This past week was one of the most amazing opportunities I have ever experienced. Reflecting back on it, we did so much, met so many people, and just overall made amazing memories. To start off, I would like to thank all of the amazing people we met in our time spent at Nature Seekers, along with Denise from Amizade. They made our trip even better by being amazing hosts and guides along the way!
Now I want to talk about the most exciting part of our trip, everything that we did. Day one was spent traveling, we got to the Pittsburgh airport around 9 am and landed in Port of Spain at 10 pm. We were welcomed with open arms by Denise at Samise Villa which was a great start of our trip. The next morning, we were up and at it and we drove to Matura, Trinidad, where Nature Seekers is located. I was very excited to go to Nature Seekers and finally meet the client we have been working with all semester, and it did not disappoint. Our time at Nature Seekers began with an information session by Suzan, the founder of Nature Seekers. We got to see how passionate she is about turtles and how much the organization means to her. We were also able to learn about everything Nature Seekers does as an organization and learn about Leatherback Sea turtles. Leatherbacks are an amazing species shown by the way they travel from the cold waters in Canada all the way down to Trinidad when nesting season arrives. Nature Seekers staff spends hours every night during nesting season tagging turtles and collecting data to track turtles through the course of their life. Rhema works at Nature Seekers; she showed us how to tag turtles and was with us when we got to experience how the turtles nest and the whole process related to it. It was truly amazing seeing that with my own eyes. One thing that really shocked me about leatherback turtles was how large they were. They can weigh up to two tons which is way bigger than I imagined them to be. A typical turtle tagger is out on the beach until 3 am, but we only lasted until about midnight and we were exhausted! Tagging every night requires a lot of energy and I have so much respect for everyone who does it.
The next day, we got the chance to experience the outdoors and beauty of Matura. We were taken on a kayak tour and hike by a Nature Seekers employee, Anderson. The kayak tour was one of the more adventurous things I have participated in during my life. We kayaked to a point and hiked the rest through the river which led us to a pool that we were able to swim in. The whole time I was so in awe of all the nature that surrounded me. Later that day we were shown another program that Nature Seekers runs. They collect glass bottles from the beach and turn their “trash into cash”. They make jewelry beads out of the bottles and it was very cool to see the process of how it works. We even got to make our own bracelets! On Tuesday, we got to see the Mermaid Pool in Matura. We hiked down to the pool and it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. The hike down was tough at some points, but it was completely worth it. The water was so clear and the colors surrounding it were stunning. After Mermaid Pool, we got to show our contact from Nature Seekers, Chelsea, our deliverables we had been working on all semester. As expected, she had some questions and a few changes that she wanted to be made, but overall it was a very positive experience! I think that we were expecting more critiques to be made but our deliverables really matched everything that Nature Seekers was asking for. As a team, I think we did extremely well in that aspect. On our final day at Nature Seekers, we got to experience one last aspect of the organization. Along with conserving the turtles, they do a lot of service for the community of Matura. We created food packages that contained rice, lentils, and fish to hand out to people in the community. Giving out the food was a very eye-opening experience, there were a few points of discomfort seeing the conditions some individuals live in and uncomfort of giving out food at times, but it was rewarding knowing that I was helping and supporting them. Seeing these experiences, I feel very grateful for the position I am in. It truly allowed me to appreciate everything that I have, and I will not ever take that for granted.
To sum up my experience at Nature Seekers, it was an extremely positive experience. Everyone we met welcomed us with open arms. They were so friendly, and that truly made the experience so much better. All of the employees at Nature Seekers love what they do, and it is so nice seeing people so passionate about a topic. I will never forget my time at Nature Seekers, it was once in a lifetime, and it was amazing.
After Nature Seekers, we spent time back in Port of Spain. We went on a tour through the botanical gardens and through the city. It was a very cool learning experience seeing the city and more parts of Trinidad. We also went to Paramin, the journey there was a rough one, since the hills were so steep and windy and I started feeling motion sickness, but once we got to the top the views more than made up for it. Paramin had the most incredible views where we could see the beautiful blue waters of Trinidad. At Paramin we saw the town and we went to a bat cave as well which were both very cool. The cave scared me a little until I remembered that bats were nocturnal so they wouldn’t be awake during the day! After our tour of Port of Spain and Paramin, the next day we went to Fondes Amandes. They are a reforestation nonprofit dedicated to preventing the spread of forest fires in Trinidad. One thing about Trinidad that we noticed throughout the week is there are many forest fires throughout the island. I didn’t think that forest fires were a problem in Trinidad before our trip but at times we would notice it smelled like ash and smoke. Forest fires are very common in Trinidad, especially during the dry season. At Fondes Amandes we were shown how they prevent fires, we also walked up the hill to the fire lookout tower. It was a hike! But it was very impressive learning about all they do to help prevent and stop fires throughout Trinidad. After Fondes Amandes, we went back to Samise Villa, and we met another group of students from Rollins College who were on a similar trip to us. We all talked about our experiences and compared them. After hearing about the Rollins students’ experiences throughout the trip, I took some time to reflect and think. I realized that through our global service learning program, being able to make a difference to Nature Seekers makes our program special. We get to leave our own impact on the organization and help them with the things that they need.
In regard to expectations before the trip, I think that everything went beyond my expectations. Everyone that we encountered throughout the trip was both welcoming and kind. We were always welcomed with open arms, and it gave me comfort being in a new place. Through our research prior, we knew Trinidadians were a very friendly culture, and that was absolutely true. At Nature Seekers people would always be around, and they would always be willing to have a conversation. One night we all spoke to Anderson on the porch, and he told us all his favorite places to eat in Trinidad. Another day we went to the store to get some snacks, Anderson and Francis were there again with some of their friends and they showed us a card game they were playing. It was very fun being able to create those friendly meaningful relationships in such a short time. One thing I was nervous about prior to departure was food. I am not the most adventurous eater so eating new foods is definitely out of my comfort zone. Every meal we were given was Trinidadian food and I tried components of every dish. I ended up enjoying a lot of the food I tried, and I was very glad I tried everything because otherwise I never would have known that I did enjoy it. Relating to our pre-trip expectations, we did a lot of readings that definitely proved relevant to our in-country experience. One article we read talked about points of discomfort in regard to service learning. I think that reading that article made us very aware of how we can maximize our time spent, and I think we did a very good job at combining everything together throughout this trip. Another thing we would always talk about in class is the difference between service and service-learning. I think comparing our experience to the other college, like I mentioned before, we really were given an amazing service-learning experience throughout this trip.
This trip was an overall incredible experience, I learned so much and I think it was an amazing once in a lifetime experience. We got to meet our client, Nature Seekers, in person and got to see how their organization runs. We got to see everything they do, and most importantly we were able to show them our deliverables that will help improve their organization. By being in both Matura and Port of Spain, two amazing places, the past week was one very well spent!