Day 1: El Yunque

You'd guess Yoonkay would be the pronunciation but you'd be wrong (like I was). El Yunque, pronounced "Joon-kay" is a tropical rain forest and park on the eastern side of the island. Many local excursion groups offer trips to El Yunque for roughly $50-80 dollars per person but we decided to rent a car and explore it for ourselves. Shelby and Burke were in front navigating and didn't quite type in the parks actual name, resulting in a roughly 1 1/2 hour drive for what should've only taken 40 minutes...but that was ok because we had eco boost on our car :P The drive to the forest was full of very sharp twists and curves that were often only wide enough for 1 1/2 cars instead of the two trying to make it through. People drive crazy in Puerto Rico, let me tell you that...I actually think it was worse than Spain...which is saying something. Despite the drive being long it was enjoyable as it was very scenic and a cool little way to explore the island (and to see the wild chickens just wondering all over the place).
  

lucky for us lazy Americans (to note, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory) the park had a drive through option, meaning we could cruse through and just stop at road side water parks and towers instead of having to hike the entire way. That was fortunate for us as the park was closing in just 2 hours. Our first stop was a little water fall right off the road inwards. I'm not quite sure of its name but Josh and I took our turn climbing back to it as Shelby and Burke took pics from the road. The other side of the road had a stunning ravine flowing down it.

Further up the road we ran into the Yokahu Observation Tower that we were of course quick to climb and "observe" from. Needless to say, we were quite sweaty by the end of it. That was about the only issue we had in El Yunque as it wasn't nearly so humid or full of mosquitoes as we expected it to be. Expecting a cool history? I couldn't find one. I honestly think it was just built for observation as the name so indicated. There is also Mount Britton tower in the park but many note that Yakahu tower is better overall for site seeing :) 

We finished up our day trip with a nice long, treacherous hike to "La Mina" falls. This part was very humid and with many rocky paths only meant for one person but naturally full of many trying to cross at once. I could complain all day at the hike but still admit that it was extremely fun and well worth it. We saw many interesting trees of all different sizes on the way down along with the occasional tired well wisher assuring us we were almost there. Josh and I took advantage of the stream on the other side of the observation bridge as it was less crowded. We waited until Burke and Shelby caught up to actually go to the falls itself and to get in and swim. Naturally, being me, I tripped and hit my knee very hard on a rock, hurting it badly for my hike back. Wouldn't be a trip if I didn't hurt myself xD La Mina itself is the largest falls in the park (to my knowledge) and is also very busy. Don't expect a private swim. 

We took Big tree trail...the long one lol

Burke and Shelby enjoying the falls

Shelby photo bombing Josh and I

A New Adventure for 2015!!! PUERTO RICO!!!!!!!!!!

Hola! 

And that is the extent of the Spanish for this blog :P

 I haven't been practicing and my skills are becoming quite rusty! But as promised in the past, I will post about my trips when I take them! So this year, for my golden 23rd birthday, Joshua and I decided to travel to Puerto Rico! This time was pure vacation, no internship or work involved. We traveled down with my bestie Shelby and her then boyfriend, Burke....I say then because they got engaged on the trip and now he is her fiance!!!!!!! The trip took place back in June but being the procrastinator that I am, I am now posting our experiences, day by day, two months later in August. So enjoy looking at the pictures and reading all about it. I'll include some restaurants/ excursions and the companies we took them with and some review for everyone (including our Airbnb rental). Overall it was a very fun trip that I hope to take again!!!!! 

(note that pic included here is meant as an obvious divider from the Spain photos below and is a picture of "El Morro," a fort in Old San Juan...as I did not have access to a helicopter, it is obviously not my image..but it is pretty!)

But i promise, the rest of the photos will have been taken by either Josh or myself :)

Link to baby chick being born :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G0xzsYfZCo&feature=youtu.be

video of baby chick being born at the museum :)

End of our work experience

Our last day of work was May 29th.
The week had gone pretty slow. We visited a little museum that had a historical representation of the types of houses they used to live in (which I would be perfectly contented living in, so quaint!) The last day consisted of building one final box along with the releasing of some birds from the rehabilitation center at Albufera!!! A group of unemployed citizens were traveling through. They are part of a work program. Unfortunately, according to our local volunteers, it is practically a waste of time as the nature departments are currently laying off and not hiring at all. We also checked some traps and discovered a turtle, some crawdads and eels! That was a first! :D Since there was a tour group, they got to do most of the participation we normally wouldve done, such as measuring and recording.  It was a bitter sweet moment leaving. I realized that I am going to miss Spain so incredibly much. the life style is such simpler and more enjoyable. We have talked to Lucia about returning in 2 or 3 years to volunteer again (outside of a agent group, save a few thousand) and to see the progress, something I am greatly looking forward to. The group we volunteered with has a facebook that we are keeping up with. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tancat-de-la-Pipa/132051846830496  A lot of the posts are in valenciano, but I am able to make out enough  :)

Yesterday we actually visited anther Tancat on the other side of the lake. They also are trying to restabalize an environment for the natural species and actually have water pumped in by the water treatment plant and through different set up they are trying to filter water and put it back into Lake Albufera. Their water and treatment has been much more successful than Albufera so far, but we still had more birds and turtles for some reason. The method they use involve the re introduction of natural species, like us, but they also have natural filtration systems, ie, rocks and pebbles feet into the ground that water trickles through and absorbs up to 80% of the phosphorus out of this. They have two systems like that, and then the third into a created lake before it finally makes it's way to the Lake. The water looks amazing! :) It would be very cool to be able to implement this same system as Tancat de la Pipa.

As for the final days of the trip.
Beach time, I needed the sun for a tan. We also visited the local science museum where there was a furniture exhibit (surprisingly interesting) and where we got to see baby chicks hatch! As much as I love museums, this was more orientated towards children but still wasn't exactly the highlight of the trip. In traditional Spanish fashion, our roomies made sure we got tapas (bar food) and that we even went to Oktoberfest! (in may, right? lol) the last couple days were spent with the new roommates as they moved in and boy did it get crowded! Josh and I spent the last 3 days at the park, beach, and packing. It was overall such a wonderful trip and I'm going to miss Spain so much and cannot wait to one day return.

we watched baby chicks hatch. actually watched on bust out in under a minute. 

Thanks for reading and following along and to all of those who helped make this possible,

Thank you!
Sarita

(don't mind that that sounded like a PBS add :P )

 The other tancat

part of the filtration process

eels and crawdads found! (also an invasive fish)

rehabilitation release!

Last week in Spain!!! Agh >.<

The last week in Spain was bittersweet with so much to do with so little time:

May 25: Trip to the Hospital

Today I finally made my way out to the hospital with Josh. We were supposed to go yesterday but that hospital wanted to charge much more than the estimate they gave us previously. Being that we are foreigners we have to use private insurance at a private hospital. (which may shortly happen throughout all of Spain as the government is trying to privatize healthcare due to the economic crisis in Spain. 25% are unemployed with 50% of college aged youth being unemployed as well). The hospital had promised that there would be people there able to speak English, but like my luck, nobody could. So we had to struggle to get some words out since I don't know medical terminology well but we made our way through it with absolutely no English speaking at registration and google translate with the doctor. It turns out that I have a muscle contusion which means my muscle is bruised. He said that I shouldn't be walking on it (but I'm not skipping the last week of work) and that it could take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months to heal... Yay.

May 26: And so began our final week! >.< Our coworker from Canada, Nicole has returned from her week long vacation to Greece (her family lives in Northern Greece). The last day for all 3 of us will be Thursday. Since she leaves Saturday, Lucia wanted to give us all a day off. For this week, the agenda includes finally planting the plants! we've spent all month making the boxes and we will finally plant today! As for me, since I'm basically a Gimp right now, I am continuing work on the turtle cut outs. They will be having a fair here the day after we leave where they will share Tancat de la Pipa with the public so they can see what is going on :)
So I have found a knack for drawing turtles and Josh just happens to be a pro color-er. We are making these turtles to cut out and display in an actual turtle catching net so they can see the type of native turtles we want around :)  Tomorrow we plant, today is just sort of a bum day and we didn't actually do anything. So hopefully tomorrow will be much more productive :) As for Josh and I , we are starting laundry for the return trip. Crazy to think we only have one more week :(

May 25: Today we finally planted the plants! I helped drag the boat down to use for transporting the plants but since my foot hurt so bad afterwards, I ended up back at the drawing table as they planted (which took all of an hour I think). Eduardo, Lucia's dog, kept me company along with a turtle we had found earlier (who I used as a model for my drawings). It is rewarding to know we have finally accomplished what we came here to do, to conserve and protect the environment. I hate that I missed it after all this hard work but it is cool to know that all those boxes we produced will protect the native species from birds and fish in the lake that we were here to fill and help ready for this whole process. As for the plants, some are more to provide food along the bottom, an algae of sorts, but we are also putting plants at the runoffs to help clean the water since it is still quite polluted. (Sadly we do not have any pictures of this activity so instead included are pictures of when we did water sampling and counted plants that were planted last year (surveying)). 

 This was one of our trips to the "oasis". Here is one of the local volunteers dog Enyah who unfortunately found a bunch of cacti needles and wounded up full of them (think Homeward Bound but MUCH WORSE). i got a few in my leg as I ran up to help her (I was the first to notice) and held her for a while before handed her off as people pulled out the needles. Pobrecita (same thing happened to me at benidorm but with smaller ones. ) 

 Found a picture from our trip to the hemisferic

 Surveying Plants from previous planting

One of the signs I made. this is the American Florida turtle that is invasive and destructive. The sign says not to release. 

A "water sample" taken off a stick near one of the lakes. Mosquito larvae in the upper left side. 

Uploading rest of blogs today

After having great issues receiving my photos, I can now finally post the rest of my blogs! (Because what is a blog without pics!)
May 20: To finish week 3 we took a visit to the breeding center, which is part of the Albufara Natural Park but is located on the other side of the lake, not too far from the rehabilitation center. At the breeding center plants, turtles and certain fish are bred and raised for reintroduction back into the environment and also for the local aquarium and other educational facilities. The plants that we created the boxes for reintroduction are being harvested here and we'll get them next week.  While here we got to see many baby turtles along with baby fish and salamanders. The fascility is set up in multiple sections. Outside contains multiple ponds for growing plants but also little rivers for breeding and egg laying. Many of the areas are covered with fencing of some sort to provide protection. The eggs if found early enough are brought in to ensure survival, but if not, they still bring baby turtles inside for their first year to provide an adequate environment for survival and then move them outside at 1 when they are better able to protect themselves. After another year or so, they are ready for being released into the wild or relocation or simply, breeding. In the back is also an enclosure for all the invasive turtles found where they are sometimes distributed for educational purposes but typically euthanized to prevent further spreading. Shockingly raccoons are subjugated to a similar end since they are also  invasive and highly destructive :(

Another very interesting aspect of this breeding center is the people running it have written and published an educational book on the turtles and invasive species for kids. :) We have received two copies for our Tancat De La Pipa (the part of Albufera we work at) which I'm sure I'll attempt to read later as it is in both Spanish and Valenciano :)

May 21: Today we went to an art museum in Valencia, best part is it was free admission! We went because our roommate is quite the fan of Goya and I just love Art museums. While most of the artist aren't super famous, there was still very good quality work, shockingly with an art piece by "El Greco" , probably the most notable name I saw there (with of course Goya being probably second). There was an entire section dedicated to him. The artwork have a heavily religious theme (as was common of the time most were created 300-600 years ago). Many old altar pieces were on display :) We also saw a painting that strongly resembled the "Property Brothers." After the museum, we spent the rest of the day relaxing at the park and later went to the hemisferic (like a planetarium) to watch a video on space (which was very elementary but had astonishing photos of the universe). Overall was a very good day :)  Was supposed to go to the beach tomorrow but instead will be going to the hospital to check out my foot that I hurt at Benidorm :/

-Sarita

 The piece by El Greco

Music in the Park, Yummy cooking, and our Little Oasis

Week 3 May 18, 19, & 20

Week three, much like the first two weeks, involved the continuation of building the boxes for planting our natural plants in, however, during week 3, the rice fields had been filled along with our lake! What started out as a dry, desolate lake bed full of spiders, soon became a couple feet deep of water, full of spiders. Much prettier to look at now and will be kept filled for some years to come (they may have to eventually drain it to study the plant growth) but until then, it will be a new ecosystem for migrating birds :)
We also made "water sculptures" which sounds nothing like it's name :P We took sticks and made designs in the dry lake bed (before it was filled) and when it reflects in the sun and on the lake, it makes shapes (fish, zig zags, butterfly, another fish :P )

Beginning in the third week, twice a week in the evening, Josh and I engaged in turtle monitoring sessions, about half an hour outside of Valencia in our little Oasis (as we were calling it). We met with a new volunteer, from Voluns named Rafa and he drove us there and back each night. His English was pretty good but like every other Spaniard, thought it was terrible. He was very funny too. He actually had a masters and degree in paleontology yet he was still going to school while working the past 3 years at a McDonalds! The jobs are that sparse. There is 25% unemployment in the country and over 50% unemployment amongst students. If you get a job, you keep that job. Anyhow, he took us out to this dry farm land, looked a bit like desert but down in a another river bed lay this beautiful desert oasis, with cactus, aloe, agave, rivers and waterfalls! A man was leading his herd of sheep through as we showed up! So cute! While here, several volunteers dawned waiters and made there way into the water to collect traps (buckets with nets) that were placed there to catch turtles so we could monitor them. Monitoring turtles require several things including pictures, measuring and weighing. Each turtle is identified by marks in their shells (Carved/dented in, it doesn't hurt them but depending where the mark is gives them an identification).  We were of course searching for European Turtules and Laprases turtles. While here, we encountered another sort of cactus which would prove to be another foe of Sarita, much like Benidorm. The other volunteers where older and from university, and not through our group. During this particular week, we found the same turtle twice and LOTS of crawdads (which can actually be used in Paella). One turtle had a pretty scarred neck which appeared to be from a Crawdad claw, but was otherwise in good health.

The crawdads were overly amusing. Every time you put your hand towards them, they would lift their arms in the air as if to say "You wanna go" - was absolutely amazing and hilarious every time. So being me, I kept doing it over and over just to see them challenge me.
Following our work at Albufera and our side trips to turtle monitoring, Josh and I spent time at the park, taking full advantage of the exercise equipment and the entertainment provided. Pictured is a group that was performing reggae music in the park. Their voices weren't the strongest but the large group of people gathered made it a very special moment. It was a very tiny woodstock. Some people were lit up but they were discrete. Spain, like the U,S. forbids it, but much in the European style, people don't freak out over every little thing.