. Proxima estacion: Gandoca – Turtle Conservation!

To be continued… 

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