well, I'll try to get you up to date with the island here...
I've finally managed to get used to the heat, or as much as possible anyway. The others generally spend their afternoons on the beach (white sand, clear, warm blue water) and then at night they go to a club called coco-loco's which is cool, it's basically decking out over the sea so we can sit and watch fish swim by, I've seen a few rays there and a baraccuda as well as some really pretty reef fish.

The others basically get pissed every night but I'm having a healthy time here, it's just too hot to drink and I'm well known as the girl who drinks tonic water!

The islands mad, the people here are from such a wide variety of backgrounds (it's been home to released slaves, pirates, british colonists and the Spanish over the past few hundred years) that there is no such thing as a typical islander, they speak English with a mad caribbean accent or Spanish or a mix of both. They are even more laid-back than the mainlanders which I thought was impossible.

Here's a bit of a diary...

Arrived Sunday
Monday, had an argument with Calina, the project manager because she said I was being unreasonable asking to share a room with one of the girls rather that a bloke I didn't know.
Ended up sharing with the bloke (Ethan) because she bribed me with having my own shower... I'm easily bought!

Tuesday, felt ill because of the extreme heat and didn't go on patrol, stayed at home sweating.

Wednesday went on patrol and saw 2 turtles in one night, some people have been here for a month and haven't seen a turtle! unfortunatly as we haven't been trained yet we couldn't tag them. To patrol you leave the house at 5pm and walk for an hour to the beach, it's quite a pretty walk through fields of banana trees and into the edges of the mangrove. Unfortunatly the whole place is full of land crabs, some of them are huge, they did holes all along the path and as you walk past they scuttle out and wave their claws at you... eeugh. When you get to the beach you are supposed to set up a tent as base camp... i-to-i didn't tell us to bring tents so we have to sleep on a wooden stage with no shelter. Every hour from 8pm to 4am we walk slowly along the beach looking for turtles tracks or turtles, wait at the other end for about 10 minutes then walk back. When it gets light at 5ish we walk home. It's not too bad if there's some wind to keep the sand flies away but if it's a still night you can't have any part of your skin exposed or you just get eaten alive. They pinch when they bite, though they're too small to see and the next day the bites swell up and are really itchy, if you scratch them they turn into nasty blisters.

Thursday everyone else on the project mutinied and stopped working, big argument ensued with Calina insulting us all and questioning our morals! Donald, Sushil and I (the new volunteers) went on patrol.

Friday day off, went to the beach for a bit, out for a pizza then off to coco-loco's.

Saturday, chilled out a bit, read a book in the hammock on the porch, said goodbye to Ethan and I moved into a room with Louise.
Louise is amazing, she's a tiny size 10 but she eats more than any girl I have ever seen!

Sunday we went out on patrol but didn't see anything.

Monday, Donald, Sushil and I went to speak to Calina and sort out what we're going to do after we finish night shift - she was really amazed that we carried on patrolling after Thurdsday and was really nice - we can join the day patrols next week which means going out in the motor boat and kayaking through the mangroves! also she said we can help prepare a float for the carnival on 12th-19th July.

So things are looking up, the mutineers have all spent the week diving and having a lazy time, Calina's said that I can take my last week here off and dive, so that's cool. I might also be able to work on a snorkel-trail for children identifying coral and stuff.

I'm really enjoying the island now but at the same time I'm looking forward to going home, everyone here just goes out drinking every night and that's just boring, I've been reading loads of books and thinking a lot about where I want my life to go after this.

When you're lying out on the beach, with waves crashing downa few metres away from you, staring up at the stars there's lots of time to reflect on your life, what you want to do and where you want to go... when we arrived we were told that it can be good for your soul doing this and I think I can see what they meant.

Well, that's all I can think of for now!

Hello there, this is going to be a bit of a generic email because the internet’s really expensive here.

I got to Utila without any problems – It-s really beautiful here, just like it looks in the books, clear blue water, white sandy beaches and palm trees. It’s so hot though! I may melt. The project’s kinda strange, I’m monitoring turtles which basically means we go out in pairs at night and walk up and down the beaches looking for turtles or signs of turtles. Apparently there have only been 2 turtles seen in the last 2 weeks but I think I-m going to be lucky! If we see them we have to fill in loads of details about what they’re doing and stuff then measure and tag them.

It-s going to be really hard work – hardly anyone likes it because you’re knackered all the time, but living on Utila makes up for it. The island’s tiny, with one street, and it’s a really laid-back place, there are people here that just decided to drop out of ordinary life and open a café or a diving shop here… sounds like a good idea!

It’s so hot that I’m actually walking around in public in shorts! The beach is small but gorgeous, I’ll take some pics to make you all jealous! And the water is really warm.

I think I’ll probably start work tonight – and all the other volunteers are people from my group, we spent the first week together in Tegus so I’ll be with someone I know which is cool.

If I don’t like this project or I get too tired from working 8pm-5am I can move to the teaching project where apparently you teach 2 lessons a week about conservation! I’ll try the turtle project first though, I’m doing it for 2 weeks then I’ll have 4 days off to do a diving course and then back to work.

well, that'a all for now, I'll email again when I can afford it - it's all going to be tales of going to the beach though!

Hope you're all doing well - not long till i see you again!