So we get there and its amazing but then they tell us we have to do a volunteer shift that night and in our ignorance we dont know what to expect! Mine was at 12 with 2 Dutch volunteers that were in my cabina.  All in all that walk can be summed up as 14 km very dark  no turtles and lots of dutch and spanish i dont understand!

The next days get better, I start my spnish course at Roberts school and have one on one tuition all for $80!  ITs intensive but after the first lesson I can Say I want ... or i need.... so it helps! I do a horse shift the next day., whihc involves riding very skinny horses up and down the beach, this is frightening at first  but becomes methodical and ploddding, almost sleep inducing.  The other type of shift in hatchery shift, which is where the turtle eggs are reburied once tey're collected and are then guarded 24 hours a day, to stop the poachers. 

I forget whihc night but one of the next walks, Im with a guy from bath uni and we chat the whole way and almost trip over a turtle its so dark (due to it being new moon).  But she's there and beautiful a full 178cm long we find out when we measure her.  The eggs are carried back to the hatchery and we go out again to the beach.  In almost exactly the same spot we find another turtle but unfortuneatly a poacher has got the eggs, and she's covering her hole in vain.  She's even bigger and so powerful.  When trying to measure her and get her tag numbers she nearly knocks us over and covers us in sand.  An amazing experience, their shells arent as hard as other turtles and have huge ridges, hence their name leatherback. 

All in all I stayed 2 weeks at the project and had lots of fun, the volunteers were great, and nice to spend time with, the hammocks were comfy even if they did break and i had to use all my PGL knowledge of knots to fix them!! During the days there is not much to do and you're not asked to do much as you have to walk / work during the night as thats when there is turtles.  But one day after the 4-6am hatchery shift, me olivia and Yurian go to the local town Parismina.  BY local I mean a 18 km walk along the beach to get to it.  Its nice but as soon as we arrive we bump into a group of tourists and almost feel like asking them how they got here but remember that there is a boat and not many toher people walk a 25  km round trip to have an ice cream and buy some mangos!
 
It seems in consequential and unimportant now but really annoyed me and made me question the work of the project but one day after the biggest thunder storm on earth, i left my clothes out to dry onthe lines in front of the cabinas.  Next morning all gone.  Trainers, t shirts, waterproof, umbrella.  All stolen.  It made me wonder about the people here, whether they need something so much as to steal from people who come here to help, but evidently they see us as tourists who can afford it.

I saw many baby turtles, and especially nice was the one I released on my last morning and about 6 am so have awonderful video of him crawling hard into the sea, so small compared to those huge waves.  Apparently only one in 1000 make it to adult hood to lay eggs of their own.  

Unfortuneatly the computer in the little internet place in Cahiuta wont accept my camera so i cant put any photos up but its not for lack of trying! 
We left LTF early on the morning of the 15th May and got the bus to Limon and then on to Cahiuta, a little caribbean village down the coast from where we were and quite close to panama.  Once again my time has run out but i hope all is well with you all and not too stessful back in the hectic UK.  I had to wait an hour for a bus today and it seemed like nothing, so relaxed!