This is Baulita (little leatherback). She was the first car in the parade for the sea turtle festival. From what I hear, the guy in the suit is the same guy that I found a couple months earlier sleeping on a sea turtle nest. I find the costume a little creepy, but I don't like mascots, the kids, on the other hand, LOVE Baulita. 
Here is the entire parade. The little boys in the blue shirts are the drum line, and right in front of them are the local drill/dance team.
Each school was responsible for putting on a little play, skit, or song about sea turtle and conservation. These little guys made some other marine animals found in the area and then painted a matching character on their shirts. Imagine me standing in the back of a moving pickup taking all of these pictures... don't try that at home kids!
This school made posters about conservation and the steps people can take to help. This particular poster wants you to ration the resources you consume.
The Playa Grande School
This artist donated a bronze sculpture to the national park and this picture was taken two seconds after it was unveiled. This sculpture, however, did not easily get to Playa Grande! It came from San Francisco and was almost a week late! It arrived in San Jose the night before the festival and there was no time to bolt it down before it was revealed to the public.
The bronze sculpture was made to scale, so what you are seeing is actually the size of a leatherback found on our beach! I would also like to mention that I have 2 pictures on the posters in the background of the sculpture! I believe that makes me a published photographer! If you remember Rachel, Matt's assistant from the summer, she had about 15 pictures on the poster, which reminds me...I have to send her the pictures of the poster!
This is recycle art, and I LOVE IT! I really took the pictures so that my mom could do this project with her class... and I love the colors! 
...And what is a Central American celebration without dancing and twirling skirts?
These are the Bullis Charter School kids who come down every year from California. They rent out our station and the hotel next door...It was chaos! We took them on estuary tours, salt marsh walks, to the black sand beach, found them a turtle, and more in a week's time. We moved to Kike's for the week. I have to say, the $20 rooms with 5 beds and a kitchen was an amazing deal! Plus the parrots and parakeets loved hanging out in the giant mango tree infront of our porch, so that was fun.
I do have to go back to Playa Grande to bring samples to San Jose, so it looks like there will be at least one more post on this. Perhaps I will post when I have finished the Thesis (which I have barely started writing). Again, sorry this was late.
