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
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