breakfast

yeaps. they hav rice for breakky too. had it for abt one to two days..then decided to jus go for crackers and coffee.

back of the house.

father of the family. they carve stuffs, make ornaments for a living. think im very blessed to stay with this family. haha. cos i like to play around with all these tools. i managed to learn from his son, how to carve a turtle.. loL. good fun.

My room

my host family's place. really nice and cosy. the family loves sitting around the balcony, talk and joke.. closely knitted family.

dinner

typical dinner. cooked by my host family's mum. rice and beans are staple. everyyyyday also must have. had fried bananas almost everyday too. then sometimes its spaghetti, or abit of meat. NO VEGETABLE! woe is me.

treehouse

there's a treehouse near my working place. very nice place to just rest, relax..read a book and watch sunset. good for an afternoon siesta too. haha. theres a hammock there. very nice. spent many afternoons on the tree house alone reading, writing postcards and stuffs. wld then head back to my host family's place for dinner, mingle around with them..and head back to the beach for my night shifts.

training.

first day at playa ostional. had our briefing and training on site. check out those baby leatherbacks. super adorable. then we sculpted a massive leatherback. haha..how cool is that. used that for training. bottom right of the collage is Yaiza (project supervisor) demonstrating how we should place the bag into the hole/nest just before the turtles lay their eggs. we'll collect leatherback's egg then relocate it in the hatchery that we build.

realised i had more photos from costa rica in another memory card. heh.. that was before my camera went kapuut. first day in costa rica, Heredia. see the look on my face, quite excited with my plate of rice, beans and greens. aha...now now, we all know that look wldnt last long.... we ate at this place called Mr Burgers. they had a wide array of food. from burgers, fish and chips, to their own traditional rice and dishes. had a really hard time asking what each dish was...... in the end i jus chose beans n veges. was really yummu. loL. some of my friends actually went for maccas in costa rica. crazy. so anyway, they had very interesting fruit juices. tried to ask wat those were, but i jus cldnt understand a word they said. haha..but most of the costa ricans are very friendly and hospitable. loL..in the end, they asked me to just go ahead and try every drink for free. haaha. they were probably half exasperated, half amused.

The Caribbean

Costa rica has 2 coastlines (pacific/caribbean). I worked at pacific side where the beaches all have black volcanic sand. after my 2 week stint at the pacific...white sandy beaches at caribbean was such a treat.

i miss them =(

I MISS THEM SO MUCH!!! awesome family..so anyway, this is my host family in costa rica. actually I cherished the time most with this family duirng my 1mth stay in costa rica..although white water rafting..and abseiling and horseback riding on Christmas day and all was superb...but still nothing beats being around these people.

Not everyone is in here.. they have like extended family..sisters...cousins...and whoever all staying side by side. their culture is such that the family's very closely knitted, i really love it there. simple and nice..everyone goes abt doing their own things, schooling, working (my family's into wood-carvings and stuff. very cool. i tried to do it, and managed to carve out half a sea turtle..loL) hmm, this family..can't live without music and TV. ahha..i think apparently all the families in this village are like that. they'll blast music (Neri - the grandmother loves spanish romantic music, so i get that every morning as wake up call. haha. if not it'll be the kids running around or the washing machine going RRRRrrRRRrrRR) in the morning while doing housework, then evening everyone would be gathered around Neri's place to watch tv and have dinner (beans and rice beans and rice beans and rice...and more beans and rice..altho i love beans...thats abit TOOO much...i got constipated after that). the lady carrying a baby...yeah well, she's the grandmother in the household..v young right. the women in this culture seem to make it their mission to get married early, then have kids. kids are like so impt to them...actually whether they get married or not, they'll still want kids. so yeah...alot of single mums in this village, doesnt really bother them at all, cos along with their kids, they just stay with the parents. oh wells..its interesting to learn how other culture function.

but it felt so good, cos they embraced me as one of them. took care of me so well..fed me with so much beans and rice........and yeah well. haha.....was touched by their lil acts of concern and stuff...like i had night duty at the beach, and they were afraid i couldnt find my way back cos it was pitch black...switched on the front lights so that i could recognise the house.

oh man...there's just too much to write and share abt this trip. haha.. i journal like abt average 8 pages for each day..this is definitely an experience i wld never forget.

so anyway..i'll just leave with that for now. goodnight everyone. God bless all~

Aribadda!!

Taken at playa Ostional, this was really a blessed trip. not only was i able to see 2 leatherbacks, i was able to witness the Aribadda (mass nesting phenomenon)! Thousands of olive ridleys came up to shore to nest within a period of 4-8days.. i was struck in awe, just standing at the beach, surronded by lots n lots n lots n lots of sea turtles. looking towards the sea..i was able to see many sea turtles swimming towards the shore, their heads bobbing up and down the choppy waters..haha. really very funny. on a serious note, its really tiring for these turtles to come up shore and nest..swimming across oceans..with like 100 eggs in them, you can actually see then pant when they reach the shore. crawl crawl crawl...stop and rest...then crawl up further to a safer spot. gotta start digging their nest (really hardwork! i had to do that too, like get down on all fours and dig turtle nest for the hatchery *sweat*)....then lay abt a 100 eggs....and they still gotta cover up the nest and camouflage it. really tiring... but then, thats the end of their job, they won't get to see their youngs again. and only 1 out of 1000 grow to be an adult. sad case.

bottom left of the collage is my project leader yaiza, awesome to work with, and she took care of me well when i was there. =) and i can really sense her passion and love for the poor turtles.

bottom central: thats me and 2 other research assistants..during my off day, we walked 2hours to the next village just to use the internet. took a wrong route, and we had to climb up a steep rocky platform..crossed mini rivers..and the roads arent well-paved! they are sandy and had lots of pebbles...haa... hot, tired and bothered......even then, ever ready to smile for the camera! =)

bottom right: thats me sitting by the hatchery on a day shift =) oh during night shifts while i was at the hatchery...i saw lots of shooting stars! wooohoo!

Olive Ridleys!

TURTLES TURTLES TURTLES! This particular species is called the Olive Ridleys. Very cute...it is named for the olive color of its heart-shaped shell, the smallest species of sea turtles (7 species in all). Largest species is the leatherbacks.. I saw 2 of those when i was patrolling the beach at night. woohoo..it was really massive. 1.5metres in length (jus the carapace!! i.e., the shell). really a sight to behold..

yeah, i'm the only asian in the whole ISV group. bulk of it were aussies, and a few kiwis. haha, they're actually quite fun to hang out with, it was really quite an experience.. immersing myself in 2 cultures (aussie and costa rican) at the same time. Definitely stepped out of my comfort zone this time round.. unforgettable.

Finally! Photos from Costa Rica trip

sorry for the delay..haha anyway its finally up. some photos from my trip. I dont have much photos though, cos as most of you know, my camera went kapuut on me 1st day i reached Playa Ostional (place where i did my volunteer work in costa rica, its a remote village by the sea.) I took all these photos with my handphone (k800i)..haa.thank God camera phones =p

this is Linus..one of the kids in my host family. very cute..and super duper hyperactive. dont get fooled by pictures! haha =p

weeee!

I got my project assignment for ISV already!!! Thank God He gave me what i wanted!!
SEA TURTLES!!! COWABUNGAAA!!!