The chimes of “Juley!” still ring in my ears and a content smile comes on my face, thinking of those peaceful eyes and warm cheerful smiles. Juley means ‘greetings’ in Ladakhi. Everyone greets each other by saying ‘Ju-leyy’ in a way that almost sounds like a sweet song! 🙂 This simple sweetness of the people, stunning scenery and the adventures on our bike ride through 3600 kms of Himalayas, and I’ve fallen in love all over again with life and travelling!

It’s been a month since I got back from an awesome road trip to Ladakh, and I still haven’t found enough words to describe what I saw or felt just being there! It takes a while to get over the solitude and the overwhelming scale & beauty of these Himalayas! Enchanted by the clear blue skies, unrealistic moon-like landscapes, beautiful ancient monasteries and the jaw dropping night skies…

I first met Ingrid Yañez at Playa San Miguel Costa Rica when she was in charge of the sea turtle project for Pretoma, an organization dedicated to protecting sharks and sea turtles.   After few years later,  work took her elsewhere, but we have stayed in touch.  I sometimes lob updates to her about my sea turtle encounters, and she shares news about her efforts (with her husband Alex Gaos) in saving the rapidly-declining populations of sea turtles.  They are presently working diligently in conservation for the highly-endangered hawksbill turtles. (ICAPO)

Their enthusiasm is infectious about recent discoveries: ”Prior to 2007 hawksbills were thought to be essentially extinct in the eastern Pacific…they have been documented using cryptic nesting sites, often located inside estuaries, where they come ashore behind stands of mangroves to deposit their eggs.  They also use these in-land mangrove waterways to forage. ”

Eureka! Mangroves?!!! Could that have been…