Save those Sea Turtles!

Beaches..Sunshine..Surfing...Wild animals...Spanish.

Nope, I'm not talking about a Sandals commercial. I am talking about a volunteer vacation with Pretoma. Pretoma is a Costa Rican based non-profit that works to protect sea wildlife, such as sharks and sea turtles, through research and beach monitoring projects. Within Costa Rica, they are a strong, passionate voice for the oceans and any one who wants to can become a part of it by volunteering with them.
Volunteer options vary: you can choose to volunteer your time in Punta Banco or San Miguel, Costa Rica. Both towns are beautiful, although different. Punta Banco is a small, beautiful village a bus ride away from Panama. There are probably the least amount of turtles on this beach of the 5 places where Pretoma does research, but there are still plenty! The village is more isolated, with Internet and phones 4-5 miles away. San Miguel is more of a town than a village, with more than one supermercado, and a bit more touristy. I spent time in Punta Banco and fell in love with the small community - definitely a great place if you are looking to get to know the locals!

Your day breaks down as such: Wake up. Eat. Go to the Beach. Eat some more. Basically, your time is spent at night, patrolling the beach for nesting sea turtles. Once you find them, you (with your research assistant guide) will dig up the eggs and put them in the clean sand hatchery in town. There is a lot of free time!

Prices include all meals and lodging if you choose to stay in the research station. One week starts at $350. The longer you stay, the cheaper it ends up being. Because it is a tad tricky to get to both places, I would definitely recommend a minimum stay of two weeks (as they do) in order to fully relax, interact with the community and see the turtles.

Helpful tips:

1. The season runs from Jul - Nov, with more turtles appearing as time goes on. However, the rainy season starts mid September. I would try to plan for the end of August/beginning of September to avoid a trip full of rain.

2. Also, turtles hate the moon! If you have the luxury of planning around the lunar cycle, it would totally be worth your while.

Happy rescuing!

*Additional: I volunteered here for a month in 2009. To read about my sponsored trip from Sosauce.com, click here.

Ride into Patagonia

I want this to be my next big trip - months, if possible! Estancia Ranquilco is a family owned cattle ranch in Patagonia. Nestled into the foothills of the Andes, it is over 100,000 acres of mountains, plains, fens and glens for cattle and people to roam. Did I mention you are in the heart of PATAGONIA, SOUTH AMERICA? This is a once in a lifetime trip, and I haven't even described the best parts.

Need to get away from the world? Say no more. Estancia Ranquilco is a five hour horse trek from the Internet. This also means that in order to get to the ranch, you need to take a five hour horse trek there (or you can spend the day hiking in), a perfect way to see your first glimpses of the Andes. Once you are at the ranch, you can get a Wellness Consultation, fly fish til your hands are raw, spend all day soaking up books in the library and naturally, go on a horse packing trip for a week if you so choose. (The picture to the left is of their library). They try to grow most of their own food, so almost everything you eat will be absolutely delicious!

Now to the most important part -- how do you stay? If you are looking for a short vacation, prices start at $175 a night and go up based on which rooms you have. They will rearrange week long mountain, fly fishing or horse packing trips for you starting $1600 for the week and up..and if you are looking to relax and have someone do the work for you, this might be perfect.

If, like me, you are a college graduate hoping to see the world and short on cash, there are two other options. You can be a part of their "Long Term Stay" program, which is a much cheaper $95 a night inclusive all meals, or $40 if you cook for yourself. Horse fees are separate, and there is a $150 charge for collecting you by horse (that one seems worth it, to me). 3 weeks minimum.

Or..you could go the volunteer route. Fees to stay are at $750 month #1, going only up to $1500 for a 3 month stay (preferred). There are 3 types of volunteers - Regular, Mounted and Immersion, although mounted and immersion volunteers require riding experience. This sounds like the most cost-effective way to see the ranch and really get into the local community. It probably requires the most courage too, but you can do it! Just think about seeing this moonrise every evening..