Today was our second day with the turtles.
We went to a beach called Sloth Beach and as you can imagine, there were three-toed sloths! There was actually one in the tree right above where we were standing but we just hadn’t noticed. We all tried to get pictures of him but it was hard with his head buried away.

We explored the beach a little while we were there and came across a couple of coconuts. A couple of us got them open so everyone could try them. The coconut was not as sweet as I had anticipated, but still good!

Today while at the beach we caught four more sea turtles.
One of them was so large that she had to be dragged in from the nets and carried on to shore by EIGHT people. She was huge! We caught three greens today and a hawksbill. The hawksbill was taken to the turtle hospital and placed in fresh water for 24 hours. This was to help get rid of a parasite that can live on them and be fatal. The hawksbill was a feisty one but I was able to get the tissue sample from her! It was such a cool experience!

First day with the turtles, or tortugas in Spanish. It was amazing! They had us throw out a net that was about 100 meters long. Then we all got in the water to untangle the net and make sure there weren’t any large knots. We caught a turtle immediately! Lucky for me, I was in the boat with Alice the microbiologist. Therefore, we got to bring the turtle in the boat and take it to shore. It was a juvenille turtle and she was gorgeous! After getting her on shore, we measured her carapace and plastron and recorded them. We also got to tag her and get a tissue sample. We caught 4 green turtles today so it was very exciting. Plus, we got to spend 7 hours on a gorgeous beach!

We have finally made it to Costa Rica! After about 12 hours of traveling, we have made it to this beautiful country. We took a chartered bus to La Playa Blanca which gave us a great opportunity to see a lot of the country’s landscapes and ways of life. I was amazed at how diverse the environment is here. We drove through a lot of mountains but we were also right next to the water. I knew Costa Rica was going to be a beautiful place to stay, but this is something out of a movie. We also got a chance to see some monkeys hanging out in the trees along the way. We were told that Costa Rica has about 5% of the world’s biodiversity and I can definitely see why. I’m really looking forward to what this amazing country has to offer!