Beach in Jiquilillo and one interesting project
I feel really bad, my stomach hurts, I get cramps and I cannot fart (this is not funny and I wouldn’t wish it to anybody!) and there is 60km till Chinandega. I pray that somebody stops! After one hour my wish comes true and we are inside of a pick-up truck. After a while a strong rain starts and we hope that GoPro and the cyclocomputer will survive this shower. The driver is great and tells us about the volcanoes, their history and what is worth to see here.
He drops us off at a new shopping mall with US prices (!) but nice toilets and cafeteria with internet. With coffee, tee and 2 cakes we occupy their wifi for 3 hours :). During this time we get to know one guy from US who bikes in the mountains here with his leftie (high-tech bike with one-side fork) and another who saves sea turtles. He gives us his business card and sais that we can come to visit him if we want (probably not, but we ask if we could camp there in case we come – yes).
Battery in the notebook runs out and we go to the firemen station. First it doesn’t look very good – there is only one firemen and not much is happening there – but I’m feeling so sick, that I don’t care, I just want to lay down. Jan makes tee and I go to sleep with swollen feet and head ache before 6pm. At 10 we eat something, have more tee and I hear voices from the another room – 20students are learning about fire extinguishers (really not interesting in my state now).
I’m like a new person in the morning but I still want a calmer day. We have the contact info and invitation… what about to see the turtleman and the Nicaraguan beaches? The way there is quite long but very nice and after 45km we knock on a door of a house which has much different architecture than the surrounding cottages). Sleepy and surprised Dennis appears up on the terrace and we can see in his face he didn’t expect us to come (but he made the mistake to let us know his address :D).
He invites us inside, explains and shows what is he doing… He is retired and lives here at the beach close to his girlfriend Tina. He’s got a dog Blankita and one hobby – helping the sea turtles. It’s hard life for the turtles in these countries because their eggs are thought to be an aphrodisiac and a traditional food here. Also the mature turtles are consumed. These are reasons why their numbers in last years dropped significantly. Dennis with his friend collect and buy eggs, put them in nests on his property, take care they have optimal temperature and protect them from stealing. After a turtle is born they bring it to the beach and after it gets to water and starts to swim they count it like a successful calf. They released more then 15000 of them in last 4years which is an incredible number taking in account that it is work of a few people with small place for nests and almost none financial help from outside.
We go for a beer and Tina talks about her traveling experiences and spreads positive hippie mood around. They all go for a dinner and we have time to repair flat tires, cook spaghetti and observe the sky with lightnings from the approaching storm… we sleep perfectly here. We need more than 2 hours in the morning to leave this small turtle “maternal home” because the talk with Dennis is really interesting.
The season for nesting is July-December, so we couldn’t stay and help. But we want to spread this word about the project. With more volunteers and some financial support it could be possible to have another nesting place and help to bring more turtles to the world. If you want to know more about this project or a possibility to help, visit his page www.SeaTurtleRescue-Nicaragua.org.
Thank you Dennis that you help the nature to get back what it’s losing because of humans and we also thank you for the interesting time we spent with you!
I know what its like not to be able to fart and to watch other people eat and with that anything I ate was not immediately turned into liquid and could actually nourish me! IT ISNT FUNNY AT ALL! Los siento amiga!