Day 10: June 25th Last Blog Entry

Yesterday, we got here at around 1:30. We put away our things, then had lunch, which consisted of salad, beans and rice. We then went to a lesson on how to behave in the area. We played a soccer game afterwards, which  was long and hot, but definitely worth it.

Around 8:00 (when it is basically pitch black in Costa Rica with such an early sunset), we set out for the beach to hunt for turtles.  Each hour, half of us (12 people) did a "turtle sweep" across both directions of the beach, while the other half stayed and likely slept.  Six of us went fifteen minutes north, while the other six went twenty minutes south, in search for turtle tracks (which apparently are very hard to miss, like tractor tracks).  This continued every hour until midnight, after which, upon not seeing any turtles yet, we decided to return to the cabins.

At this point, it was around 12:45, so we were all exhausted, and most of us went to sleep right away.  Except for our (Isaac, Bennet, Chris) cabin.  When we searched under the bed for scorpions, as instructed, we found a snake under one of the beds.  It took a solid half-hour of searching and tearing apart the room to finally find the snake and shoe it outside.  After reconstructing our room, we all collapsed to make the most of our 4.5 hours of beauty sleep before waking up for a 6:00am hike in the forest.

thehike was"great". We started a 6am hiking through the dry forest. some of the path was muddy and slick. for breakfast we stopped at a pretty stream leading to a waterfall. the students enjoyed their well deserved breakfast sitting next to the stream and looking at the scenery. afterwards we packed up and they got loaded up on a trailer being pulled by a tractor but there was a problem, the tractor couldn't go up hills carrying that many students'weight, so they unloaded and walked a good 1000-1200 yards through the mud to reach a part of the trail that the tractor could carry them back from.
- Issac, Bennet, and Christopher


Day 10: Google picture folder


The Afternoon:  Once we got back from our walk, we were all completely wiped, so we got about an hour to partake in some solid R&R. Afterward, the man who owns El Horizontes talked to us about the Forest Experimental Station and how the ACG (Guanacaste Conservation Area) is working to educate people in helping to better the environment in the protected land of Costa Rica - and housing researchers who study the area, like Veronica, our turtle guide last night, After our talk and a lovely lunch we headed off to the beach to  hang out and swim.


The road was bumpy and slow, giving some of us motion sickness, and becoming irritated (Lexie losing her patience for the road), only made worse by even one mention of Despacito. (if any of us have to listen to that ever again, we may lose our minds.) But the beach was worth the trip there. The water was beautiful, the waves were great (although some of us - Namrata - ended up with a nose and mouthful of a salt/sand mixture), the swimming was awesome (as long as you were above 5'1'' and able to have enough weight not to get rolled by the undertow), and there were adorable hermit crabs everywhere. A bunch of us bodysurfed the massive waves, others got thrown onto shore by them. Dinner was grilled there on the beach, chicken, hot dogs, beef, and pop were there. The sunset afterwards was one of the most beautiful things, behind the stars that we saw last night while turtle watching. We tried and failed multiple dozens of times to get the picture(s) you will see below.
We loved our time here, it was a blast and very memorable, but going home is also exciting. Many of us will be showering the moment we get back home, and maybe conk out immediately after.
Goodbye Costa Rica, and thank you for all our new amazing memories!

- Namrata and Lexie

Folder of ALL PICTURES