Last day in Mayto!

Hey guys!

Well today is my last day in Mayto. I am sad, but also ready to go home and see the family, my animals, and Dave. Oh yeah, I also need to make a plan for my future :/

Well, we have definitely had a very dramatic last couple of days...actually most of the drama was within a 12-hour time period. Wednesday night patrol started off like any other night patrol, but quickly became a bit scary. Sam and I had patrol with Jorge and cam e across this guy who had just finished raiding a turtle nest. When we came up, he ended up leaving and walking down the beach (this is what normally happens). Since another turtle was coming out of the water, we waited for her to start doing her thing. Suddenly the guy came up pretty fast on Jorge (his back was turned) and we shouted a warning at him and he turned on the lights. This guy was really drunk and staggering around and slurring his speech, so Jorge thought it wouldn't be a problem. Then we saw that he had a knife hidden up his sleeve. Jorge took the man aside and started talking to him. It looked like they were having a pleasant conversation and then it got a bit scary. Long story short, he threatened Jorge, his family, and our camp director Israel. Apparently, this guy thinks it is his duty to collect the eggs from the beach and we keep getting in his way. He was also disgruntled about having recently served time in jail for turtle poaching. Jorge was really rattled (which never happens), so we told him it would be better to just call it a night and head back to camp. We found out later that this guy has a pretty violent background, so Sam and I were glad we called it a night early.

Thursday morning I woke up to Sam shouting at me to get up bc a huge wave was coming. I wasn't really processing anything but saw that she was scrambling to get all of her things off of the floor of our tent, so I decided that it probably what I should be doing too. All of my possessions were up on the chair in less than a minute as three big waves came slamming against our tent. Our sneakers, which were outside the tent, went flying and Sam hurried to get them. Luckily, we didn't lose anything. We later found out that Israel was climbing the radio tower to get some really cool video of the waves sweeping over the camp. It would have been nice if he had warned us about the waves beforehand :)

Later that day a bee and a wasp stung me at the same time while I was in the shower. Like I said...it was a rough 12 hours.

The rest of the day was really pleasant. Tannya, our friend from Hotel Mayto, took us on an outing. We went to play del villa to see another turtle camp and her about their operation and also to a really xute resort that had the most amazing landscaping. After, we went to Tehuamixtle for a fabulous meal and to see Tannya's house, which was absolutely beautiful and had a gorgeous view of the sea.

So... yeah

Looking back through my blog, I've realized how much of an idiot I've been. I mean it is really cool to die your hair, but it's even cooler to DYE your hair. Wow! I felt really stupid after reading that blunder.

Not too much has been going on. The worst group EVER (I know I say that about every group) finally left and with it they left a path of destruction. There was trash everywhere, the toilets were a disaster, and the swimming pool was pea soup green. Now the bathrooms have been out of order at the camp for the past 5 days. I never thought working toilets would be one of my wishes, but it is my number one right now. Luckily Hotel Mayto has been nice enough to let us use their bathrooms, so I get a good workout running back and forth using the loo all day.

Sam and I have really been trying to take advantage of our last week here (now 3 days :/). We have been laying out at the hotel soaking up the rays, swimming in the ocean (although it is unseasonably cold), and jumping on every tyurtle patrol shift possible. The tortugitas (that's baby turtles) are coming up like crazy all day long, so all of the volunteers have been really busy stopping whatever we are doing to hurry to the corral to make sure everybody is ok and not hanging out in the hot sun. We have even had turtles come up at 2 and 3 in the morning, so whoever is on patrol at night is in charge of checking on them. Sam and I were up for an extra 2 hours cleaning out 5 nests. It is totally worth the lost sleep, bc these babies are darling!

Well that's my life in a nutshell! Bye guys!

Last of the pics!

Mariyln and Sammy with purple hair :)

This is what happens when you try to naturally dye your hair...maybe it happens when you use chemicals too, but I wouldn't know.

Dying my hair :)

Even more! You lucky dogs!

Me holding a bat on a hike around Tehuamixtle

If you look closely, this turtle has a twin attached to his umbilical cord. Sadly, the twin did not make it.


Waiting for the turtle in front of us to lay her eggs. Eliza (bio student who comes on weekends), Sam, Me, Laura (vol from PV who teaches German)

¡Mas Mas!

Yes! There are 123 tortugitas in my towel. Israel ran off with the box so I had to carry them somehow.


Digging up turtles :) My fav chore of the day!


Typical patrol...didn't know I looked so rough. I should do something about that

¡Mas picturas!

Tuco, Jorge's pet that terrorizes everybody in the kitchen


Me with the camp boa






What a beautiful shell?!

My hair is purple...

What do you think about my catchy title. Are you wondering if it's true? Why yes it is! But I'll get to that later :)

Not too many things have been going on this past week. You may think I jest, but I'll give you some quick highlights to prove it:

Midnight parties by Mayto's local furry friends have continued and Sam and I are lucky enough to be the ones assigned the task of cleaning out the turtle nursery. Due to the amount of turtles bits strewn about the place, it is obvious that the turtle nursery is the place to be in the wee hours in the morning.

Sam and I have also taken on a new roommate this week. I have been waking up in the morning to find Sam curled up in the middle in the tent. I finally asked her what was up and she says that we have a crab that scurries around her at night. I have yet to see this crab, but as it has happened in the past, I don't doubt the possibility.

Israel's mom, Miriam, has been visiting this past week and cooks like an angel. However, I am worried that my pants are starting to fit a bit too snug for my liking. This is a constant topic that the volunteers have been joking about (yes, we are a lively bunch) and this morning Sam managed to break a chair while eating one of Miriams awesome meals. The boys, that is to say the staff, said they were going to skip breakfast so they wouldn't end up looking like Sam. If Miriam doesn't leave soon, more chairs will be following suit.

There is a way to die your hair purple using one of the shells found on playa del amor (Lovers Beach). Laura, a vol visiting from PV, found out about it and we all decided it would be a good idea to try it. The problem with out plan was that Laura did not exactly remember what the shell looked like. So here we are rubbing shells on our hair, hoping that it will turn purple. It is only supposed to take a few minutes, but after waiting the whole next day nothing happened. Turns out we were just rubbing our hair with random bum juice from the shells...and we didn't shower bc you are supposed leave it in undisturbed overnight. After everybody left, Jorge took us back to playa del amor to show us the actual shell. It didn't work on my hair bc I didn't use enough juice, but Sam's hair turned out great. Today (Oct 26) we decided to go back (this time we took Marilyn with us) and add more, now we are all walking around with purple highlights and purple hands (nobody told us it stained your hands). We also smell really bad :(