Last day! - July 14

Olivia and Amanda here for the last blog of the trip!  Continued from the last post, we went out to go find some turtles at the beach.  Unfortunately, we did not see any baby turtles or momma turtles that are on their way to lay the eggs.  On the up side, we see a mommy turtle that got spooked and was on its way back to the ocean.  We all got a chance to touch the turtles shell! After anoth four hours on the beach, we all went to bed at 1:30 in the morning.  Today we went on a nature walk through the dry forest, we saw monkeys! After we got caught up on sleep, we went to the beach to celebrate the end of our trip. We swam for a couple of hours and had a delicious BBQ made by the locals!  Now I know all you families back home want to keep us crazy people as far away from you as possible, but we will be coming home tomorrow.  We can't wait to see everyone again, especially after we have been saying how much we miss Americanized food.  See you all tomorrow night!

Bye Finca La Anita....Hello Horizontes

We are blogging earlier today due to our schedule.  Today we packed up our things and took off from Finca La Anita after breakfast to the research station Horizontes.  It was a fairly long trip but we were able to stop at a local grocery store for some snacks along the way.  Students had fun finding treats!  Once we arrived at Horizontes we settled into our rooms and then had lunch.  After lunch we discussed the second year program focusing on Bioinformatics.  Then we walked to some Acacia trees to study another type of ant, Pseudomyrmex.  These ants live in the thorns of the Acacia tree and protect it from other organisms.  Afterwards, we discussed our plan for the evening.....our sweep of the beach for Eastern Pacific Rim Black Turtles.  Right now, students are resting and after dinner we will head to the beach for the sweep.  Depending on if we find a turtle or not we could be in for a very late night!  Our last two students will blog tomorrow about the turtle sweep and our last day in Costa Rica. 

Katie & Kristin

Presentation Day

Hola!

We are giving the students the night off from the blog as a reward for all their hard work today on finishing data collections, analyzing results and preparing their presentations for us.

This morning students were busy working on final data collections, checking their fungus experiment plates and beginning to work on their presentation notebooks as well as recording in their lab notebooks.  After lunch, students had a short break and then went back to work getting ready, doing statistical analysis of their results etc.  At 4 pm they practiced their presentations for one another and Adrian (our expert scientist).  At 6 pm each student group presented their experiment to one another, their teachers (us), Pablo, and two peace corp volunteers (Amy and Steven). Below is a brief overview of the presentations (so we don't spoil the parent presentation we will give later this summer).

1) Munetos (Amanda, Jackie and Fredo) tested the Effect of Temperature on the Health of the Fungus Garden.  They had three different temperatures that they exposed the fungus gardens to and they recorded the mass of each garden before and after each reading.  They found that heat was detrimental to the fungus garden.

2) Las Hercules (Anthony, Julia, Sarah and Katherine) tested the Effect of Acromyrmex bacteria on various leaf bacteria.  They swabbed different leaves and applied the bacteria that is found on the Acromyrmex ants to that bacteria to see if it would inhibit its growth.  Ficus and Citrus had statistical significance.  Their second experiment was testing a natural ant repellent.  They made an extract of leaves that the ants didn't like and painted it onto leaves they did like to cut. Again, ficus showed statistical significance.

3)  La Camisa Negra (Alyssa, Austin, Priya and Hannah) tested the Effect of Leaf Species on Fungal Growth and Activity.  They were curious why ants chose certain leaves over others and how they chose those particular leaves.  They made an extract and painted leaves to set out in the lab and on the trail to see if the ants would cut those leaves.  They found that the guava leaf (one the ants do not like) when painted with melina leaf paste (one the ants do like) showed some statistical significance.

4)  Las Tortugas Azules (Beth, CJ and Olivia) tested the Effect of the Bird of Paradise plant on the activity of the Atta Cephalotes.  They were hoping to use this as an organic repellent.  They created barriers made of the Bird of Paradise plants leaves, seeds, flowers and bark to surround Melina leaves (a plant the ants like to cut) and then tested it in the lab and in the field.  None of their results were statisically significant but they did find another species of ant on the tree that may have something to do with keeping the Atta ants away.

5)  La Pandilla (Maddie, Haley and Nick) tested Guava Infused Melina leaves in which they made a paste to coat Melina leaves as well as testing Antibiotic specialization in a second exeperiment.  In this case they wanted to see if the antibiotic the bacteria on the ants make is specific to the bad parasite of the fungus garden, Escovopsis.  In both cases they did not find statistcal significance but was noted was that the bacteria was not affected by the ant antibiotic.  This is a great result however as the antibiotic should be specific to the bad fungus and not all other beneficial microbes in the garden (like the bacteria that fix nitrogen).

All in all it was a long day of science but we are very impressed by the work the students have done this week.  Tomorrow we head to the dry forest for another experience in a climate very different from our rainforest retreat.  This is truly a great group of very funny, intelligent, hard working and adventurous students.  They have grown so much this week and have made new friends within our group!  We are sad that our time in Costa Rica is coming to a close in a few short days but look forward to seeing our families. And according to students.....not wearing bug repellent every moment of every day, wearing cute clothes, drinking milk and sleeping in beds that they fit into (poor Nick).

Buenos Noches,
Katie Foley & Kristin Gabel

An Ode to Our Day

Hi! Fredo and Austin reporting!

We woke in the morning

smelling omelets and bread toasting.

After we finished eating,

we lent a helping hand

to the town's weeding demand.

They gave us empanadas (we were fans),

and the sun broke through, giving tans.

On the way home

we ate ice cream cones

but they weren't in cones;

through bags the cream did flow.

After lunch, we started on science

groups worked on projects, with ant compliance.

We encountered problems, but there's always that chance.

After solving them quickly, we mentally danced.

Once we were done

we just kept on

having some fun

in the glowing sun.

Teams were made,

soccer was played,

win or lose, either way

fun was had today.

Being famished, off we went,

guided by a newfound friend,

to a house with an exotic scent.

Tortilla dough we rolled and bent.

Then we had to cut the cheese

(come on guys, we mean literally)

and after chopping veggies,

we filled our empty bellies.

Mango juice flowed

to ease burning hot throats

from peppers that showed

us spiciness yet untold.

Finally we returned,

bellies full, throats burned,

heads full of things learned,

with a good night's rest earned.

Day 5: Science & Senses

¡Hola!

¡¡¡¡BREAKFAST!!!! Today we went a little more American and had pancakes with cacao nibs, sausage, eggs, yogurt with fruit, and juice. Safe to say this has been our favorite breakfast, except for the fact that there was no toast. After our meal, we went to the "classroom" and started our science projects. It was a little frustrating and crazy because everyone was doing different stuff at the same time in a small "lab" with limited equipment. Once we were all set up we earned our lunch of hot ham and cheese sandwiches and an assortment of chips :). After lunch, we headed off to Sensoria (Land of the Senses), a primary rainforest with hot springs and blue waterfalls. The "ride" to Sensoria was interesting to say the least. The roads were extremely bumpy and some people even rode on the back of pickup trucks - thankfully everyone survived. The rough ride was definitely worth it. Once we arrived at Sensoria, we hiked through the BEAUTIFUL primary forest (a forest that has never been cut down). The difference between the secondary forest area that we are staying in and the forest at Sensoria was incredible. The trees at Sensoria were so much larger and the brush was so much denser. It looked like we were walking through Jurassic Park. After a 45 minute hike, we arrived at the most breathtaking waterfall we had ever seen. The water was indescribably blue and we were fortunate enough to get the chance to swim in it. Austin even pulled a Tarzan move and swung from a vine. Unfortunately, the rest of us didn't get a chance to try it as Pablo didn't seem too happy about it :(. After we reluctantly left the water, we hiked to another infinity pool type spring. This one didn't have as blue of water, but it was still crystal clear until we made it muddy. Rather than trekking to the next spring in wet clothes, most of us just hiked in our swimsuits - who thought we'd ever be walking through the rainforest half naked? When we finally reached the real hot spring, everyone rejoiced and jumped in. After 40 minutes of relaxing and being massaged by a waterfall, we retreated to the main lodge for some cookies and juice. Then we had more cookies that Anna had packed for us on the way home. Some people had the opportunity to see parrots and wasp nests. Once we got back to Finca La Anita, some of us went to the pulperia while others crashed in their cabins before dinner. ¡¡¡¡DINNER!!! And font change!!!! For dinner we had exelente fish with a cilantro-garlic (fancy) pesto along with potatos, carrots, broccoli, and salad. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PART DESSERT!!!!!!!! We had budin, a bread pudding with caramel drizzles and cacao nibs MMMMM YUMMM. But work was not done after dinner! For the next 2 hours, we slaved over our ant projects. Some were groups were smart and finished early, cough Jackie and co. cough, but others were lost in the jungle in the pitch black dark (don't worry we're alive). Now it's time for bed so that we can dream about breakfast like Alyssa. Katherine hopes we have bread tomorrow :).


¡¡¡Pura Vida!!!!


Alyssa, Katherine, and Maddie :)

River & Night Hikes

Hello everyone!

Sorry for such a late post! We were all just out hiking with a naturalist at night! But we'll get to that later.

As usual, we got up and ate a delicious breakfast. Today, it was scrambled eggs with ham (or without), gallo pinto, homemade tortillas, grilled queso, and local fruit. Afterwards, we spent the morning getting our experiments together and checking on our ants. We developed a procedure off of ideas we brainstormed yesterday and then presented our proposals to the group for feedback. We all had a great time making colorful posters to illustrate what we plan to do in the next few days. As of now, we are all set up to put our projects into action!

Before lunch, we also checked our ants to see if they ate the food we gave them and also checked on the fungus we put onto the petri dishes to see if they grew. Then, we all headed out of the classroom and into the dining area for lunch, where we ate rice, cheese, and heart of palm casserole, vegetables, and salad.

After lunch, we all put on swimsuits and prepared for the long hike down to a river to swim. We all climbed into a rather cramped trailer pulled by a tractor. The cart had an open top, and some beetles, a lizard, an inchworm, and a few spiders managed to tag along for the ride. After that experience, we're all pretty close from practically sitting on top of each other. We reached a trail that headed deeper into the rainforest, where we were guided by a naturalist named Juan Carlos. He was very helpful in pointing out the different sights and identifying the wildlife. The trail down was rather slippery, and we were all slipping everywhere in the mud. Jackie fell, but don't worry, she's fine and just a little muddy. But it was all worth it when we reached the river. When we all jumped in, it was cool and refreshing. It was also deep and had a strong current in some places. Some people almost floated away! We found the parts of the river that were shallow and developed a way to reach upriver so we could float back down with the current. By the end we were all laughing and smiling. The only sad part was when we had to put our clothes back on and walk back uphill.

Afterwards, there was a little time left before dinner to shower and visit the pulperia. Hannah and the others got some ice cream, candy bars, and other treats. For dinner, we ate yucca, zucchini, carrots, corn salad, and pork loin (cheese empanadas for the vegetarians). The dessert was very popular: ice cream with cacao on top, with a side of sauteed bananas with a sort of carmelized sauce. This is where our schedule deviated from usual. Normally, we'd head to bed, but tonight we went on a night hike with Juan Carlos the naturalist.

We saw fascinating things in the rainforest that you can only see at night. First, we saw a hummingbird sleeping on the tip of a branch. It was very tiny and adorable! As we were just starting to walk again, we saw an oppossum swimming down the river. We've never really seen a mammal out at night, except for the bats that we occasionally see while we eat dinner. We also saw insects such as katydids and cicadas. Then we saw a sea of green: an active trail of leafcutter ants. We also saw a tiny green tree frog.

Now, we're getting ready for tomorrow, when we're working more on our experiments and taking another hike with another amazing desitnation.

Written by Hannah and Beth

Day 4- Ziplining and more science

First thing we did today was eat breakfast, we had delicious omlets with pico de gallo, rice and beans, for fruit we had watermelon, pineapple, and papaya, and AMAZING toast with marmalade.

At 9 am we met with Dr. Pinto and we cultured the fungus gardens that we collected yesterday.  The fungus garden is composed of three basic layers.  The top layer is made up of the newly collected leaves that will soon be eaten up by the fungus.  The middle layer is where the larvae and pupae (which are premature ants) live and get fed.  The bottom layer is the oldest part of the fungus.  To culture the fungus gardens, we picked different parts of the fungus with sterile tweezers and placed them in petri dishes where they will grow so that we can tell the difference between good and bad fungus.  Haley managed to burn Maddie with the hot, sterile tweezers... but shes ok.  After that we worked on our booklets and completed many activities, including a reading about different diseases (Tuberculosis, Plague, and Cholera), a crossword puzzle, and a reading about good bacteria and bad bacteria.  Before we went to lunch we collected a bag full of leaves from different trees to feed the ants, which we gave to them after we ate lunch.

For lunch we had spaghetti, toast, and salad.  It was very good.  Many were commenting on how American food made in Costa Rica will be better than American food made in America.

Shortly after lunch we took a 45 minute bus ride to Canopy Tour in Miravales (Miravales is the name of the volcano) for ziplining.  There were lots of beautiful views of the volcano and valley.  Our 4 tour guides were fabulous!!!  The walk up to the first platform was a long, steep hike.  On one of the cables we were allowed to go upside down, which everyone did!  The whole tour took about an hour and a half.

After ziplining, many people went to pulperia (the local store) to buy yummy goodies.  At the store they sell various candies, ice cream, pop, and other everyday essentials.

At 6 we met with Dr. Pinto again to check on our fungus culture and brainstormed for our future project regarding the ants.

When we were finished with our brainstorming, about an hour later, we went to eat dinner, wonderful dinner.  Dinner included beef stroganoff, chayote (similar to summer squash), potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and for dessert we had tres leche (which is like cake with milk and cacao).

In a few minutes we are going to watch an ant colony in action, because they are more active at night.

Written by Nick and Haley

Ants & Horses

Howdy, Sarah and Priya here. Today we had the pleasure of hunting for LEAF CUTTER ANTS. You may have heard about them. In the middle of the summer all of us were decked out in pants and long shirts, sweating it out trying to dig them out of their homes. As pleasant as this already sounds, the fun did not end there! While digging out the fungus, soldier ants would be on the attack and the sensation of pins and needles would be felt. Carefully, or as carefully as kids who are scared of ant bites can be, we excavated the foamy, squishy, fungus gardens and placed them into our containers to bring back to the lab. Some of us even had the good fortune (yay us!) of finding the queen.
For some of us, the highlight of the day even came before noon. We happened to find the biggest beetle (the pictures can prove it) ever, aptly named the Hercules beetle (yeah Los Hercules!). We had a lot of fun touching, holding, and eventually throwing it. We had to stop Anthony from smuggling it in his bag. US Customs doesn't really allow exotic insects.
FOOD. Sorry mom, but your cooking isn't as good as some of the stuff we are having here (my taste buds are havin' a fiesta). You would be so proud mom, I finished all my vegetables AND beans. It's like it's a whole new me.
But after that, we got back to work. As in horseback riding. This may not seem like very hard work, but let me tell ya; ma buns are FEELIN' IT. As are my knees. And hips. Our horses ranged from "killers" to "dainty" to "plain old hungry". Even as an experienced horseback rider, riding up and down slippery mountains could be scary at times... Did I mention my horse had no name but was refered to as "killer" (Sarah)? Yeah...mine was just called "Hambre" (means Hunger in Spanish...he constantly had the munchies) The stress was real and I think both of us are pretty amazed we are alive to tell the tale. Some of us had a hard time not riding our ponies back to the US-- another thing US customs would not allow us to take on an airplane.  It was literally like a slip n' slide.
Of course, the breathtaking views made it all worth it. We got to journey all the way up into the "cloud forest" which is the name for where the clouds touch the volcano (yes, we were riding on top of a volcano) and you can't really see in front of you. And by the end everyone was giggling as our horses trotted away into the sunset (as in back to the horse place because they were so sick of carrying us gringos). It was the roughest, yet greatest time on horseback--and for some of us, our first! (Shoutout to Nick and Austin for surviving as total beginners!)
After we returned from our rugged adventure of being Indiana Jones we came back to review some of our previous data collections. We counted our samples and shared our results, talking about how some of our results matched our hypothesis did, and some did not. After some mathy statistics (it was almost like we were back in school) we went to dinner.
FOOD. Did someone say flan? That'll take your tastebuds on the ride of a lifetime. Muy delicioso!
After dinner we watched some cheesy, but very informative, ant movies. The night ends, right now, with Nick locking himself out of his cabin (it was ALL Jackie's fault, apparently) and someone has a frog in their cabin. Ribbit!
Buenas Noches,
Priya Shetty y Sarah Moen

Hello Parents!

Day 2

Woke up this morning to very heavy rain. We had a very good night of sleep compared to waking up at 3 in the morning. Breakfast was great. We had rice and beans, fruit, and scrambled eggs. Immediately afterward; Pablo talked to us about the cacao beans that he uses to make chocolate at the farm. He gave us all fresh hot chocolate which may have just ruined powdered hot chocolate forever. The cacao that he put in was bitter, but the overall taste was amazing. After learning about the chocolate making process, Pablo lead our group into the rainforest on another hike. During the hike, Pablo showed us plants that the leaf cutter ants didn't attack. Also, he showed us plants, like the cacao and citrus tree, that the leaf cutter ants would readily consume. He did this in order to introduce the scientific aspect of the trip. Later in the trip we went to the village outside of the resort and saw where we were. At the village, we got a chance to try empanada (a really tasty chicken stuffed pastry). We also had water apples, saw the soccer field, school, and the small shop that we can go to. After the hike we had lunch which was great, we ate beef, rice, and beans. After lunch we met Dr. Adrian Pinto, the man who discovered that leaf cutter ants use nitrogen fixation in their colonies. Pinto introduced the science (lab work) in the trip. We started with meeting each other and reviewing the scientific method. Afterward we were given our groups. We did an experiment to see how different surfaces would affect the amount of bacteria that would be present in a petri dish. This preliminary experiment would give practice to every group to begin working as research teams. We then watched a video about ants that were affected by a fungus that turned the ants into a zombie-like state. After this we had about two hours of down time. Anthony and I were walking throughout the ranch eventually stumbling onto a queen bullet ant! Nobody was hurt, Adrian was very courteous in preserving the ant in an alcohol. We then ate dinner having chicken, rice, and potatoes. It was delicious. Dessert was a small dough-like ball with rice and cacao mixed in, just a further ruining of food back home. We are really looking forward to our field day tomorrow, where we will get an opportunity to harvest a queen leaf cutter ant and learn more about their colonies.

Goodnight

CJ and Anthony

Hi everyone at home!
We made it!!!
The day started out quite early,as many of you may know. The flight to Atlanta was pretty uneventful, with homework, sleeping, and the complimentary in-flight entertainment (aka movies and games). That flight was about 1 1/2 hours long. We got to Atlanta on time and didn't even have to rush to our next gate. The larger group got lost getting to the tram to switch terminals A to E but we made it with enough time to spare for a bathroom break. No one really liked the flight from Atlanta to Costa Rica. It was cold, still really early in the morning and we had more homework! While on the international flight, we all had to complete customs and immigration papers, which were both very confusing. After finishing the papers, lots of us watched more in-flight entertainment, mainly the movie Divergent. Once the 3 1/2  hour plane ride was finally done, we took a mini tourist bus two hours into the rainforest. It was a really bumpy ride and 45 minutes of dirt road was not a fun end to a day of traveling. Those 45 minutes of road was only 14 kilometers. That's how slow we were. But finally we made it to Finca La Anita!!!! We got our boots and went for a nice 30 minute hike in the forest around the ranch. After our hike we got to meet four new friends on the ranch! An adorable horse who was very nice and three dogs. A black and white dog with three legs we nicknamed Stumpy, another black and white dog with four legs is now Sweetie, and a brown and white dog we named Sandy. We ate dinner with nature (bugs and a giant moth) and it was delicious!! 40% of the fruits and veggies we ate we produced here on the farm. Well, that's all that happened for today!
Hope everyone at home is fine and good!
See you tomorrow!
Jackie & Julia signing off

Welcome!

This is where we will post out entries about our adventures in Costa Rica.  Each night two students will blog about our day and share with you the exciting things we will be doing.  Please share this blog with friends and family so they too can track our journey to the rainforest, hear about the excursions we will be a part of as well as the the science we will do as the bulk of our trip.