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