ctstcostarica2021

  Hey everyone Yesterday morning we were greeted with a beautiful view of the ocean and enjoyed a great breakfast of rice, beans, and eggs.  We then listened to a presentation by resident stingray and sea turtle expert Mathilde, after which we headed down to El Jobo, a beach known for its stingrays. After we caught some, we went through the tagging and measuring protocols and released them back into the ocean.  Afterwards, we had a late lunch with a delicious tres leches dessert. For some down time, we headed to a different beach to swim and play monkey in the middle for about an hour.  On the way back, we stopped at Mathilde’s house to count parrots and watch the sun set off a cliff. After dinner, we went to a beach known for nesting turtles and actually were able to witness a mother turtle nesting and laying eggs, a rare sight!   We’re looking forward to familiar sites back home but we will miss Costa Rica and the amazing people we’ve met here.

 Good evening/morning friends and family,  We've had quite a full day!  Our morning began with the standard 7:30 breakfast and we promptly went into preparing and presenting our final findings of our research. Then, after a wonderful lunch, we hiked to the hot springs, and visited 3 of them before we hiked back to eat cookies and fruit juice at the base. The guide was very helpful in explaining the plant and animal species, and even showed us a snake hidden in the moss. After the hike, we drove back to eat dinner, and started packing for tomorrow's adventures where we will leave Finca La Nita and begin our trek out to the beach. See you all soon,          - Savannah Strader Hi Everyone! What a wonderful day we have had! After a delicious breakfast everyone took some time to go over their research presentations before presenting their findings. All our groups did a great job of  sharing their results after lots of hard work, and you should all be very proud and excited to hear w

 Today was a day of science! From an overview standpoint this day was very repetitive. This morning started off very raining on our way to breakfast. Right after breakfast, our science for the day began. We all did our individual projects until lunch time where the food was amazing, per usual.  After lunch most people went to the local store and got candy and other various snacks. We then got right back to work on our projects.  During the afternoon we got a coffee break where we had homemade banana bread! The break was not very long before we went back to work on our projects. We did get a short break when we had another delicious dinner.  After dinner was spent finishing our experiments, determining the statistical  significance of them, writing in our lab notebooks, and creating our presentations. By the end of the night almost everyone had completed the bulk of their projects and only have finishing touches left for tomorrow morning.  From an overview standpoint the day was rather

 Hey everyone, We had a busy day today! Woke up early at 5:30 am for an early breakfast so we could catch a bus to go hiking at the Rincon De la Vieja. We were all very tired on the bus ride but found some energy in Anthony and Anne's music. The hike was lengthy, however, well worth it for the gorgeous views and volcano... except the sulfur smells. After eating lunch at the park we drove home to check in on some older bacterial cultures! Around 5pm we hiked over to Aracelly's beautiful kitchen and garden to make a fantastic meal consisting of chicken covered in sauce, rice with beans, salad, and stir fry with assorted vegetables. Following the meal with dancing and a picture to remember. We all hiked back with high spirits and full bellies to continue our main research projects. We are all very excited to share our memories with you all in person but for now we are happy and content here in Costa Rica! Now sending this at 11:30 pm Anthony and I are signing off!! Anne and Anthon

This morning we were broken up into to groups: one going to do a service project and the other going to ride horses through the rainforest. Once both groups had finished they're first thing they switched.  The first group had an early breakfast before heading out. Upon arrival everyone got on their horses and made their way to the trail. The beginning of the trail was lined with beautiful tree that had streaks of vivid green, orange, and magenta.  Eventually we made it to the height of our trip where we had a view of the mountains and the rainforest. We went back to do our service project which was weeding inside the Mariposario. The first groups service project was, I believe planting flowers along the walkway outside.  We came back to Finca La Anita for lunch and we had free time until 1:30. After that we worked with our assigned groups on our experiments until six. We had dinner and were told that it was Pablo's birthday. After dinner we continued working on our experiments

This morning we enjoyed a familiar pancake breakfast with a twist. Locally grown cacao nibs incorporated Costa Rican flavors into the traditional American dish. The recipe is definitely a keeper! After breakfast, researchers split into two groups to conduct various experiments on bacterial and fungal growth. While one group tested the effects of different strains of the antibiotic producing bacteria Streptomycetes on various strains of native bacterial cultures, the other group was in the lab conducting experiments to test the concentration of the pathogenic fungus Escovopsis in different parts of leafcutter ant colonies collected during yesterday’s trek through the rainforest. Hungry from a morning spent prodding petri dishes, we all dug into a tasty hamburger lunch cooked by the ladies of Finca La Anita. After we finished lunch, we met again as groups to begin brainstorming ideas for projects. We were tasked with formulating our own question, hypothesis, predictions, and experimental

Started off the day with breakfast and went to our classroom area for our first field day. We met in the classroom around 8:30 in the morning to start heading out. We got a quick rundown of what the plan was and we headed out. We hiked on a gravel road to the locations of the leafcutter ants that our instructors Ibraheim and Gabriel had found early that morning.  There are two different types of leafcutter ants that we are going to be studying while we are here and they are the Atta and Acromyrmex leafcutter ants. The main difference is that the Atta have larger colonies that are in the ground and the Acromyrmex have much smaller colonies that are in the sides of hills, walls of dirt, or trees. We stopped at some colonies that were in the side of a dirt hill to get our first real look at a colony in person. Ibraheim started digging right into the colony as a quick demo to show us how its done. It took almost no time at all to get to the fungus garden that we are looking for. He quickly

Hey everyone, Day two in Costa Rica!! Today we had our Covid tests.... negative all around! For breakfast we had eggs, rice, beans, pineapple and papaya which was followed by some free time. We all used this to explore the pathways around Finca la Anita where we saw our first leaf cutter ants. Around 9:45 we all gathered for a chocolate tour given by Pablo, our host. We were walked through the process of making a chocolate drink that was originated from the Aztecs. After trying the cacao beans and chocolate provided we were walked through a history of chocolate in the world!! Next, Pablo took us through the cacao farm and showed us the crops. He picked one of the cacao fruits and let us try sucking on the cacao beans before they were fermented.     After a bit of rain, we ran back to lunch where Pablo gave us a demonstration of harvesting palm. He showed us how to make a delicious salad which we ate along with lunch. At lunch our instructors, Gabriel and Ibrahim, arrived. Then we heade

Day One - June 20 Arrival Day Groggily, we write to you, parents, as we reflect on our long day of travel.  We departed as the intrepid adventurers we are, drowsy eyed, yet full of anticipation.  After a short flight to Houston, we faced the challenge of filling a two and a half hour layover.  Wandering through the airport terminals, us young scientists visited shops and cafes and prepared for the excitement awaiting us following our upcoming flight.  After a roughly two hour flight, we landed in Costa Rica.   FINALLY!  We could not wait to leave the terminal, yet we were soon met with the dreaded customs line: a more than hour long wait which was the only thing separating us from the exciting world which awaited us beyond the walls that confined us.  We then travelled to a restaurant which served mystery drinks and enormous portions of chicken, rice, salads, and beans.   After gulping down our meals, we travelled along a bumpy and scenic road as we made our way up a volcano and to our