Waiting for Day X and other Frustrations of Field Work
We have been in limbo for about a five days now. Since Tuesday we are waiting for the arribada (synchronized mass nesting) to happen…..but nothing so far.
It is unnerving and frustrating, because everything else has to be put on hold till the arribada comes because the arribada has priority. Hence, we are spending hours right now on the hill behind the station to listen to our radio tagged females, patrol at night to get a feeling of how many turtles are coming these days, and kill the time in any other thinkable fashion. For the younger generation it doesn’t help much that our wifi is unreliable to non-existent.
Our last week on the central pacific coast was also not the most prolific one. I contacted three sea turtle projects/ protected areas there in advance (about two weeks before we drove down), but none responded no matter which medium I chose (phone, mobile, email). I decided to drive down to talk to them in person and scout out the projects and logistics that way.
We arrived in the late afternoon at the first protected area in Playa Hermosa-Punta Banco, which used to have a sea turtle project run by ASVO, a Costa Rican volunteer organization, but the ranger station in Playa Hermosa was deserted and it was indicated by the locals that the “new” station and main station is in Punta Mala. We drove down to Punta Mala and ended up in front an iron gate with a guard and a pistol….. a strange situation to start with, since protected areas are public, and at least the access to the ranger station should be possible. I greeted the guard and told him and showed him our research permit and asked for access to the ranger station to talk to one of the rangers. His clear and single minded answer was: “No! No hay paso!” (No, you shall not pass!)….I was very confused and asked him if he could maybe call someone at the station since I am sure that I have the right to enter the beach….”No!”…allegedly he doesn’t have any of their phone numbers. Problem is that the station itself has no landline and no electricity and at the only phone numbers I was given from the main office nobody answered. I continued discussing with him for a few minutes longer, but then decided to admit defeat and we drove on to find a place to stay for the night, where we released our frustration with a good Costa Rican Karaoke.
The next day we drove to Manuel Antonio National Park to talk to the ranger station there about access to one of their beaches, which is known for its high numbers of olive ridleys nesting. Unfortunately, it turned out during my talk to the officials, the beach is also known for drug trafficking and the access can only happen with an escort of coast guards and/or crime police officials. Luckily, they are willing to coordinate our entrance to the beach, but we will have to tell them several weeks in advance the exact date and time. So we left Manuel Antonio, which was overcrowded with tourists, and looked for a place to stay the night and then drive back to Ostional.
(In hindsight, I now know what was going on at the first beach, because I immediately made some phone calls on Monday. It seems between the station and the station’s entrance is a private property and the owner of that property is not too happy about the station, and the guard at the gate is his, and he tries to make everyone’s life difficult.)
First the missing signature on one of our research permits, then the difficulties accessing these two beaches, and now waiting for day X…… your frustration threshold as a field biologist is constantly challenged.
