Costa Rica Day 6

Hola friends and families!

            Today was a very busy day for us here at Finca La Anita. For some of us, we started our day bright and early to have breakfast before we left for our horseback tour. We split in two groups so some of us got to sleep in. Those of us who got up early had a nice yoga session before breakfast, hosted by Laura on our porch. For breakfast we had pancakes with dark chocolate pieces, eggs, sausage, fruit, granola, and some delicious strawberry banana juice. As always, it was delicious. The first group departed on our bus at 7:30 AM with our favorite driver, Eddie.

            After about a 20 minute drive, we arrived at the horse ranch. After some safety instructions from Pablo, we climbed on to our respective horses. We rode up a hill and into the forest in the pouring rain (Thanks to the tropical storm coming through, but we'll get to that later). As we entered the woods, we heard something scary. After some panicking, Pablo pointed out that it was the sound of howler monkeys in the distance. We crossed streams, climbed muddy hills, and rode across valleys with amazing views. The horses were very well trained and enjoyable to ride. As we started coming back to the ranch, the horses knew they were almost home and tried to go faster. When we got back, we climbed off our horses and tried to shake off as much of the water off our soaking bodies as we could. On the way home we jammed out to some PG music, as requested by our teachers. We can assume the other group had as much fun as we did on the tour.

            When we returned, it was time for lunch. Today we enjoyed fish, rice, and salad. As someone who doesn't usually enjoy fish, even for me it was delicious. We had a two hour break to spend time relaxing and hanging with friends before we met back in the classroom. As we trickled into the classroom, we realized the power was out. We later learned this was due to a large tropical storm that took power from most of Central America! This could've been bad for our experiments, but luckily it didn't affect us too much. We broke off into our groups and worked on our individual experiments. Some of us had to go dig new colonies, while others painted ants, and worked on growing different types of fungi. Another exciting thing that happened is the ants mating flight, which only happens once a year. All over the farm we have found new queens and large males, on a quest to start new colonies. Today was a very busy day in the lab, but we accomplished a lot.

            After work time, we had a small break before dinner. Dinner tonight was delicious. We had lasagna, fresh salad, and plantain chips. Dessert tonight was an amazing homemade blackberry ice cream on top of melted dark chocolate made right here on the farm. It was one of our many favorites thus far. After dinner, some of us took the half mile walk to the "mall". The mall is a store in the village that you can find everything in, but it's about the size of a master bathroom! While other groups stayed in the lab to continue their work for today. After a very busy day, we were all very tired, but we are excited for the adventures tomorrow will bring us.

            Also a few quick birthday shoutout to our teacher Adrian's wife, Lexi's dad, along with the scientist who discovered the reason we are studying this today, Cameron Currie.

Thanks for reading! Lexi Nicholas and Laura Dierks

P.S,
            Hey there! I am having so much fun here, but I miss you all so much! It is weird to go to bed without saying goodnight to you... :) As much as I love it here, I can't wait to see you again and tell you every detail! I hope all is well back there in Minnesota, see you guys soon.     -Laura Dierks

            Hi family!!! So glad I got to talk to you all today, but I definitely miss seeing your faces everyday, and wish I could've been home for Dad's birthday and to meet the new puppy. Can't wait to see you all and tell you amazing stories of this trip. (Also please bring Koda to the airport when you pick me up :)!!) Love and miss you all!! (HI GMA AND GPA)         -Lexi Nicholas