Week 1 - Costa Rica - 10th-16th March 2014

Project: Parque Marino, Puntarenas - http://www.parquemarino.org

"It is a socio-environmental project under sustainable development concept, collaborating with the improvement of human and environmental necessities on coastal zone.
Mission of the Parque Marino: The Parque Marino del Pacífico is an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional organisation whose mission promotes, supports and shares research, education and the sustainable use of marine biodiversity. It is also a centre for recreation. The Park practices and promotes values like fairness, solidarity, responsibility, teamwork, efficiency, common work and a search for the balance between ecosystems."

DAY 1 - Monday - The first day, Jeaneth, our local coordinator drove us to the Parque to meet the team we would be working with: Andres, Cinthya and Martin. Super lovely and friendly people!
We started the week the best way possible: cleaning the shark tank, with them inside... they are friendly sharks, not to worry :)
They are named Cat Sharks, and we got to pet them at the same time we were cleaning their home. We then also cleaned up everything around the tank, mainly picking up the dried leaves.

We only worked from 8am til 12pm. So in the afternoons, we would come back to Sarita's cooking (words cannot describe how well she cooks!!), and we went down to the beach to rest.

It is so HOT in Costa Rica that we finally understood why people do need to have breaks and take life easy. The stress-free life gain a whole new sense all of a sudden!! :)

DAY 2 - Tuesday - it was the turn to clean the pelicans tank, the turtles and crocodile tanks. You read it well, crocodiles.... a couple of them were a bit aggressive and so we weren't allowed to get in there alone:

 When we were done with the tanks, we were cleaning around the area, picking up the leaves and then suddenly we stumbled into a killer beehive, firemen had to be called in to rescue us!

I'm sorry ladies, no, they were not as our dreams always picture them ;) Nonetheless, they were very friendly and got the job done before we noticed.

We finalised the work day by removing old leaves from the sand and sea shells we were going to use to build a new tank bottom.
It was a very exciting and hard working day, so we spent the whole afternoon chillaxing at the local pool, with DJ and all.

Day 3, Wednesday - back at the Parque, we got the rocks and sand to build the bottom floor for a new fish tank. Then we got to feed Mario, Chananga(aka Pachanga) and lil' Sammy! 

Sammy!!

Chananga, aka Pachanga!

Mario!

Then we washed the filters behind the tanks and went to say hi to our old buddies the sharks... while I was petting one, another male came full blast to try and scare me off, but then you should have seen Simona's priceless "scared to death" face, while she creamed from the bottom of her lungs, stomach and full body "take it ouuuuut!" PRICELESS!!!! :)

This day we also walked loads around town! We also went for a swim at the beach, and had a Mega Churchill with leche condensada.... for those of you in a diet, don't even Google it!!!
We finished the day with a "Water Carrying" competition... this happens to people who like to make the most mundane tasks FUN! Steve and Simms were high on Gladiator, so they also couldn't sleep. Long ass day...! ;p
We played UNO to sleep.




 
Day 4 - Thursday - great day at the Parque! We started by cleaning the little fish tanks(where they have a Nemo!!) and the whole aquarium as the cleaning lady was out sick, great team work with Bill, another volunteer from Canada. Then, Simona and I had to play the straws to see who would get the longest straw.... I got it, so I got to go prepare the food for the little turtles and feed them! Had to cut cubes of papaya, banano, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage and some other veggies I don't know the name! Then we went to feed the small injured turtles, and the other 60 turtles who are living the life by the crocodiles.
Then we picked up the slices of dead fish and we fed the sharks with them...I can tell you this was quite thrilling! Check the video below...ahah

We then went off to feed the other big fishes in the observatory tank, which was amazing, just like you see in the movies, we fed everyone but Mario. Got the fish close enough so that they would splash Simona, success and a great laugh!! We also fed the little hermit crabs (like little snails with crab legs), and then the little sick fish and the little ones in the tanks. All in all, it was a great day, except for the little turtle we found deceased.. :( apparently it was their first one. On our way out, the pelicans were having the day of their lives under the water sprinkler in a brand new clean tank! :)
We rushed home for lunch and get to a ferry who would take us to Paqueras. One hour and a half later, and after taking in the fresh salty sea breeze, we arrived.
As we only had about 1h30 time to enjoy it before grabbing the last ferry back home, we got on a taxi with Alfonso who took us to a desert beach, beautiful and peaceful.
As we returned home sadly, we found Simona had very high fever and was indeed sick, she had caught a virus.

Day 5 - Friday - last day at the Parque... I got to clean Chananga's back, scrubbed all the green seaweed stains off, she was all nice and shiny. Also cleaned her paws and got to tickle her nose too :)

 
Then both Steve and I cleaned the whole tank for her to swim around in a clean home.
The second task was to fish out the little fishes from a very filthy tank, full of seaweed - we spent most of the morning there. We had to scrub the tank and all the rocks and pipes.
We then went to say goodbye to our colleagues who put up with us for the week.... I had a tear in my eye...as always...

We slowly and sadly walked back home for lunch, to find that Simona was slowly recoverying, but still feeling very poorly. Sarita, our adopted mum here, took very good care of her, so we felt very reassured, and extremely thankful. Towards the evening, Simona was feeling much better though, so we decided to take off to Jaco.
On the way to Jaco, we stopped to have a look at a whole bunch of starving crocodiles:

Once in Jaco, we met Lauren, our RCDP coordinator for Costa Rica. Not only did she have a beautiful home with pool waiting for us, but she has also welcomed us to stay an extra day. It was really nice to meet her in person after speaking for so long.
In the evening, we walked down the Paseo de Surfistas, and went to check out the sunset at the beach:

We went to the supermarket Mas Por Menos and bought fruit and goodies to prep dinner and next day's breakfast. We went to bed early as we were all knackered from the trip.

Day 6 - Satruday -  We started the day with a big platter of fruit and a splash in the pool. We had organised to spend the day at a natural park (aka, the jungle!!!), they came to pick us up at 1.15pm and took us to the Ocean Ranch Park: http://oceanranchpark.com/ 


Here we were scheduled to do Waterfall Rappel, Canopy Zipline and Horseback Riding - it was sooo much fun!!! These were some of the things I always wanted to do, but never got the courage. Finally, here for some reason, I feel safe and that I can do anything. Feeling invencible is one amazing feeling to have! :)










The distance of the ziplines kept getting longer and longer - there were 7 in total, it was amazing to see all the forest life from above. 
Before jumping on the horses, they took us to a lil abandoned resto where they served us freshly cut pineapple - couldn't have been more amazing as I was soooo thirsty from all the heat and sweat.
We finished the day in a horseback around the wilderness. We saw birds, bugs, trees and plants I had never seen before. Beautiful. Must see.
We then stayed later to help Joaquin to unsaddle the horses and take them back to the wild where they could freshen up and rest for another day.
We were craving pizza, so we went for dinner at Amancio's - the pizza was freakin' delicious, oven baked! 
Amancio's Pizza Pasta & Drinks, Centro Comercial El Jardin, Primer Piso, Local #11, Jaco, Costa Rica - https://es-la.facebook.com/pages/Amancios-Pizza-Pasta-Drinks/250546225097637

 

After such an enjoyable day, and a round belly, it was bed time! Thinking about the surfing class booked for the next day!

Day 7 - Sunday! Beach time!
So at 2pm we had a surfing class booked with Josymar Fuentes Villalobos, who actually happened to be a surfer champion (we had no idea!!!) So no wonder he got us to surf already on the first half hour of the class beginning!! :O
Never thought that would be possible.... we had a massive blast, Simona was a natural and Steve finished the day surfing all those waves till the shore! Me... well, I need to keep on practising ahah!! I managed to surf a few waves, even got on a very big one, then looked down and didn't see the wave (so I was like, what on earth am I riding on?!), it scared the life out of me, and so I fell into the water with a few washing machine-looking like turns around the massive wave.... that was my ticket back to shore... snif snif... will do it again though, stay tuned!!

Have a look at our coach:   https://www.youtube.com/user/josymar78

Ok my darlings, this is the end of our first week in Costa Rica. The second week started with volunteering work at an Orphanage back in Puntarenas. Stay tuned, and you should hear back from me this weekend!
Lots os love and Pura Vida!!

XxNat