One of the Best Days…EVER!
Austin Staunch
I begin the story about the day from 3am, because magic happened upon our arrival to Maruata. Within minutes of arriving at the beach on which we would sleep, a man and his son appeared on the sand with a large plastic box. The contents were pulsating and teaming. Upon closer inspection, it was filled with hundreds of baby sea turtles. They scrambled and clamored, creating a frenetic scraping noise that I will never forget. We were there just in time to release them! How serendipitous to find a project after such a long ride. The community service component of our trip is where the passion of many of us lay, and so far, there are such long distances to cover in Mexico, that the time needed for transit creates long pauses between projects. So having the opportunity to assist with the tiny turtles brought big smiles to everyone’s faces. The box tilted over, and the wondrous consistency of nature played out before our eyes as a 1000’s year old process ensued. The little guys shuffled over the sand and were picked up, one by one, by incoming waves. We cheered them on and gave encouragement to the slower ones and did not leave until we saw all of our little buddies swept up by the tide. Nature continues to amaze me, even when assisted, and I’m grateful for the rare opportunity to witness it!
Weldboy and I grabbed our sleeping bags and walked down the beach to find a quiet place to sleep and discovered a dark spot flinging sand left and right. We dropped down and crawled forward to find a female sea turtle covering her eggs. One flipper would fly, and then the other, then she’d pause, sigh and start again. She did not seem to mind that we were there and just did her thing while we looked on until she ambled off back to the sea. The beach was covered with holes, as we happened to be in a turtle reserve.
The next morning we had an awesome morning in the surf, riding waves on our bellies. We discovered some of our new little friends that had not survived the crashing surf but luckily we all did, though many of us were pummeled and sandy. Some of us exercised on the beach and the morning ritual consisted of acro-yoga by Katie and a ratchet strap lesson from Weldboy. Alison sang a capella for the military guards that were stationed across from the bus and then off we went.
On the way out we decided to stop by some caves and were in for an amazing adventure. We found them and walked though while the tide washed in and out. We found a small, secluded beach on the other side of one. At one point, a few of us got down on all fours to go through a small opening and Blitz, Ulysses and Sam jumped in the water and disappeared. Morgan and I were alarmed and ran around the rock formations trying to figure out where they went and then they appeared, swimming in to the beach through narrow rocks. Their faces were aglow and they said they had found utopia. We went back to the narrow opening in the dark cave, and once a set of waves passed, we all crawled into the water and swam into the unknown.
Like little ducklings, we followed our guides and soon, we swam into a giant room in the cave that went off in three mysterious directions. I chose door number 2 and soon found myself swimming in a narrow passage, rising many feet with the blue/green water and then dropping again. The tide would wash in and I would find myself traveling backwards, then it would wash out and I would fly through the water like a fish. I could see the bottom that was at least 20 feet deep. Once I swam through the passage, I found myself in an open, deep cove, surrounded by tall rock walls. What looked like a towering, pointed rock castle was in the middle. I could feel the power of the tide, but was protected within this clear, green space, walled in on three sides from the open ocean. It was unreal and spectacular!
Scott, Ryan’s brother, who joined us with his girlfriend, Marina; free climbed up some of rocks while Morgan and Blitz found a spot to walk up the rocks and jump off. One by one, a handful of us climbed up and gleefully flung ourselves from 40 feet into the inviting sea. Eventually I carefully came in with the waves through another narrow place in the rocks and felt so alive!
We walked, exhilarated, back to the bus through an unspoiled village. There were rudimentary wooden huts on dirt paths, and fisherman coming in with fish and lobster. Katie made friends with an amorous donkey and made all of us, including the fisherman, laugh hysterically. We finally boarded the bus in good spirits for a long overnight journey to our next project. We watched a beautiful sunset over the ocean as we rumbled along the winding roads, continually passing truckloads of armed military. Ryan had an awkward wave with one, toilet paper in hand and pants down. The entire day was exactly what we needed to elevate our spirits and endure an uncomfortable night on Patricia.
