March 16th brought with it the excitement of deployment on yet another island! We would be heading to Chira, the largest island in the Gulf of Nicoya! This was again done by the early risers of Kennet, Oliver, and me. The other team would be going off to recover the station we had deployed near the hotel in Nicoya. Kennet grew up in the town nearest to the boating dock, meaning he knew the local fisherman well and because we would be traveling by boat, Kennet was an integral part of this. Our boat to the island left on schedule at 8:30 am, we were told we would be picked up by tractor when we arrived on the island. As a trade deal, we brought 3 containers of diesel fuel with us to fuel the tractor portion of our mission.
This island has no access other than by boat, so gasoline was a hot commodity, especially for farmers on the island.
When we arrived on the island, we were greeted by two farmhands and a tractor with an attached trailer for cattle transport. Our small team of three and our equipment would ride in the cattle compartment. After transferring the equipment to the trailer, we began chugging along to the site at tractor speed.
This island was much larger than the others which means we were able to get far enough away from the island’s powerlines. Deployment went quickly and the two farm hands shared some local fruit with us that grew in the field. They also went by motorcycle and brought us cold soda! The flavor is called cholita and is local to Costa Rica the only place you can get this flavor in the U.S. is at the World of Coke in Atlanta, Georgia. It is bright pink and tastes slightly like bubblegum.
After we finished up, I checked the voltage on the battery and to my shock, it had a low power level of 12.6V, this was a bad sign. Battery issues had been on the rise recently as the campaign drew to a close. The initial decision to rent the batteries rather than buy them new was coming back to haunt us. While renting seemed more appealing financially and convenience-wise, it has stabbed us in the back here and there, this being one of those times. Some of the batteries won’t hold a charge and fail quickly even when they read as fully charged. If the battery failed, the whole trip to the island would have been for nothing.
Lucky for us, there was a local mechanic on the island who would be able to sell us a shiny new battery, all we had to do was get there. By tractor, it would take around 20 minutes and require lots of precious diesel fuel, but by motorcycle, it could be a quick and fuel-efficient trip. It was decided that I would be sent off with one of the farmhands to facilitate the battery purchase.
My rudimentary Spanish and understanding of car batteries did the trick, and soon we headed back to the farm to get the tractor to head to the site to replace the no-good, rented battery.
We were thrilled, the site was a success! The absolute kindness of the people of Chira was something we were so thankful for, these farm hands and the farm owner who had never met us were willing to drop everything to help us ensure that our site on the island would work out. Everyone we’ve met on our fieldwork journey through the Nicoya peninsula has been nothing but hospitable and friendly, the people of the Gulf islands were no different. We made a note to bring them extra diesel fuel as a thank-you when we returned for the recovery.
Once the battery issue was solved it was time for a farewell, we shoved off the dock after profusely thanking the two farm hands for all their help. The clouds on the way back were stunning.
The remainder of our ride was smooth and we managed to spot a crocodile hanging out near the sides of the river.
I ate a ripe mango provided by Kennet in celebration of a job well done!
Even with the battery issue we finished early and had some downtime to relax!
The progress after March 16th:
