Ha, Ha!
At last I have loads of images which unveil the once in a lifetime experience that meant a lot to me with a little explanation underneath. (How corny does that sound?!!) As you know I went to Keffalonia for 2 months as a sea turtle volunteer, here it goes...
So yes, dawn on Mounda. This sight we took in every day! Us, sea turtle volunteers, had just walked the beach you see before you, a 7 km stretch, that we patrolled there and back every day. We scouted across the sand for evidence of new nests, hatched ones and picked up litter (great one for the CV, maybe not, and that wasn't the point!)
The volunteer briefing... Manu, the chap in red at the far end of the table, is the most laid-back philosophical Italian I have ever met, well compared to the 1 or 2 Italian sleaze bags I have met anyway! I'm the one in the pink top, 3rd in on the left side of the table. We all gathered here every night, ate dinner together, laughed together, and chatted. Manu gave us updates and advice on procedures such as excavations or told us off for not writing down our results yet!! Meanwhile, I enjoyed being able to use my french and some spanish as some of the volunteers came from Catalonia and Madrid. I'll introduce you to some of them once the other pics are ready.
This was our rota and Manu's nightmare! Volunteers stayed for 1 or 2 months, but of course they arrived at different times; I'm glad I didn't have the rota as one of my tasks! The tasks involved campsite cleaning, patrolling, tourist information/ education and beach cleans.
The dining area was where everything went on. You could always just go there, (not when you're working of course!) sit, relax, read, and people come and go, who you drift into conversation with. Or you can stay silent, eavesdrop a little (!), re-fashion your volunteer t-shirt so it actually fits!! Then make a gypsy head-band out of the cut off sleeves!! (My t-shirt was the last one and an XL, RIDICULOUS!)
This was the small colourful kitchen where 2 people would cook for 20 on a budget of 20 euros!! With many of the volunteers being marine biology students/ zoology students, they were mostly vegetarian, so it was mostly lentils and having to be create tons of things to do with tinned tomatoes, potatoes, rice or pasta! We actually came up with some tasty things. I'll leave the recipes later.
This was an excavation; the volunteers dug down to the nest, where there were often 100 Loggerhead turtle eggs. We measure the nest, note down the numbers of infected eggs, deaths, live hatchlings, unfertilised eggs etc, erase any tracks to the sea and fill the hole again.
This was the last beach party (not on Mounda, as it's a protected turtle beach) - All of them were very bad for my health... and my memory!! (I wonder why?!) This was near the start and the music hadn't arrived yet - A must-have at any beach party if no-one has a guitar! I may tell one of the stories... watch this space!
I'm losing my patience now, so I shall return fairly soon, with more stories and pictures... wait til you see the sunset!
