By Blue, February 05th, 2012
Performing with Soul to Raise Funds for Schools in Nicaragua
A Benefit Rock Concert at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School
One of the best things about living here and offering horseback tours is the amazing people that join us on the rides.
Last summer Trey and Carrie joined us for the day off their cruiseship. As a director in a school back in Virginia he was instrumental in co-ordinating a benefit concert to help buy school supplies and uniforms for the kids out here in Escamequita and Las Parcelas.
It’s perfect timing to receive these funds as the Christmas/Summer break is just ending and new uniforms are in order.
With many thanks to Trey Clarkson, Director Barry Robinson Theater and Fine Arts Center and the great people at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School.
Check out these great pics of the performers. We look forward to sharing the photos of the students and their new uniforms in return. Muchisima Gracias.
Playing for Nicaragua
Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson on the beach in Nicaragua
By Blue, December 28th, 2011
A new Tortuga enthusiast – guest blog entry by Blue’s sister – Pamela Miles
Olive Ridley Turtle... and Pam
A major highlight for me was the morning we were on the road by 3:30 a.m. to go to Playa La Flor which is a refuge for the Olive Ridley turtles. We arrived by 4:00 a.m. following an ‘ass jarring’ ride in their pick up truck in complete darkness and paid the $8 per person fee at the ranger station that was full of Nicaraguans soldiers sleeping. Most people arrive in the late evening to see the turtles … I don’t think early morning visits are common … but it was well worth it and highly recommend this time of day to see this incredible site.
We followed the path to the beach with our flashlights and immediately almost walk on top of a huge turtle laying her eggs! Over to the left are three soldiers with their guns who are there to protect the turtle eggs from locals who sell them for 70 cents a dozen. There are 10 or more soldiers patrolling the beach with guns and flashlights along with some rangers who are monitoring the turtles’ journey. They have a particularly special role at dawn.
A beach full of Turtle Tracks
As we are standing there trying to adjust our eyes something hard and heavy is bumping up again my lower leg! I can’t see a thing and I jump back rather startled. With the flashlight we realize it is one of the Ridley turtles. Your kidding me right … the turtles attack people?! The soldiers and Jeremy are laughing at this point because I am clearly a newbie.
The turtles are coming and going en mass and on a mission to dig holes, lay eggs and get the hell out of there as fast as they can … well as fast a 100 pound turtle can move with large flippers made for the ocean! This turtle that bumped into me is on her own journey and I just happen to be in her path. They pretty much ignore you unless you put your flashlight right on them which we are told not to do … especially on their faces … so from that point on we try to limit the use of the flashlights … but it is pretty friggn’ dark out … cloud cover and no moonlight but we do our best. These turtles are everywhere.
Jamie and a bucket full of babies
We spent the next three hours enjoying this incredible site of these huge turtles on this beautiful Nicaraguan beach in various stages of their amazing journey.
That night some 1,000 turtles made it to this beach to lay their 100 or so eggs. Over a five month period 180,000 make their way to this beach (where they were born) to lay eggs. The season is from July to December and peaks in August and September. There are five to seven huge waves (no pun intended) of these turtles coming onto the beach. Some nights over 10,000 arrive to dig their holes, lay their eggs (it is like they are in a trance), bury the eggs and then pat down the sand with the weight of their body which gives a whole new meaning to a body slam! Whomp, whomp. You can hear this thumping noise as you walk along in the darkness. It is like there is a dance club in the distance with the bass beat pumping.
We walked along the beach slowly enjoying this incredible site with the soft pounding of the surf and the whomp, whomp noise as our backdrop. Around 5 a.m. or so the morning light begins ever so slightly in the distance which illuminates the turtles coming and going along this 1 km long beach. It actually looks like a bunch of little tanks in motion. When you approach them they will stop for a moment or two to take a look at you and make sure you are not a threat. They have huge black eyes and you definitely know when they are looking right at you.
We were able to spend time with one of the rangers who shared some interesting information with us. Jeremy was able to translate which was great. This fellow, a Nicaraguan, has been working on this beach for 13 years and just in that time the number of Ridley turtles have gone from 35,000 in one year coming to the beach to lay eggs to over 180,000 in a year. The turtles make this journey when they are 13 years old or older so after many years of protecting the nests they are seeing the results. With a research team, they have marked off 100 meters sections off the beach to calculate how many turtles lay eggs in each section each night. There are two sections of this beach that are particularly busy. There are so many nests that sadly we saw eggs being dug up by other turtles as they dug their own nest holes. If 180,000 turtles come to beach year to lay 100 eggs each, that is a heck of a lot of eggs in a small space. He also shared that 72% of the eggs hatch and of those 7% survive to be adults turtles.
The eggs incubate for 60 days therefore at dawn the ones that hatched that night attempt to make their way to the ocean. At one point I was walking along slowly and almost stepped on one of the little guys. I stopped and looked around and another three were making their way to the ocean. The ranger handed us a basket to collect as many as we can find. The more dawn progressed, the more baby turtles we would see. The ranger had about 50 in his basket which he will keep until nightfall where he will release them under the safety of darkness.
Vultures at Dawn
These little guys have to get going because the vultures are coming in at dawn to pick them apart … along with the eggs that are dug up by the other turtles. It is a daily feast for these birds which are only about 18 inches in height but determined to get their meal … you know, like a vulture. Interestingly it is a seagull type bird that eats the highest amount of baby turtles making their way to the ocean and in the shallow water.
The ranger told us the process for the turtle to come out of the ocean, walk the 75 meters from the ocean to where they lay their eggs, make their nest, lay their eggs is between 45 minutes to an hour. He has a little bit of time to figure this out!
So, all and all, a very cool experience. I definitely recommend going in the early morning to see the transformation of the beach from darkness to dawn. Thank you Blue, aka Heather, for sharing yet another special day in your life. Love you man!
By Blue, October 11th, 2011
A special thank you to Danger Jill Robinson for this article
about her horseback ride with Rancho Chilamate earlier this year. We love a cowgirl that loves speed :)
By Jamie, October 10th, 2011
but it Helps to Give a Horse to the Church.
Last year in early August I went to Masaya to buy a couple of saddles and happened to mention to the saddler (Juan), that I was looking for a couple of horses of good size. He was quick to tell me that he had a couple for sale – “quarter horses” – he assured me. So I went to his place nearby to have a look. The pair had been working for Juan pulling a coach in Masaya and looked to be good and strong, not too old and not skinny like so many I had looked at. I rode them to see how they were under saddle and they seemed pretty good. The bigger one held his head in a dramatic dressage posture which gave him quite a regal look and the smaller one appeared to have some Arab blood with a pretty head and an erect tail. So, I started low…and he started high…and we finally agreed on a number and I paid him and came back the next day to trailer them the 2 hours back to Rancho Chilamate.
So, them both still having their testicles, or “huevos” as they are locally known, we set about to castrate them old school style except that we used a crimper rather than a scalpel, mainly because it was the rainy season and we were concerned that the incision would have a tough time healing with all the rain and moisture. Also, with the crimping method they are able to work after a month vs three months to heal an incision. Anyway, after they were all healed up we put them in the string along with the other 8 and got them working. The smaller one, Apache, never did come to the realization that he no longer had his manhood and continually wanted to get confrontational with the other horses while enroute to and from the beach. This belligerent attitude was no problem for me, or any of my ranch hands, but did prove to become quite tedious for guests with little or no riding experience. The larger one, Santana, became very mellow but developed a tendency to “crow-hop” when on trails where some stick or bush would inadvertently brush against his hind-quarters. Perhaps this was a reaction to being a coach horse and having his backside whacked too much during his years in Masaya. Anyway, it soon became evident that this pair wasn’t really suited to trail rides with riders that had little experience and so I decided to sell them and look for some more mellow trail horses. I put the word out in the community that they were for sale, but had little or no interest. Meanwhile they weren’t working but were still eating their share of hay and portions of pellets (kind of like leaving your car running while you’re not using it), and I was getting desperate to get rid of them.
So I had an idea – as I was sure to lose a bundle by selling them anyway – I decided to donate them to two local churches (one to Las Parcelas and one to Las Delicias), so they could raffle the horses to raise money for church improvements. I talked to the two Pastors to see if they were interested and they were thrilled with the idea. We agreed that to keep it affordable for the congregations they would sell 200 tickets at 30 Cordobas (about $1.50), each, thereby raising 6,000 Cordobas for their respective churches, and somebody would walk away with a good horse for 30 Cordobas!
Both horses are currently living in their new homes and both churches are currently enjoying the fruits of an injection of funds for improvements…and though I miss them, I am currently enjoying no longer feeding them – and I wish them a long and healthy life.
