In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

Hola amigos!
My first 2 weeks in Costa Rica have been jam packed, that´s for sure! The flight to Puerto Jimenez was incredible, as the mini plane flew low so I got a bird´s eye view of Costa Rica! When we landed however, there was just a runway and not really an airport! We were lucky that Kate was on the same flight as one of the new volunteers, as camp had not been told we were arriving that day.
We took the VERY bumpy 2 hour collectivo ride to camp, where we were welcomed by staff and volunteers. Camp is really nice and I´m settling into my hammock well! there´s a deck with the kitchen and general living area, a flushing toilet (!) and showers, enclosed by plastic sheeting so you can see the river while you wash! Everyone at camp is friendly, and even the volunteers have been helping us get to know the place.
Our first night we went to the swamp to help a volunteer with his BTEC on frogs. We saw lots of frogs, an opossum, and there was even a caiman lingering at a safe distance (although I kept a constant eye on it!). My first turtle patrol however, was mildly distressing. I was told they usually take about 4 hours on the Pejeperro beach... we left camp arouind 7pm and didn´t return until 6am the next morning! It was a busy night with a few turles coming up to nest, lots of tracks to record and even a couple of hatched nests to excavate. The turtles were beautiful up close though, and the sunrise along the beach was amazing. I also went on a primate walk, and saw 2 groups of howler monkeys, and a river otter walk to record scat and tracks.
The last week we spent at a forest replantation project at Cerro Osa, with a lovely Costa Rican named Juan who taught us lots of Spanish. One afternoon he took us to a secret waterfall which we had to abseil down to and we swam in it. He and his brother also sang to us with the sun setting behind them, which was incredible.
I´ve also helped to build a turtle hatchery, where breaks consisted of sipping milk out of coconuts on the beach. There´s so much more to say but i must log off.
Hasta Luego!