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Our last day at Finca la Anita began with a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, cacao pancakes, fresh fruit, and toast with marmalade. After breakfast, we all broke off into out science groups and began vigorously working to finish the last parts of our experiments. Those of us that had already finished our experiments began preparing our final presentations, which we gave tonight in front of our peers. The time for lunch finally came after a long four hours of scientific labor, which consisted of lasagna, salad, and plantain chips. After lunch, we began practicing and practicing in order to give our flawless presentations. Our coffee/hot cocoa/churro break finally came, and it was delicious. It was a short-lived break, but the time after the break seemed to fly by, and dinner time finally arrived. Dinner was a plethora of tacos made of chicken or beef (or pork. We really don't know), cheese, and coleslaw. The only thing missing was a fresh avocado to go with the delicious tacos. The time ticked by slowly and the stress levels quickly rose as the time for presentations drew near. The presentations went great, with a few bumps in the road and a few ringing ears due to the microphone ringing that everyone knows and hates. After all the presentations were over, everyone fully thanked our amazing scientific guides, Adrian, Allen, and Silver. After the exchanges were over, the group quickly dispersed, some cleaning up their lab stations, others quickly running to bed. Most, however, stayed to loudly talk in the classroom. Overall, it was an amazing final day at Finca la Anita, and we all look forward to traveling to the beach tomorrow. The only thing nobody is looking forward to is the 3 and a half hour (plus) drive we have to endure to get there.
Today we woke up and had omelettes, rice and beans, plantains, and toast for breakfast. Then we went to the local butterfly lab and did some community service. This consisted of digging up plants around town and planting them back at the butterfly lab. Next we hiked to the cucaracho creek and swam by the waterfall there. We then traveled back on a tractor back to Finca La Anita for lunch. Lunch was pork chops with a vegetable sauce, yucca, and some mixed vegetables. After a break, it was time for science. We worked hard for 3 hours until dinner. Dinner consisted of fish, fried potato, carrots and broccoli. Dessert was rice pudding. After dinner, we had two more hours to do research before bed. We are looking forward to finally being able to present our experiments to the group.
Today we woke up and headed to breakfast to be sauced up with some delicious omelets and toast. After we headed to go horseback riding through the jungle and up the mountains. Blaine and Zach proved to be outstandingly amazing and absolute naturals on the stallions. At the sad end of the joyride through the jungle, we ventured back for a delicious Costa Rican version of chicken fried rice for lunch. We then spent the rest of the day working on our custom experiments while having a break for dinner in the middle containing roast and potatoes. Tomorrow we have an exciting day of hiking to yet another waterfall that we will enjoy swimming at.
Note: We are having technical issues with posting. The one that was posted yesterday morning is for 7/12/2019. This one is for 7/13/19.
We started the day off with eggs and cocoa pancakes. They were the best we have ever had. The groups learned how to extract the fungus gardens of the ant colonies and then we extracted our own fungus gardens. The ants certainly bite, but due to the colonies' young ages, their were no or few soldier ants; those hurt a bit more as we found out by seeing a mature colony! It was about twenty feet wide and about five years old! The group then ate lunch and then went zip lining on the side of a dormant volcano. It was full of wildlife! There were also two sloths hiding in the trees and a Capuchin monkey came to say hi! Next we cooked and had dinner at a local restaurant. The power went out, so it turned into a nice outdoor candle-lit dinner! Lastly, we learned how to run statistics in data with bacteria colonies we cultured the day before. -Matt (Hello fam! :-] ) and Ben (Hi mum!) Today was a day full of learning! We started off the day with a breakfast of eggs, pineapple, watermelon, and beans & rice, which kick started our energy into learning about the chocolate making plantation. Our groups were able to try the various types of cacao made on the plantation and were run through the entire making process. We were able to try the different forms the cacao took on starting with the nibs from the roasted beans, going into the chocolate bars, pure form of the bean surrounded by pulp, and even Pablo's own take on a healthier Nutella! After a full experience with cacao, we transitioned into lunch, where we watched Pablo take on the heart of palm plant to make our makeshift ceviche (minus the fish) in front of our eyes. Lunch was complete with pork, tortillas, beans & rice, plantain chips, and veggies.
From lunch, we got to why we came to Costa Rica in the first place. In the classroom on the farm, we met Adrian Pinto, the main scientist for our project, along with his grad students, Silver and Alan. Learning a little more about each of classmates, we were then randomly placed into groups and given our first project. To learn how to work with a group in science, we all took on the job of collecting bacteria from various locations among the property, while practicing writing up experiments and hypotheses. After our projects, we took a walk down to the butterfly garden, run by an inspiring group of women, where we were walked through the process of metamorphosis and learned a little more about the garden itself. Our groups were also given the opportunity to purchase beautiful handmade jewelry from the women as well. To wrap up the meals, we had a supper of rice & beans, with a unique take on cabbage, and carrots & potatoes. We ended the night with some scientific videos, which featured Pinto, that gave us a more intricate introduction into the world of both leaf cutter and bullet ants. All the meals were complete with exotic juices made in Costa Rica! - Shea and Carly Today for breakfast we had scrambled eggs, rice and beans, toast and fresh marmalade. After breakfast it was time for a hike at Santa Maria national park. This included a hike to a hot spring and waterfall where we swam and soaked in sun. Along the way we saw animals such as butterflies, snakes, white faced monkeys, and a spider monkey with a baby! After a quick lunch on the field, we traveled back to Finca La Anita. Before dinner, many of us traveled into the nearby town to purchase some local goods at the Pulparia. Dinner consisted of chicken with pineapple glaze, mashed potatoes, carrots, and pumpkin soup. Finally, we had a night hike in which we saw a Fer de lance snake, land crab, a couple of frogs, and a whippoorwill bird. That concludes the day today we are looking forward to tomorrow and starting our projects.
The day started at 2:30am for the gang from Minnesota. We all met at (around) 4 am, with only a few last minute Walmart runs on the way to the airport. Conveniently our gate was located right next to a gourmet donuts shop, and just a short walk from a gourmet coffee roast center (who knew MSP got so fancy), so most of the gang was fed for our 6 AM board time. We headed off on a small, turbulence ridden plane to our next stop, Houston. We got off the first plane and had 5 minutes till boarding time for our next flight to Liberia (Costa Rica-- not the country). Unfortunately the gate was half-way across the Houston airport, so after a brisk walk to our gate, lunch had to be Cliff Bars, beef jerky, and some Twizzlers on the plane. This was also where we finally met up with our Texas companions (who had more time to eat before the flight to CR). We arrived in Costa Rica, hopped on a bus, hopped off a bus to eat grilled chicken, rice, beans, plantains, salad and iced tea, before hopping back on the bus for a two hour twisting ride to Finca la Anita (with a quick stop to try rambutans). The boys are staying in groups of eight in the dorm style housing, whereas the girls are staying in groups of two, three, or four with their own cabins, outfitted with a luxurious bathroom and porch (fit with rockers and hammocks). We had fish, veggies, salad, guanabana (soursop) juice for dinner. After eating a bread-pudding like postre, we grabbed our much needed rubber boots, and went for a night time hike through the rain forest.
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