The truth is rarely pure and never simple

I thought i had updated this blog in October.

Apparently I was lying to myself.

Last I updated was two months ago in September. I hadn't forgotten, not truly, its just every time i thought about it....I felt too lazy to start.

Much has happened since then.

I started spending more time in the cays with my teams. I feel happier there, and its just so gorgeous I felt the lack of electricity, a proper toilet and such didn't even matter. I had a blast! Work hard, play hard, and nap a lot. That was my mantra.

I spent a lot of time with my Canadian friends. These six girls made my transition into life here in Lagoon so much more bearable. I will miss you all so much when you leave in two weeks!!! :(((

My dad visited at the end of October. I went to pick him up in bluefields and then dropped him off when he left, 5 short days later. I cried both times. I miss my family tons.

My friend Jen came and visited me and helped me with work in the beginning of November...Thanks so much Jen, having you here was a blast!!!! So many more crazy stories to add to our Central American adventures together!

I miss home a lot still. I have less than a month before I fly back into Miami. I'm most excited to see my mom. She left a week before i did to Colombia and so it will be more than 6 months since we last saw each other. The longest I've ever been away from her! I will also hug the crap out of my little brother, no matter how much he protests haha. Sadly my dog Fluffy will not be there to greet me as he always has the past 14 years of my life. He died October 10th. There will be a definite hole in our family when I arrive.

I've learned a lot about myself these past 5 months here in Nicaragua.

- I am still a very angry person (mostly when it comes to sea turtle conservation here). All sellers of hawksbill products beware when i have a couple of tonas in me

-my skin still hates the humidity.

-i walk faster than anyone here. I book it everywhere.

-i like my freedom here. so much so, i consider renewing my contract just to keep it.

-i still really hate cockroaches

Really though, i HATE THEM.

..................
My macbook trackpad stopped working in the beginning of October so I am missing some pictures but I have plenty to share besides that. Also, they are very out of order....

Enjoy!

The night we climbed on top of the rama bus. :D

Crawl Cay

The boys fishing!!!

Coco!

Frying up our catch!

Green turtle caught for food :(

Shivani and I hanging out at Freds

Baseball game

Baseball...what else is there to do?

Green turtle

Alison and her first turt!

Turtle release!

The Farm!

Random conservation session with the kiddies

Dad!!!

Claudia preparing the breadkind for run down

The crew plus Jeff haha

Claudia!

Panoramic of us all hanging out

Brenner <3

Little thug :D

Walking to the farm!

Hatchling!

Dad with the oranges we picked

Juvie Hawksbill

Rundown

Headed to the Cays

My dad fishing in the Western Carribean

hatchlings

A WHOLE NEW WOORLLDDD

Walking to Haulover

Horse

La loma in Bluefields

Canada and America Alliance

Halloween 2013

Baboon Cay

Jens first night out

Kukra Hill Adventure

Moscom

Turtle Girls unite

Her first Hawksbill hatchling

This is where i arrived last week (fb post):

"Last night, I spent some time just thinking about my attitude and my feelings while I have been here in Pearl Lagoon. I've felt so, so much anger at times and bitterness that I have almost made myself sick. I've let myself get stressed to the point where i actually to get sick and feel even more miserable. Last night, i sat outside of my house and looked at the stars, the stars I can actually see because I am not in overpopulated South Florida with its tons of light pollution. I sat there and thought about how lucky I am to be working in what I love, despite all the hardships, the loneliness, the setbacks, and my fears. I reminded myself that I wanted to escape and I thought about how happy I was when I was offered this job. I thought about the promises I'd made myself and to sea turtle conservation when I took this position. Therefore, this is my promise to myself, this is what I will strive to become for the rest of my time here. I will appreciate every experience that comes my way...I will stop griping over the little things that will not change here in Pearl Lagoon. I will appreciate every boat ride, every storm, every gorgeous day that I get to spend here in Nicaragua. I will stop stressing and learn to breathe. I will smile more, I will laugh more, I will enjoy every moment. Because who knows where I will be next year, what other adventure I will embark on. Contentment is within my reach, I just have to reach out and grab it..."

And I've made a concerted effort to stick to this post. To stick to the decision. And while it might not work 100% of the time (lets face it, I have a nasty temper at times), for most of the time, I've gotten a better hold of "my happy".
And it's damn beautiful.
Last week I headed out for 5 days straight of field work in the beautiful island chain known as the Pearl Cays.
The mornings were tough. Typical turtle work. Get up at dawn (in my case drop down out of my hammock, look up hennesy hammocks), change, and jump onto the boat( here is where it differs we don't just walk down a beach, we have to go island to island) to hit up plus or minus 10 cays in one day. Plus....excavation....SO MANY EXCAVATIONS. They can be pretty cool but after about 6 or so nasty smelling nests, I'm about done haha.
But once that was all done around 12 or 1, we would head back to camp and scarf down some fresh fish, maybe some rice and beans (coconut rice and beans ROCK) and chill for a bit.
My team is short one member but these three are a blast. Hard workers, good natured, and so much fun!
We did headstands in the water, see who could go under the boat the quickest, and snorkeled. My favorite days were they days we got creative and played baseball and volleyball.
Styrofoam and whatever else we could find was recycled to form our equipment and we got so competitive and ridiculous.
At the moment I'm a bit sad because I have a long Skype meeting in the morning and the 75 motor is acting out so I wont get to go back out to check the cays tomorrow but...thats life.
So after this post, I'll sign off, workout shower and have an early night.

I needed that time. I relaxed, i got silly, i laughed 'til i cried, I threw myself after our "baseball" I ate yummy food, and i slept early.

And smile. Thats always important.

Sunrise smiles

YUM!

Soupa!

Hammock! (better Richard?)

Taking body depth on a female hawksbill with Claudia and Byron.

Why wont you let me take a picture with you??

Cc. Loggerhead.

Pipo.

Where is Claudia??? ( I am SO tall next to her)

Gorgeous sunrise

Cool swamp in the middle of Wild Cane

My first albino hatchling

BYE wild cane!

Home :D

Nexler with his "baseball bat"

The team :D

Pretty shells Columbilla

H tags from our project

Pose little guy

GO GO GO!

Claudia and I saved this Cc from some fishermen.

IS there something on my head?

Boyd and Passy from Team 1.

Goodies from Alexis and Rob

MY DERM TEAM IS AMAZING!!! Thank you guys for all the goodies, i was so giddy about the food and teary about the card. Can't wait for a reunion in December. Joo know it!