Day 9

This morning was bittersweet, but not good like the chocolate we're going to bring home. Personally, I (Kaylee) think we'd all like to stay quite a bit longer and work with the ants, although I know we're starting to miss home. Our final breakfast in the Ranch at Finca La Anita was quieter than normal; that was because about half the group was packed into the little gift shop buying chocolate and last minute gifts. That morning, we had packed our suitcases and left them outside our cabins for Eddie, one of the van drivers, to pick up and put on top of the bigger van. As we left, Pablo and Ana came to say goodbye to us. We're one of many groups that come during the summer, but I hope they remember us.

We drove away listening to Disney music from Grace's iPad in the smaller van as we took last minute videos and pictures of Finca La Anita. We hadn't made it 5 minutes away from the farm when the vans pulled over and we stopped outside a small building attached to a farm and butterfly pavilion. John Doleman explained how the women of the town built the farm and building, and now sell handcrafted jewelry and bags inside, so many of us got our money and bought something for ourselves or for people back home. After the stop, we drove away from the quaint setting of the rainforest and into the bigger cities of Costa Rica. We stopped at a supermarket and picked up snack food for the trip. I (Hannah) along with most of the group picked up some plantain chips - we all want to find a place that sells them at home. Before we left the supermarket, Eddie stopped at a fruit stand across from the supermarket and bought us some mamon fruits for both vans, and we drove off continuing our Disney music expedition. The scenery changed drastically from rainforest to city to dry forest very quickly, and soon we found ourselves on a dirt road that took us to our new location - Horizonte.

The group was definitely spoiled in Finca. Before we got to Horizonte, we were warned many, many times by all the teachers + John not only to check under our mattresses for scorpions, but to essentially fumigate our rooms with bug spray. There's also no air conditioning, so having the fans on is absolutely necessary. I (Kaylee) sleep with a comforter on even in summer, and here I might not even need the sheet. However, there are so many mango trees right across from our dorms that will ripen soon, along with other fruit trees (There's a cashew tree!) and room to run around that it should be fun. The most popular attraction for before lunch was what I'm calling a lightning rod, but was an observation tower. On good days, you can see all the way back to Miravailles, but it was pretty cloudy today. There are also many butterflies here. Cindy (Ms Petersen to those who had her as a teacher) was commenting to John when we first got here that she could have caught so many more butterflies here in a day than at Finca (she works with butterflies, and is helping to set up the aforementioned butterfly pavilion). They love the rotting mangoes, and there's so many different kinds. The deer like the mangoes too, and we saw some while walking to dinner. I think Hannah's enjoying herself, as even now she's trying to catch a large flying bug in the open classroom we're in. There's a lot of them here, though there seems to be less than there was at Finca.

People were playing soccer and hot potato in the yard earlier - some are completely covered in dirt. Later, for dinner we lined up in the hot, crowded cafeteria to get shrimp and pork fried rice, fried chicken, french fries, coleslaw (with pineapple...), and a mysterious toasted cookie pie toasted pecan coconut thing... which was weird. People cheered with their iced tea for the Fourth of July as we all dispersed back to our rooms (or to finish writing this blog) to prepare for our adventure on the ocean studying sea turtles. Apparently we could be out on the beach until 3 AM, patrolling up and down the beach in groups hoping to find a turtle or evidence of one.

We're sad to leave Costa Rica, but also excited to be back home soon!
Love,
Kaylee and Hannah


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