Turtles and Parasites

The days seem to go by quicker, and I find my mind wandering less every day. However, I wish I could say all was good on Boa Vista, as soon as I feel like I don’t have a nutrient-sucking, energy-draining, parasite living in my body, I think I’ll be better. Enough about the good stuff, I know what you all want to hear about… right?..... Turtles, me too.

I arrive at the “turtle camp” around 3 p.m. and begin the meet with the group camping at Boasesperanca, the beach with the broken boat. I am first greeted by Mafalda, a semi-attractive Portuguese girl of about 22 years. She introduces herself as the director of this campsite and tells me that I am on the midnight turtle patrol tonight. I then continue to meet with all the other people in the camp, one being Domenico, a very cool Italian guy who works in a national park in the southern part of Italy. I then meet all of the Capeverdeans, they are cold towards me in the beginning. We sit. I stare at the ocean through a crack in the tents, the sun is stifling, and we are deafeningly quiet. I jump in, I begin asking the Capeverdeans where they are from and why they are here, I learn that they are soldiers and have been placed here to guard the turtle volunteers. Slowly, they realize that I speak some Kriolu, I think they are impressed, and they begin to joke with me. Within an hour I had the table roaring in laughter, in 2 languages, but I think the soldiers are mostly laughing at me. After I realized that I had exhausted my Kriolu vocabulary, I became a little nervous…. I have nothing left to say, but I don’t want to go back to the awkward…. saved by my new good friend, the Italian. He says, “I am going for a walk, would you like to come with?”, of course I would like to come with. We walk and talk for hours, we say nothing for hours. Upon returning to the camp I can smell the aroma of dinner, and by the looks of it, snail is on the menu for the evening, it’s delightful. I catch a few hours of sleep after dinner and awake for my patrol. I go with Andrea, a beautiful girl from Switzerland, and Sakiss, a soldier in the Cabo Verde Army. To my surprise, he is dressed entirely in black and is carrying an AK-47. I feel as though I am going in to battle. We walk the 20 km patrol with no sightings (this is the end of the season, so no reason to be alarmed), and return for bed. The next few days are similar to this, except for one day when we find a nest that had been raided by crabs. We find a lone hatchling and take him back to base-camp to be released that night. They honor is given to me, and so I go down to the beach with everyone and turtle hatchling in-hand, I place him in the sand and watch him run to freedom, except, he is snatched by a crab and eaten. I have failed my one and only objective! A little sad, but this is the outcome for most turtle hatchlings, he never stood a chance alone anyhow.
The fact that I am eating for free is nice, because at this point Danny and I have no money and have been eating rice for a couple days. Time for Domenico to leave, we exchange information and I give him the number to a friend of mine who is living on Sal, since he is on his way there for a few days. He gives me the bro shake/hug, and I am actually sad to see him go, maybe he will come back next year for turtle season.

I am back in town, and back to the mundane, I feel weaker than ever due to what I can only assume to be a parasite. I can’t let the potential parasite keep me from living though, and besides, my language professor from Santiago Island has come to visit for the weekend. I have invited him and his colleague to stay with us so they don’t have to pay for a hotel. Still penniless, Africano, my language professor, has agreed to pay for our meals while he is staying in our house, score! We travel the island with him and end up on the far eastern coast where I find several people that I have meet with in Sal Rei, and with Turtle Foundation. We decide to stay for a bit and chat with members of this small village. The evening comes to an anticlimactic end, and I am exhausted. I fall asleep slightly romanticizing my time in America and unsure of my purpose here. Perhaps when I am parasite-free, my outlook will be different. Oh and wish me luck, I find out what exciting ailment I have tomorrow!

To: My Healthy Friends

From: Slightly Less Healthy