depoimento de Sky sobre o dia 04-02-11

Today we went on a census. To complete a census you hike a certain length of coastline looking for stranded sea turtles and other creatures. This morning we were planning on hiking from the small village of Esmeralda to Aguas Dulces. But due to rainy weather and a late start we decided to travel the closer and shorter trip from the Karumbe base to Punta del Diablo a 18 kilometer trip. The start of this trip wasn’t terribly exciting since we were leaving from the base we had already traveled these beaches before. But as soon as we rounded the last recognizable point everything was new and exciting.

This trip includes Cerro Verde which was very beautiful. It was undeveloped sand dunes as far as the eye could see. In Cerro Verde we found our first dead and stranded creature a small sea lion. It smelled incredibly bad and must have been stranded in the heat for days. We measured, took pictures and as the sun burned my skin we moved on.

The first and only turtle we found was half buried and only slightly decayed on the exterior. As we opened it we found that the same was not true for the interior. The organs had turned into a dark brown mush the sloshed around the inside of the shell. After trying to find the sex and cause of death we quickly buried the turtle and the smell. Hiking on we came to our lunch break.  We stopped at a point of land and ate under the shade of a lookout tower. After the food was done we took a short break during which I climbed the tower and looked out over the Atlantic Ocean.

We passed a couple more stranded creatures as we walked along but soon we came back to population showing that we were getting closer to our final destination. As the crowds on the beaches became thicker my backpack felt heavier and heavier. Finally small buildings came into sight showing we had arrived and the 18 kilometer trek was over. I had seen more of the Uruguayan coastline then I had ever expected to see and am looking forward to the next census and the opportunity to see more of this beautiful country.