My experience at the Sea Turtle Conservation project in Costa Rica really was the trip of a lifetime. My time in Spanish school at the beginning of the Sea Turtle Conservation project gave me a real feel for how the locals live since I stayed with a host family. My host family made my trip truly unique and made me feel very at home. The exceptionally patient teachers during the course managed to teach me some of my first ever second language despite my ineptitude.
Some of my fellow students and I took a weekend trip to La Fortuna and Monteverde to see volcanoes. The mist was pretty beautiful and the national park was amazing with its lush green trees.
San José gave me a taste of how local Costa Ricans live, but the star of the trip was the turtles. Seeing the turtles in their natural habitat was a truly amazing experience. Watching them crawl up to the same beach they were born on to lay their own nests was awe-inspiring and I really loved collecting data to ensure their continued survival and protection.
Our days fell into a enjoyable pattern; after breakfast head down to the beach to count tracks and clean up, swimming all morning before lunch and afternoons lying on the beach or digging up nests to see if the turtles had hatched.
No experience would be complete without an amazing group of people volunteering in Costa Rica – for this I am very grateful. A group of knowledgeable staff helped me practice my rudimentary Spanish and only laughed at my mistakes when they were especially funny. Best of all there was the fantastic group of fellow volunteers that I will never forget.
