Turtle release

Living by the ocean brings on a whole new world of learning and awareness of Marine life. Here in Sayulita, the neighboring town of San Pancho and all around the world groups of volunteers come together to try to bring the five different species of Sea Turtles back to being populous in our oceans. All five of the species are almost extinct.

Alex, Trace and myself had the opportunity to visit a nursery that literally saves the Sea Turtles from extinction. We learned all about the life of a turtle starting with the egg.
The group in San Poncho consists of about 8 people from all over the world who live in sort of a compound together and take care of the nursery. These people are volunteers and this is a non profit outfit.

Here is a brief history of Turtles
So... as I said, it all starts with the egg. The turtles come up onto the beach and lay their eggs. This group of volunteers wait on the beach, sometimes in nasty weather conditions and all night long to rescue the eggs from poachers. They take them back to the nursery pack them into coolers with sand, heat the nursery and log all of the important information so they know when the eggs will hatch. On hatching day the coolers are taken out opened and the waiting begins. When the turtles hatch and make their way up through the sand they come by twos, hugging each other, each one using a flipper, like they are one to come to the top.

They are then placed in a basket while they come to life. They need the air to help them come alive, it takes about an hour and then they gradually become very active little creatures. The waiting begins for the release. You want them to be released very soon after they hatch, within hours, but you really need to wait until sunset or else birds will see them and eat them. You want them released soon after hatching because for the first five days of a turtles life they do nothing but swim, no eating or sleeping. So you do not want them to waste their energy while waiting to be released. It is estimated that the baby turtles will swim about 14 miles a day in the first five days of life. When you release the turtles you put them on the beach a little ways from the water. This is done on purpose because turtles always come back to the exact same beach that they first entered the water to lay their own eggs.

So they have to walk from the beach into the water to lay their scent or whatever it is they put out there to know where to come back to. They could literally swim to Hawaii to hang with some friends but when it is time to lay their eggs they will come right back to the beach in San Poncho where we released them to lay their eggs.

Okay, here comes the sad part...we released about 1000 turtles and after 15 years when a mature female turtle is ready to lay eggs, approximately 2 of those 1000 turtles will have lived long enough to come back to lay their eggs. But in the 21 years that this group has been in San Poncho the number of eggs has grown ten fold which means that more turtles are surviving and coming back to lay their eggs.

So that is the history in brief of the Sea Turtle. I have had the opportunity to swim with turtles in Maui. Actually I was just snorkeling and there they were, When surfing in Chacala, here in Mexico there was a turtle there with us enjoying the waves as well and I actually saw one today while paddle boarding in Sayulita. Turtles are a very peaceful, slow, large creatures. I was so glad that I could teach my children about life and the importance of protecting ocean species and let them participate in this release of life.

They also found the dune buggy ride on the beach under the full moon to be pretty cool as well.

Our amigo "Sergio" surfing here in Sayulita on Halloween.

Evolution

Perspective From The "Other Side"

Yesterday I went to do some template work at a job where I'll be putting in new kitchen concrete countertops and a new master vanity with sink. The architect hopes the job will be complete in the next few weeks so there is tons of activity going on at the moment. Carpenters, painters, exterior concrete finishers, railing fabricators etc are all trying to create some space to get their job done.

Having been a construction project manager in the States I understand too well the controlled chaos that is sometimes required to get a job to the finish line. As I looked around me I noticed, not surprisingly, that I was the only white guy on the job. Actually, this is no different from times on the job up North where there were multiple subs on a job and they would be made up totally of hispanic labor. On large projects, some of these guys, (carpenters, roofers, masons etc) were on the job for months and overtime I became quite friendly with them. I would join them occasionally for lunch, pick up some Spanish and even managed to score some home cooked Mexican food that was offered. For the most part, I liked these guys and though they didn't talk about it, most of them had a story to tell about how they got there and what they may have left behind to find work in the US.

So, here I am at this job and it occurs to me that I'm the one that is on the job site with a story to tell. I'm the one who came across the border, to the "other side", looking for a new start and life just like many of these guys I met over the years. Certainly a low risk, uneventful story compared to some others. I find it just a bit sad and laughable that there was so much thought and stress involved in the decision to come to Mexico over a year ago and in the end I arrived in a Land Rover, during the daylight, had a place to live and money in my pocket. No border crossings that some may have endured and the possibility that Immigration may arrive on the job site that day to check papers and documents.

Now I am in Mexico full time legally and have a license to to what I do...all legit and I feel good about that. I couldn't tell if I was really all that welcome at the site but I did my job, stayed out of people's way, answered a few questions about what I was up to and even got a few nods and the occasional smile. No problems. Just another subcontractor. Somewhat familiar? Yes. Just a little bit different perspective.

Our day at Sea

These are some family photos of our day on the Ally Cat. (More on the Ally Cat in another post). What an incredible day it was. Trace was a bit nervous before hand worried that the boat would turn over and therefore sink. Once we got to the boat and he was able to see how large it was he calmed down a little. It also helped that a handful of his friends and other kids were there. After he was shown all of the controls of the boat and what to look for on the computer he would often go down and make sure that we were going the "right way". I am not at all surprised that he was into the mechanics of the boat. He enjoyed the sailing lifestyle, which doesn't surprise me either. Having someone make his lunch and bring him drinks, chilling on bean bags sailing on the open water. He even snorkeled and swam quite a ways to a cave. Alex on the other hand, or I should call her mermaid, didn't care anything about the boat except that it took her out to the open sea so she could swim and swim and swim some more, oh and then swim, and jump and dive and jump and swim, you get my drift. She could have cared less about snorkeling, even though it involved swimming. Alex and Trace are a perfect pair, he will be the entrepreneur that will own a grand boat of some type and he will sail his princess mermaid sister around the world to hot surf spots.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

We did it. We have been here a year. It flew by, not surprisingly. In the beginning we put it out there to friends and family that we would only do this for a year. Underneath, I think Ozzy and I knew it would be more, but a year seemed to settle others nerves so we stuck with that.

I cannot imagine leaving only after a year. It takes a good four months to acclimate to a new country, another four to figure stuff out, how things work but these can be intertwined in months, another 5-6 months to really feel a part of the community and have good friends, etc... And after you do all that it is finally time to sit back in your "home" and be able to relax because you have " done it". You survived moving you, your young children and dog to a foreign country, started a legal business, and have lots of interest in that business, you have made good friends who are always up for doing something fun, especially if it involves surfing. Why would you leave now after all of the hard work you put in? Your children are speaking Spanish, they have tons of friends and freedom that they would not have in the States. I know it sounds crazy, kids have more freedom in Mexico than in the USA? Yep. I can have dinner here and let my kids leave the restaurant to go play and I don't worry about something happening to them. Granted the restaurants are a little different here. They are very small, open air and you usually sit on the street.

Why leave now, after a year I feel as though I have just figured it out, and yet I still have so much more to learn. I have gotten out of my first traffic ticket as the driver. Sometimes it helps to not speak the language. As the saying goes, "Money talks and bullshit walks." I can only imagine how much money and time I would have saved my dad if I could have used the same method in the states.

After a year I have realized that I really don't need Costco. I am not dissing Costco, I love that place, but I don't need to buy in bulk anymore, not sure why but is just doesn't seem necessary. It has taken a year but I can find everything I need close by.

Today, five days after our anniversary Alex "catched the best wave of her life" and "the biggest wave of her life". (We are working on her grammar). She was so excited. She is in a surf camp and Sergio, who sponsored her in her local public kindergarten graduation, (see post) is her instructor. She told me that it was a big wave and that she was scared but Sergio told her that it would be okay so she went for it. And she catches the best wave of her life. I love it because I totally know that feeling. She was so proud and now, addicted, and she was in the main break. That is huge!

I love seeing how happy my children are. How much they are learning about culture, people, life, language. They are free to love and learn without outside expectations. They are doing it on their time frame, in their comfort zone and they are doing an amazing job.
I am so proud of them and their growing personalities, use of dual languages, adaptability of this country, interaction with people here whether they are locals or foreigners. It doesn't matter to them who, where, or what you are, come from or have, if you give them a smile and a second they will not forget you. They are able to have conversations with adults, ask interesting questions, look people in the eye, be polite but they also turn back into children when they are tired, hungry, worn out.

And Ozzy and I are great, happy and busy. Ozzy just went back to the States, the first time in a year, to clean up the house for new renters. I stayed here with the kids. It was great. We spent much needed quality time together. It also made me realize that I live here now. Carpooling the kids to school, multiple play dates, birthday parties, grocery shopping, taking Dillon out. This is where I live! I love it, I respect it and I don't want to leave it.

Sayulita By Air