Let the Adventure Begin…

My name is Audrey. I am excited, anxious and thrilled to be on my first service break, which took me to the beautiful country of Cost Rica. The first two and a half days were dedicated to travel and an orientation to the organization of ACI.

This morning we had our conclusion to the ACI introduction, where we learned a lot about the expectations of us for our service break. The most memorable things were about how we are volunteers here in this country and how the experience we receive will be based on the participation and efforts we put in. After our conclusion, we had lunch where I tried fried yucca and aloe agua for the first time (which were both delicious), and then it was time to begin our travel to our sole destination: Verdiazul.

The drive was going to take about six hours from where we were staying in Monte Compana, near San Jose, to Junquillal. As we made our way down the mountain we were able to see the city for the first time in the daylight. The houses were very colorfully painted- very small and close together with bright colorful fences. The city was active with people walking, biking and taking buses to get to their destinations.We later got to the countryside of Costa Rica, which was surrounded by huge mountains covered top to bottom with trees. The sky was cloudy, and the drive was pleasant.

That evening we finally made it to Verdiazul, where we would begin our sea turtle projects. We were introduced to the volunteer coordinator, Alex, and biologist and founder of Verdiazul, Valerie. They were both very kind, very appreciative, and very excited for our arrival. We were given an introduction and a preview of the perspective schedule for the next few days of our service break. They are full of hard work, education projects with the locals, and late night walks on the beach. The late night walks on the beach are actually called “night patrols”, which are where we go out in the pitch black of night and walk the shore to hopefully spot sea turtles beached to lay eggs or already laid eggs. We have yet to do one of these, but tomorrow night, we have our first one and I am beyond excited to participate.

I am very fortunate to have come across this service break, which allows me to help with the conservation of sea turtles. Let the adventures begin!

-Audrey E. Fann (CALUE Service Breaker)