We move to the coast
Trip Start
Dec 02, 2008
1
10
39
Trip End
Feb 07, 2009
Las Penitas,
Nicaragua
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The little village of Las Penitas is a quiet village on the coast with small hotels and all dirt roads. The streets are filled with chickens and local dogs, which howl during the night like a pack of wolves. There is a beautiful beach out front and smallish waves that tourists use with body boards. The tourists here are mainly Canadians and Europeans. We met few Americans. Several Canadians were down for the winter and planned to stay until April. Others had bought the hotel and moved here permanently.
We arranged to do the ¨Turtle Walk¨. The going price was $15 each. When the young woman showed up she wanted $25 each, which we politely said was too much, and we offered to decline the invitation. She then agreed to the going rate of $15 each. We left the hotel at 6 PM and walked about one mile past her house, to an office where we obtained tickets, saw a map of the Reserve, and a large Caiman Skull (read Alligator). Then we boarded a motorboat and headed south on a river estuary. It was dark and the stars were out. Jupiter was shining brightly in the west. As there was no moon, we could see the Milky way, and lots of familiar constellations. To the south there were constellations less familiar to me. There were white egrets in the trees and great Herons along the shore as we motored south. It was dark, but they looked and sounded every bit the same as our Great Blues on Camano Island. You can see the estuary, south of my map pin, on the google map at the top of this entry, if you zoom in. Small fish were jumping up into the glare of the flashlights as we motored and some eventually managed to jump into the boat. Our boat came to an encampment where we disembarked. There was a shelter there, covered by plastic and palm frons. Inside there were several men and young boys. Their job was to walk the beach during turtle breeding season, four times a night covering over 25 kilometers of coastline. That´s 100 KM of coastline every night! When they encountered a turtle delivering her eggs to the hole she had made in the sand, they would mark the location and report to the recovery team. They, in turn, would come back at low tide, recover the eggs and transport them to the hatchery. The hatchery was also a tent like structure that formed a long rectangle. The eggs would then be placed under the sand and a grid of lines on the surface designated each group of eggs being incubated. There was a thermometer in the sand to record day and night temps regularly. When the eggs hatched, the young turtles would be collected, and transported to the shoreline at dusk and delivered into the sea. This process protected the eggs from human consumption (Buen Comida!) and helped the newly hatched turtles avoid the seabirds that would decimate them as the moved to the sea.
We then walked south along the beach in what became known to Barb and me as the ¨Long March into Darkness.¨ The young woman turned out to be one strong walker. We pounded down the dark beach in the soft sand for hour, after hour. We did not encounter even one of the four or five types of turtles said to breed here.As we walked along on the very warm windless night, I tried to understand the turtle egg laying process. As we walked along, chatting in my basic Spanish, I came to understand that the turtles tend to lay their eggs during the cycle of the moon. There was no moon, that had been a week or more earlier. Turtles also like to deliver their eggs at high tide. We were still a couple of hours early for high tide. After walking about 4 miles, I came to understand that we were a couple of weeks late (Moon-wise) and several hours early (tide wise). We then decided to turn back and make the long march home in the dark, hoping against hope, that one turtle would be a screwed up as we were, and we might encounter the disoriented creature as she delivered her bundles of joy. No such luck.
By the time we got back to the hotel, I had been out of water for a couple of hours, was totally pitted out and soaked wet with sweat. I was so dry couldn´t spit. Our hotel had locked us out. In the end Barb and I enjoyed our long march under the stars, and were thrilled beyond belief that we had not spent $25 US each for the same experience.
We decided to move back through Leon and on ito the mountains to Esteli before the holiday. Stay tuned.
Comments
Playa Roca Beach Hotel
Thomas,
Hate to tell you, but Las Penitas is on the NW of Nicaragua, not the NE. Too bad you didn't come a few hundred feet further from the river to Playa Roca. Everyone closes early in Las Penitas/Poneloya except Playa Roca. It also has the only Wi-Fi and International phone outside Leon. Best beach location. See you next time I hope.
Thanks Tomas for the correction
Dave, Thanks for the gepgraphical corection. We did indeed spend time at Playa Roca, and enjoyed the wonderful food. I especially liked the cheese burgers. We spent severl sunsets there and enjoyed the company of one of your guests, El Indio from Canada. We are now planning our trip to India in the next four months. Chiao!