Day 7: June 22

Okay- I think I have fixed/resolved all google picture access problems (sorry) so you should be able to go back to the folders from previous blogs and use the link successfully. - Ms. Toni Leland
Day 7: Google picture folder link

The highlight of today was finalizing our experiments! We worked all morning and afternoon to collect data and make our final presentations, which we're going to present tomorrow as the grand finale of the science portion of the trip. Right now, everyone is finishing their last trials or practicing their presentations with Adrian. My group's experiment is going well. We even managed to take pictures of the Gram stains (a way to observe and identify bacteria) through the microscope!

My favorite part of the trip has been seeing the biodiversity of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. On the first night, one of my roommates saw an armadillo disappear into the bushes, and frogs and toads appear along the path of the cabins every evening. (Lexie and Nora are both really good at catching frogs.) 

Some of the bird species are also common to Minnesota, but lots are new, such as the Chestnut-mandibled Toucans that live at Finca La Anita. One of the baby toucans fell out of its nest, and its parents have been watching it, so we've heard them calling almost every day. (Sounds a little like someone screaming.) Also, there are a lot of Blue-gray Tanagers, Yellow-Throated Euphonias, and Passerini's Tanagers hanging around, which are really pretty and never migrate to Minnesota.

The weather has been really good today-- warm but not super hot, since it rained all last night and it's been cloudy. I like being able to look off the deck or outside the dining room and see mountains nearby. It's a really cool landscape that just isn't in Minnesota at all (except in the Iron Range, but that hardly counts). I guess it must affect the air currents, since clouds are always gathered around the top. 

Signing off,

Maggie Hlavka (St. Paul Academy)