Day 4: June 19

Greetings from Finca la Anita! Today was a fairly eventful day - we spent the entirety of the day in the classroom and lab surrounded by ants (yay!). We stated the day off nicely with fresh warm waffle bowls and the usual rice and scrambled eggs. The first thing we did was go to the classroom and continued our observations with more movies about leaf-cutter ants and Stephen Fry (an apparently famous British actor) getting freaked out by the soldier ants which Adrian happily grabbed.
Then we went back to the ant homes we created yesterday and sampled places we thought had the most fungus. Then we went to enjoy the, deliciously scrumptious as usual, fried rice, beans, and plantain chips - hats off to the wonderful ladies of the kitchen!
During lunch, a family of young toucans fell out of their nest. The chicks were not yet able to fly on their own, and couldn't avoid predators, so the workers put them in a container to hide them. The mother cried out loudly for hours on end, it was heartbreaking to hear her sadness of being unable to reach her babies. The chicks were later let out and were able to fly a short distance at this point, and are now safe and in their mother's care.

After our lunch break, we got back to our groups and began to design our experiments with the ants, the wonderful all day working. We worked until dinner. We worked hard, and some of us just wanted to run, or maybe nap a little... Others of us (maybe a certain Namrata writing this blog) may have swallowed a moth - it did not taste good. That certainly held her off until dinner. 

At dinner, we had beef, pea soup, vegetables, and the best dessert ever, caramelized plantains, and ice cream on top.

Day 4 Google picture folder link

After dinner, we went back and presented our projects to the group. In essence, we allowed ourselves to be grilled and interrogated to the bone by our peers. It was very much a grin-and-bear-it situation, albeit helpful to our scientific methods.

As we write this, we're surrounded by giant bugs and a bat, terrified out of our minds, so that'll be all for tonight from the middle of the jungle.

¡Adios! -Namrata and Lexie 

Day 3: June 18

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!  We saw a MALE leaf cutter ant today which doesn't happen very often.  It seems the ants are trying to celebrate too!! (see picture below)

This morning we had omelettes, juice, ham, and toast with crunchy jelly (the crunch was from ants). For the morning science experience, Dr. Pinto introduced us to how to find the ants. This included how to distinguish the nests of the two species, and how to dig up the fungus gardens. He showed us a mature nest with soldier ants, which he used as clothespins. Also, we learned how to avoid certain ants such as the ominously named fire and bullet ants. Along the route, a certain sweet potato-liked root fruit was found. We then dug up our own young colonies for experiments. The digging process was for the detail oriented, as being careful is of the utmost importance. Some colonies were a lot bigger than expected, some were deep, and some barely had any ants. 

SOLDIER ANT HEAD PICTURE

Lunch was quite different from our earlier meals, as we were not served rice and beans, but rather a casserole with rice, heart of palm, potatoes, and cheese. After a short break, we drove off to go zip-lining.

Picture google drive folder for Day 3 

                                     

Platform

The View

On the 40 minute car ride, we listened to "despacito" on loop. It was much too loud, despite the vigorous in-seat dancing. The zip-lining site was named Canopy Tours, named for the top layer of the rainforest. To get to the first zip-line platform, we had to take a treacherous hike. A few people nearly fell off the edge of the bridge. Zip-lining was fairly nerve wracking for a few, and quite difficult to get accustomed to, especially the braking method. There were multiple lines we zipped down, some being short and steep, while the last one was long and fast. 

 A few of us celebrating surviving the zipline by jumping in the pool after finishing, Ms. Leland started it.

Along the way, we saw furry caterpillars, bright spiders, large ants, beautiful vistas, toucans, and monkeys. At a few points, people were crammed onto tiny platforms until the weight limit was surpassed. After reaching bare ground, a pool party was initiated by a dramatic dive by Mrs. Leland. Many students joined in despite not wearing proper swim gear. After returning, we were treated to pork chops with with some sort of sweet red juice, possibly pomegranate. For dessert, we had a delicious vanilla sponge cake with condensed milk.

After dinner, we resettled our ant colonies into larger containers for our experiments. We then did an experiment collecting bacteria, in which we tried to predict the place with the most bacteria. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow; the start of our experiments. Happy father's day.

-Frank and Chris

Day 2: June 17

We started the day at 7:30 am to eat breakfast. Piled on our plates was a delicious platter of fried plantains, rice and beans, and scrambled egg along with Costa Rican coffee. The fried plantains tasted savory yet sweet, a combination that was not expected. The coffee had a tropical aroma that went well with the smokiness of the rice and beans.

After breakfast, we received a lesson about cacao from Pablo, the owner this farm we're living on. We learned about the varieties, origins, history, production and much more about cacao and chocolate. During the lesson we tried raw cacao beans, Montezumo (a drink made of cacao, vanilla, and water), and a variety of dark chocolates. The cacao beans and dark chocolates tasted more organic than what's typical in America and the rest of the world. It was interesting to experience and learn about the differences of a luxury as simple as chocolate. After the lessons we went on a tour to see the cacao trees where we tried cacao fruit, which was comparable to leche.

For lunch we ate a salad made of heart of palm which was freshly cut right outside the cafeteria. Along with the salad we had an entree of beef with a side of vegetables, and rice and beans. The salad stole the show with a great blend of heart of palm, tomato, red bell peppers, onions.

In the afternoon, we hiked a nearby village about a mile away where we helped a friendly native woman named Margarita plant flowers and move rocks for her butterfly garden. The work was tiring but ultimately a rewarding experience. 

After helping Margarita, some of us visited a small but full shop called La Pulparia. We were able to buy a large, cold soda for our dorm mates to share, a reward for a long day of work and learning. You could also buy homemade ice cream from a nearby house. The ice cream could be described as being "italian ice" like.

Link: Google folder for Day 2 pictures

For dinner, we were served pumpkin soup along with an entree of chicken, potatoes, and other vegetables. It was hard to believe that the soup had pumpkin in it, it tasted like a mixture of cheese, basil and tomato. 

After the scrumptious dinner, everyone met in what will be our classroom for the next few days. We met Adrian, a professor from the University of Costa Rica who will be leading us in our experiments. Adrian is a pretty nifty dude, he's a bullet ant EXPERT. He separated us in to the groups we'll be working with throughout our stay. Below you can see us sitting in the classroom. It's roomy with lots of bugs with the atmosphere of a processing plant.

Extra stuff: We saw two wild dogs roaming through the jungle.

Leaf cutter ants crawling across the paths to our cabins. 

We woke up to a humid, wet air filled with the sounds of birds singing and bugs chirping.

Enormous frogs and bugs roam through the farm and the porches like they own the place.

Shout out to all the fathers out there. Have a happy fathers day.

-Quinn Malisow and Carter Acevedo-Lucas

Day 1: June 16

Our first day in Costa Rica was tiring, but we are excited to see what this week will hold for us. We feel tired after the plane rides and long car ride to the farm.

Day 1: Picture Google Folder Link



















Our favorite part of the day was meeting our new friend Eddie who gave us mangoes off the side of the road. Without a thought, he jumped out of the car and brought us mangoes, and passed around salt that he had in his bag. Everyone really enjoyed it, you could say we had the best driver!

#breathtaking #meg&chlo

 Later at night, we first went into a garage and were surprised to find bugs and insects in the boots. It was a little shocking, and some people got bit. We got to listen to fun Spanish music and the scenery was beautiful! Looking out of our room we see the Volcano, which everyone loves to look at!

#meg&chlo

PS: we ditched Mrs. Leland to go to bed. (so that means she is putting in the pictures)