Memories from the Second Turtle Camp

There is no doubt that my first month in Mexico, and especially my first weeks in Colola, was a challenging experience. But seriously, I almost threw in the towel after my sweet volunteer Celine from France was stung by a scorpion just before the rest of the volunteers decided to leave early. So goes my rather steep learning curve. While there are various learning styles that can be used to obtain and synthesize information like research or inquisition, mine may most appropriately be termed the "crash and burn" technique. I wouldn't be comfortable if something didn't go terribly wrong every once and a while. However, if first camp was designed to determine my survival skills, then the second camp proved to be my golden gift for sticking it out through the difficult times.

The Volunteers
I returned to the camp uncertain of what to expect, not sure if there would be volunteers and if I really could live in the camp alone if in fact no one else arrived. I received and email from the host organization a few days before the volunteers were set to arrive, confirming hat I would have a camp of all women. A small group of very special ladies.
Meet them in this photo from left to right: Stephanie from USA, (me), Miriam from Mexico, Alma from Guatemala and Claudia from Germany.

A motley crew of simultaneously sweet, tough, hard-working and hilarious ladies. Let me introduce you first to Alma. Alma was a gift to us who arrived our first weekend. I learned so much from this woman who presented our camp with it's beloved soul (Alma en español = soul). She works in Guatemala City with a group called ProTortugas and stopped by the camp on her way back to Guatemala after finishing a month long tour in Germany. Alma taught me more than just improving my Spanish, but the cultural element that is woven through the language.

Miriam is a young woman from Morelia who decided to attend the turtle camp to directly spite her overprotective father, who, previous to her time spent in Colola, had not been allowed spend the night anywhere except her home. Miriam and Alma, as native Spanish speakers and cultural competence, where largely responsible for our improved community relations-- not to mention served up some amazing authentic meals!


Stephanie, the only person from the US I met on the entire trip. A Colorado native who was in the process of relocating from Chicago to Arizona. She was so enthusiastic, friendly and as result, immediately had several admirers. Everyday she would exclaim her love for the day's events, she came to admire a sweet little black pig stationed at the last home on the pathway to our favorite beach Chicuasa, and earned the name "placosa" from the tortugueros-- meaning she like to blurt her thoughts, which everyone found endearing.

Claudia has a really interesting story. During her time in Mexico, she was at the tail end of a year long adventure of traveling and volunteering around the world, which started in Indian and will end in Peru this December. She showed us many of her collected souvenirs and stories that she will use to share with her students and enhance their primary school curriculum. Although reserved at first, she was responsible for many memorable and hilarious lines like "tortugas feelings" and "the pregnant man with three torches". I will be friends with these ladies forever.

The Community
Quite possibly due to the great energy emanating from this luminescent group, my relationship with the community reached a level of unprecedented connection and cooperation. Possibly due to my increased comfort with the surroundings and continued investment in my existing relationships, I found that I actually had friends awaiting my return. Unlike my experience in the first camp where we were struggling to find nutritious food and ran out of potable water days in a row, I now had a network of people that I could rely on for support. Instead of having to trek on foot with 20 liters of water, we hopped in the back of a flatbed pickup and arrived at the camp in minutes. Tortugueros would arrive to the camp with arms full of fresh papaya, bags of freshly picked corn, homemade tortillas and tamales and as a special treat, the young and nibble would be sent up coconut trees and retrieve the luscious fruit for to share with us.

Furthermore, we spent a lot more time actually building more than a "co-worker relationship" with the tortugueros and their families. Instead of hiding away in the dormitory, we started sleeping outside in our hammocks or directly on the beach under the brilliant diamond studded sky with the sounds of slapping sand from tortugas finishing their nests nearby. Together, the volunteers and our tortuguero friends, camped on virgin beaches, swam in the midnight waves with bioluminescent plankton, learned how to dive from the giant granite rocks into the ocean, used pop music sing-a-longs to transcend language barriers, and shared fashion advice through force (my newly acquired traditional Mexican huarache sandals suffered in the campfire after they were nixed by the young and surprisingly hip tortugueros).

Another part of the project involved putting a fresh coat of paint on the exterior of the primary school and finished it up with a mural. We completed the project along with the students, which further solidified our connection to the community. Not only were we working with parents, brothers and cousins at the turtle preservation, but also developed relationships with their children, nephews and sisters. We were completely initiated as honorary family members-- in some cases, we were working with entire families in some capacity.

By the end of the project, I had fallen in love with this community. The beauty of the natural surroundings, the nightly miracles of turtle birth and the generousity of they people; I admit, I am smitten. I will remain in contact with the project leaders and will continue working with them to help further develop their program independently and hope to return in May when there is a break between projects in Nicaragua.