Hola from Costa Rica!
We woke up this morning excited for the full day of science ahead of us. We headed to breakfast at 7:30 and enjoyed sleeping in for the first day in a while. We enjoyed a plethora of Costa Rican breakfast cuisine, including eggs, rice, plantains, and yogurt. By 8:00 we were heading to the lab to continue our research projects. Many groups planned on heading to the fields first thing, but were delayed due to a downpour…what a surprise! After the rain calmed, some groups headed to the fields to observe and conduct their experiments on natural leaf cutter ant colonies. This included a long hike to the colonies in order to find them, conducting our experiments on multiple colonies for the effect of replication, waiting near our colonies to observe and record data, and making the tiring hike back about two and a half hours later. Other groups stayed in the lab to work on the controlled colonies for a different portion of the experiment. Some groups worked with the lab colonies residing in nest boxes, while others measured the various dependent variables based on their experiment.
Lunch came sooner than expected because as they say, time flies when you’re having fun! After our hard 3 hours and 45 minutes of work, we were thrilled to hear the news that we would have the meal we were all looking forward to since day one: burger day. Our lovely cooks provided us with a full burger bar, fantastic mango juice, and potato chips. After our scrumptious meal, we have a short period of free time before we began afternoon science. Many of us adventured down the road to the nearby market called the Pulpería. We bought some sweet treats for ourselves, and some to complete a previous agreement with the boys. We got back just in the nick of time to make it back to the lab by 1:30.
Many groups planned on a second visit to the fields, but this then again was interrupted due to the rain. To make up for lost time, we simplified our data and began to make our final reports. These presentations we later shared with our teachers and will present to our classmates tomorrow. We can’t give you too much detail on these presentations, for we will be showing them to you shortly after we return to the United States. As we all worked diligently, the 3:45 coffee break came by in no time. We enjoyed delicious local coffee and freshly made pastries with chocolate from Pablo’s plantation. Some of us even went back for seconds. As the end of our coffee break rolled around at 4:30, we headed back to the lab for the last hour of work time before our practice presentation for our teachers. We made last minute tweaks and practiced presenting with our groups. By 5:30, we were preparing for dinner. Some of us returned to the cabins for a short half hour break while others hung around the classroom until dinner.
Dinner tonight was another fan favorite. We all enjoyed freshly baked lasagna with salad and plantain chips. It was quite the meal and was complemented with another freshly squeezed juice. The dessert was even better. The traditional tres leches cake was even better with some fresh cacao nibs sprinkled on top. After this amazing meal was over, we began our practice presentations. The first group had no extra practice time as they were called to present immediately following dinner. Other groups had time to finalize the details and data points on their slides. Each group presented to our teachers individually as they receive constructive criticism to improve the experimental results. As our day winded down, we made our way back to the cabins to settle in for the night. We are anxiously awaiting our formal presentations beginning at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Wish us luck!
Pura Vida,
Carina and Katie O.B.
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