Eric Poon – The Voyage Continues pt.1

As of today, September 19th, I have only four more days in Mexico until I fly to Peru. In my time in Mexico, I have done a great many things and have seen a lot. A significant amount of events have happened since my last post. There have been two groups that have come to the beach/camp to volunteer and help the turtles. Each group presented new people with different tactics to try and get me to drink tequila. For example, one of the groups told me that I will speak fluently in Spanish after 7 or 8 shots of tequila. I’m glad that I am not gullible nor that desperate. I was able to talk to them in Spanish without tequila (sort of talk, more like stutter). One of the groups did draw me in and got me “dancing.” And, no, I was not under the influence of tequila. They showed me the basics of two different types of dances and I pretty much failed at both. It was still fun though, but it felt really weird. Me trying to dance and speak Spanish are not the only things I have seen and done.

At the camp, I have seen poachers steal eggs (they were a good distance away) and I have seen about six crocodiles. They aren’t that scary, the crocodiles, that is. I say that, but the first one I saw on land, when it moved, I booked it, meaning I ran! In my time at the camp, I have released hundreds of baby turtles. From what I have seen, the nests produce about 40 turtles a time (depending on location, this can happen two times, so a total of 80 baby turtles). All of this means that I have released many hundreds of turtles.

Moving on from the camp, I recently participated in the celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day. It might have been where I was at, but it was not as large as a 4th of July for USA. There were some performances of music and the fireworks were kind of crazy. I don’t mean crazy amazing, I mean it was unsafe. They were releasing the fireworks extremely close to people, where some things were being set on fire. The biologist was saying that one year, he was wearing a new shirt and after that night, the shirt was nearly destroyed because it was set on fire. So in the end, the fireworks were crazy. I did have a good time.

But on a more serious note, there have been several terrible earthquakes in and near Mexico City recently. There is talk here about it, but where we are is far away from Mexico City, in a town near Tomatln, and I am safe. My connecting flight to Peru is in Mexico City but it doesn’t look like it has been affected.

This will be my final post when it comes to Mexico. My next one will be about Peru and what a great time I am having there. Unless the food in Peru is better than the food in Mexico. Then I will have to mention Mexico.