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Last weekend began with a farewell party for Ceci & Juan Manuel, a sweet couple from Quito who have been working at Equilibrio Azul for the past year.It was sad to see them go as they are kind souls, but they will be returning to Quito to complete their theses and contribute to the wonderful world of science go peace be with them!More volunteers will be moving in this week so the house will be full again in a few days.The party was full of good food, laughter, dancing, and a midnight dip in the ocean to play in the bioluminescence!Antonella, a co-worker from Italy made homemade pizza!Wow, what a process, and so worth it! We made friends with some fellow volunteers from another foundation in PL and they too came over to join the festivities.
Saturday we found ourselves hopping in the back of a truck and heading to Agua Blanca, a small community 20 minutes northeast of Puerto Lopez.There are various communities that make up Agua Blanca, all situated in the hills surrounding a large river.The river is actually dry at the moment as it is the end of the dry season.It will fill with 3 meters of water during the months of February and March when it starts to rain!The hillsides will become even more green and tropical once this happens.We saw artifacts from the Monteña, Valdivia, and other cultures dating back to BC times and progressing into Inca times.The Monteña's and Valdivians actually traded with the Inca's and other South American cultures so we saw all kinds of artifacts rich in history!
The tour took us through the dry river bed, in and through the banana fields (which is a main source of income for most people), through the tropical dry forest where many archeological sites exist, to a sulfur lagoon where we bathed for close to an hour, and finally up to a lookout in the center of Agua Blanca where we could see all the surrounding hills where the small communities are situated.The walk was quiet and peaceful and we had a great guide who filled us in on the history and current state of the community and its inhabitants.We saw all kinds of pretty birds and cool vegetation, and of course, cows, pigs, goats, and chickens!The sulfur bath put me in a deep tranquil state and my skin was soooooo soft when I got out.It was a uniquely spiritual experience, one I would love to share with anyone who comes to visit ;-)
That night after returning from Agua Blanca, Johanna, Simón, and I headed out to La Playita.It is interesting because we all seemed to be on an elevated plain when we returned from Agua Blanca and were talking about the good feelings we were having about La Playita.Within 20 minutes of our arrival Johanna found a fresh set of 'wayas' (tracks) belonging to a CAREY Sea Turtle!We followed the tracks to the rock wall 30 meters from the water's edge then south along the wall and… there she was!One of the VERY FEW CAREY'S left in the entire world.Seeing one of these turtles is truly a once in a lifetime experience as there are fewer than 10,000 individuals left on the planet.The majority of them live in the Caribbean; there are approximately 2,000 living off of Ecuador's coast.La Playita is especially unique in that many of the CAREY'S living near the coast prefer this quaint beach to lay their eggs.There are now a total of 7 CAREY nests on the beach.This may sound like a good amount, especially when one turtle can lay up to 180 eggs! However, the survival rate for turtles is one or two individuals per nest.
A week prior to my arrival in PL, two men from NOAA came to work with Equilibrio Azul and marked two CAREY'S with transmitters.An important part of conservation is knowing as much about a species as possible in order to take precautionary measures so they have the best chances at reproducing and increasing their numbers.It is crucial to understand their biology/physiology, feeding behavior, reproductive patterns, etc.It is particularly difficult to track and gather this kind of information for migratory or pelagic species, and especially species that live long lives, such as whales and sea turtles.The transmitters are an exciting step in the direction towards learning more about their behavior, where they feed, where else they put their nests, etc.It is important to note that females can lay eggs multiple times per season (up to 5 times in 5 months) depending upon how many males they encounter.One of the turtles they marked in January named MACHALILLA, returned to La Playita on Monday night and layed another 140 eggs!
Back to Saturday night with the turtle that we encountered… Micaela, a marine biologist here at EA who is heading this project decided we should mark the turtle with the remaining transmitter.It ended up being an all night experience and then some as we ran into technological complications with the transmitter but we were finally able to activate it (we hope) and were able to let her free on Sunday morning.How incredible it was to witness such an event!My love for my work is intensified a million times by getting this kind of experience in the field.Not only is it incredible to feel the energy of hands-on experience with the animals and ecosystems I study and love, but being surrounded by people who have such passion for what they are doing is truly a gift.If you are interested in seeing the routes these turtles have taken since being marked you can visit seaturtle.org, click on "tracking", click on "Iniciativa Carey del Pacifico Oriental: Eastern Pacific Hawsksbill Initiative".The two turtles being tracked off the coast of Ecuador are SONIA and MACHALILLA.We are still awaiting the third turtle (the one we marked on Saturday) to appear on the website.
Ceci, the girl who left this past weekend, was the project coordinator for Eco-Club, an educational program for kids ran by the staff here at Equilibrio Azul.The program is awesome as we get to play with a loving group of kids, ages 6-12, three days a week, educating and encouraging them to be "Protector's of the Environment".Activities include:recycling trash by using it for art projects; making signs to put on the beach reminding people to clean up their trash; exploring the rocky reefs when the tide is low to teach them about the invertebrates and algae living in the tide pools; Fridays are for dancing Salsa and practicing English, we usually play a game with them to help build their English vocab.This is yet another project I have fallen in love with!I will be posting pictures of all these activities soon, I promise.The internet is extremely slow so I need to wait for a day when I have a good chunk of time to sit at the computer.Peace and blessings in your day!
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