Mas de Karumbe

After attempting (unsuccessfully) to set the net in rough seas, we rigged up a lean-to for our afternoon seista. Life is rough when you work at the beach.

Ali-Karumbe´s founder and El Gordo - a fisherman by trade who stayed with us for a week and cooked some delish meals.

Part of the Karumbe crew

Gus teaching and playing games with the local kids during an environmental outreach campaign
Getting ready to take a DNA sample from a very dead fresh-water dolphin

Ita, Lu and I at camp

Paryting on the beach in Punto del Diablo on my last night

Karumbe and Cardboard Turtles

I arrived at Karumbe the day before Carnival. Karumbe is a turtle research station in the small coastal town of La Coronilla. As a new volunteer, I was expecting to be thrown into work, maybe cleaning field equipment or helping with the turtle capture. Instead, I was sized up for a starfish costume. In fact, I spent the whole day creating marine animal costumes out of cardboard, driftwood and anything else we could find lying around the station or beach. On the night of Carnival, we marched in the town´s parade as a medley of turtles, sharks, jellyfish, starfish and sealions. We stratigically placed ourselves behind a drum line so we had a great beat to dance to during the parade.

Turtle Liberation!

I was starting to doubt that Karumbe Bay actually worked with turtles because with all the hubbub over Carnival, I dídn´t actually see a turtle till my fourth day. But since then, I have been helping the scientists with turtle sightings, capture and census walks. Their goal is to obtain more information on the habits of juvenile green turtles who come down from Brazil and the Carribean to feed during the summer months. The days can be long, but you can´t beat working in a bikini and swimming in the ocean as a part of your job.

Turtle Capture

This dolphin has seen better days

Tramping through Argentina (and Uruguay)

After a couple days in the desert oasis/tourist trap of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, I found myself in Northern Argentina. I spent a few days in Salta, then headed to Mendoza, in the heart of wine country and finally on to sultry Buenos Aires. In every town I found the people to be incredibly friendly, outgoing, funny and of course holding a mate. Rich, poor, young and old, everyone in Arngentina drinks yerba mate.

I was suprised to find myself falling in love with Buenos Aires. Although it is a huge city (6 million people call it home), it is easy to walk around and in places it is downright quaint. I arrived on a Sunday and headed down to San Telmo´s market, an incredible feast. The streets were packed with vendors, street performers, artisans and their wares, musicians, tourists and tango dancers. Yes, tango in the streets. It was a vibrant, sensual city and reminded me of a more sanitized version of pre-Katrina New Orleans.
After Buenos Aires, I took a ferry across the Rio Platos to the coastal village of Colonia, Uruguay and then headed on to Montevideo. It was a couple days till Carnival, so the streets were packed with the sound of drums and chants as everyone practiced for the upcoming parades. Late one night, after checking out a traditional murga, some friends and I stumbled onto a ceremony being held on the beach. Groups of people wearing all white were walking into the water and sending small shoebox-sized boats filled with lit candles to sea. They would then walk backwards to the beach, while chanting. On the beach, there were more groups of people all dressed in white and traditional healers that were offering their services to those taking part in the ceremony. No one was in charge and there was a very organic, spontaneous feel to the whole event. Later, we learned that they were offering thanks to Yemanya, La Madre del Mar, a Brazilian Goddess with African roots.

Protest outside of the La Casa Rosa in Buenos Aires - the same building where Eva Peron gave her speeches

Xabi normally cuts hair for transvestites in Basque, but kindly cut all of our hair at our hostel in Mendoza.