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No, I didn’t see that article. However, that is an interesting take on it though (construction workers and drunks poaching eggs). We’ve got our share of both here, that’s for sure. Also, as the article states, its acceptable here, maybe not by all, but by many. Its a given anytime I walk into the local salon in Matapalo for a beer people are openly consuming huevos tortugas. To me, I don’t get it (but then I’m not Tico or Nica). They take a raw egg in a shot glass (without alcohol) with chili sauce and toss it back. Now what’s tasty about that? Do you really taste anything besides the chili sauce anyway? Quien sabe? As far as MINAE; yes my wife did call and they were going to go talk to the guard about the situation. We haven’t been to the beach since Wednesday last week. I’m going through withdrawals, so if i make it today I’ll ask him if MINAE made it out. Ciao.
Edited on Nov 20, 2007 05:33
Funny thing happens when the influx of any group is too fast and too much for a more gradual adaptation to the local ways. Sometimes these population fluxes bring with them a lot of social issues, but it seems this time that turtles have been the unsuspecting victims. Like they needed another strike against them! In 1982 my Tico brother-in-law bought some eggs that looked like golf balls but were squishy. He said, just eat one and I did. It was not pleasant and had a gritty texture (which I imagine was the sand in it). I didn’t like it and when he told me that it was a turtle egg I almost puked. I’m please to say that my Tico family has long given up eating turtle eggs, but you can still find them even in San Jose. (Please be advised if you travel to the Caribbean side that Rondon can be made with turtle meat and eggs. It literally means a seafood stew of “rundown”–includes everything available–in some private homes turtle meat is still used, but restaurants today typically doesn’t include turtle meat anymore, but I still always ask. Maxi’s has the best and Miss Edith has a vegetarian version that’s really good too, but I digress just so you won’t innocently make that mistake…) Most of the CR population has been educated to know that it’s really a huge problem to poach these eggs, but I certainly don’t blame people for eating them if they have NO other source of protein available to them or their children. What is sad to see is that people that could afford to eat chicken eggs will poach these instead. There needs to be a show of force to stop this and there also needs to be the appropriately focused environmental education of the local population (national or foreign born) to make sure they understand the consequences of their actions. Sometimes it’s just ignorance and like Ben Franklin said, we’re all born that way….As a woman I have been able to confront a lot of these situations without being perceived as a physical threat, please be careful if you choose to approach the men poaching because they may take your remarks as offensive….I guess it’s usually about the tone and words you use, but cultural differences are very important and it may not be the best course for you to take….Please keep calling MINAE and also contact the turtle NGO that works in Guanacaste to see if they can give you some tips or go to Playa Grande to create a local strategy plan. I have also spoken with my friend and he’s asking his colleagues in that area….Take good care…
Simondg, When I brought it up to some of the legal staff at headquarters, they said that without the name of the agent and the agency, they will not proceed to investigate because they feel it’s just hearsay and rumors…. 🙁 Any suggestions? We can play a game of fill in the blanks or multiple choice or pin the tail on the rogue broker 🙂 and then I will have more substantial ammunition to work with…Yours truly, Redbaron…
redbaron – I was under the impression you knew someone at the beach offices and it would be a casual thing. I wasn’t really after a Spanish Inquisition or an internal investigation! I feel like this is going to get blown out of proportion…
However, this woman kind of rubbed me the wrong way from the get go. She stopped her car before we reached the property and asked “how much further?” in a frustrated tone, despite me giving her precise location details before in our first phone call. Then she said that it would have been better if the other office nearer us had dealt with it (is it my fault she didn’t transfer the job to them because she doesnt know where Cana Fistula is?)
I don’t want to get someone fired but she did claim that the distance from high tide to the construction at PG was because the sea level had risen.
Her name was Pennye, spelt like that… She’s in the Flamingo office. Nice enough woman really, but is there really any need to lie? Who knows, perhaps she’s right!! It’s more amusing than something to be taken seriously and perhaps it should be left as such?
Opinions welcome…
No Simondg, I live in Jersey and my family has a C21 in Parsippany where C21 has one of their headquarters. Here’s the deal, she may be just repeating information that she heard and may actually believe it (highly doubtful, but who knows), but unless she has scientific studies to show that CR’s sea level has risen, then she shouldn’t be saying this because it really makes her, her agency and C21 look bad. As a matter of fact, on the Atlantic side of CR the last major earthquake (92)raised the coral beds near the coastline that were once completely submerged, but it’s not that the sea level fell or rose. The rising sea levels predicted thru global warming models would take a long time and the 50 m high tide line in CR is not going to change within the time it takes to build a few houses–her statements are ridiculous…
Unfortunately, there will be people that are not informed regarding CR laws or environmental changes that may choose to purchase within the 50 m high tide area due to her explanations, spend their hard earned savings and then find themselves in quite a pickle once the government of CR finally decides to enforce the 50 m high time law leaving them without a home–That to me is much more upsetting than for her to be set straight about giving erroneous or misleading statements in order to make a few bucks….I have an aching suspicion she will not be fired, but she will think twice about making such statements…
rebecca – I agree with you, her comments are of course ridiculous, in fact it’s insulting that she even said them.
My trust level in her at that moment fell too zero and it seems my judgement was right since she has failed to do her job by not getting back to me after telling me she would put my farm on the market.
I have though taken the position that since I am developing my property, I don’t want to make enemies out of the biggest realtors. On balance though I didn’t care for her bigshot attitude with all her talk of flying to Europe to hold seminars for big investors that she felt necessary to tell me all about, so please go ahead and do your thing; I’m looking forward to the feedback
While I am in no way supportive of development in documented turtle nesting areas, I would love to know of some organizations that are working with the government to educate locals on the devastation of illegal harvesting. There is an individual in Limon who regularly walks through the local beach front restaurants selling dozens of eggs at a time already injected with tobasco and ready to eat. While increasing fines and punishment for fellows like this would help, educating the fathers who bought for their extended families and children (the boys understand it to be a promoter of virility) of the long term impact on the environment and the economy might be more valuable. Most of the organizations I know of study the turtles or fight against developers, but the low hanging fruit to me is the local population.
Windsorww, While there are orgs (see one of my posts above on this thread and there are others) that are working on the conservation and environmental education programs for the local populations about this issue, I can tell you that more damage has been caused by the loss of turtle breeding habitats and contamination of the shoreline due to hotel & residential developments along the Costa Rican coasts than by the local population. In order to see a leatherback in 1992 you had to walk thru a mangrove, take a little boat thru the estuary, walk onto Langosta beach, sit and wait for one of those massive creatures to come out of the ocean and watch her make her nest and lay her eggs — All of this was done by the light of the moon and a red flashlight in order not to disorient the turtles. Today, there is a large, beautiful hotel complex with condos, etc and there are NO turtles to go see even if the hotel allowed you to to “trespass”!
Regarding Limon, the law allows for the Caribbean culture to use sea turtle eggs and even eat some turtle meat because it is part of their culture, but I assure you that although this has an impact and I agree that people need to be further educated so that they understand what is at stake…We should be careful with begrudging a local trying to put food on his table when the real damage is caused by those that know better and still choose greed and development over conservation….
Simondg, just an update on the Century 21 issue, corporate headquarters has given me the name & contact info of the C21 person that needs to be called regarding the misleading information that was offered regarding the ocean levels rising. As soon as I speak to him, I will let you know what he says…
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