Una otra vez hola!
Just a quick update from puravida land...everything is great! We´re really starting to settle in here in Playa San Miguel and the turtle sightings are picking up every night. So far we´ve seen 5 turtles, found 3 other nests, and 2 that had been poached by the time we got them. So I guess that meansturt les - 8 and poachers - 2...winning in my book! Hopefully things will keep improving as Claudia and I get better at what we do!

Aside from ´work´I´ve been going surfing just about everyday and its actually amazing. The two guys that run the restaurant where we have all our meals are huge boarders and have kind of adopted me...meaning that I get thrashed every morning with them by GIANT 2 foot waves...haha. Seriously though, I´m getting better I swear. I stand up for real now, no hands and all and can ride the wave all the way into shore...sometimes at least!

Besides the surfing we just hang out and read, play some cards and on motivated days explore nearby tide pools, mangroves, and butterfly gardens. Its a tough life, I know, but someone has to do it! We have 5 volunteers right now and more are set to arrive in a few days. It looks like Claudia and I won´t be alone in the station house until mid-september. The guy who runs the hotel is down for cutting a deal since I promised him any visitors might be able to add to his rather outdated dvd collection and would be as fun as I am! I´d love for any and all of you to come visit...whenever and for as long as you like.

So that´s about all I´ve got time for now that I finally got access to the Peace Corps website...still reviewing the forms! Cross your fingers they believe I´m not 90 pounds!

Much love and besos!
Steph

Buenas tardes de Costa Rica!
So I´m here and I walked about 8 kilometers to come and tell you all about it! Its amazing basically, the beach, the girl I´m working with and all the people in the town. Its not nearly as isolated as I thought! There´s a small restaurant-bar where we have all our meals about an kilometer from the house and a convience store and a few other things too. On the VERY bright side I get to use surfboards for FREE because I´m a coordinator and the guy is really cool about it! I´m pretty excited for that in a few days once I we get done building the hatchery. Its almost done now and we´ve already found two turtle nests, taken out the eggs and transplanted them into a more secure fenced in area.

Besides the beach, which is awesome, I´ve been reading a bit, hanging out in my hammock and doing some great yoga. My partner here is pretty into aerobics so sometimes we do that too...like some crazy gringas in bikinis jumping around on the beach is totally normal. Everyone is super friendly and keeps stopping by the house asking how everything is going and if we´ve found any nests yet. I´m not sure if they´re really genuinely interested or they´re thinking about how they might go about stealing the eggs. Apparently the turtle eggs are a hot commodity in Costa Rica and many of the people in town and elsewhere steal them to sell or supplement their families´ diets.
I don´t really have much time to contarles todo but with a little luck I can upload some photos and continue the story next time!

ALSO! This the phone number for the restaurant that we eat all our meals at and they said you could call us there anytime! We´re there at 9, 1, and 6 costan rica time so that´d be 11, 3, and 8 for you guys! 0050626558046.