Hello tortuga family !
It’s been 3 days that our road trip ended, and we think it’s time to tell you about it. So during the road trip, we went in schools near the Pacific coast.
First, we went to Santa Catalina, in Veraguas ’province. This area is very touristic and the many beaches are a perfect spot for turtles' nests. Moreover, the Coïba Island is not far from Santa Catalina and it is a hideout for many sea species, including turtles.
We began as soon as Tuesday 23th, 7 o'clock, going fat out to give lessons ! We thought we would fisrt schedule the following days... But it was more like “ Hi, we are three students and we’d like to give some lessons about turtles during the week” – “ Okay perfect, let’s begin in 10 minutes, there’ll be three classes “.
That’s how we did it in the school of Hicaco, a village near Santa Catalina. We managed to do 3 elementary classes and even one class of secondary. Children were great and motivated to participate, even if it was a little bit difficult with the oldest (puberty, the perfect age !). The second school (so Wednesday) was in the village of Santa Catalina, and it was a real pain because children were undisciplined. But it doesn’t matter, children succeeded answering questions about turtles, so it was ok !
On thursday, we went to Farfan and it was definitely the best (small school, teachers really nice). We gave the best of us, so did the children !
Little anecdote : we took the weekend to visit isla Coïba, to see turtles, sharks and other beautiful fish !
Then, we moved towards Las Lajas, another town where we knew there were schools. We did 2 schools during the week, but lots, lots of classes ! And it was alarming : indeed, many children had already eaten turtles’ eggs (several times for many of them) and even turtle’s meat !!! On the beaches around, the hunt of turtles is still done with impunity… Our presence here was the occasion to double our efforts to make the children understand not to carry on this activity, for turtles ‘sake and for their own sake !
After the schools of Las Lajas and Santa Cruz, we were not able to find another free school for the last day… But the result is still positive : 242 children in 10 days !
Eventually, as it remained one week left of holidays (because pupils were on holidays !), we took this time to visit Panama, especially the province of Boquete. The weather was totally different, rainy and cold (mountains). We did a few hikes and taste local specialities !
Currently, we are in Pedasi, where we expect another hard week of lessons (maybe the hardest of our entire trip). We hope everything is fine for you ! Thanks a lot, and see you soon !