Our day started by waking up to an alarm at 5:30 a.m. Alana and Anna realized waking up was getting harder and harder everyday. Breakfast was served at 6:00 a.m, cacao nib pancakes were on the menu. The vans left at 6:45 a.m to Rincon de la Vieja, a Costa Rican National Park. Once we squished into the vans, our amazing driver, Felix, allowed us to plug into the AUX and he joined in on the legendary jam session. We listened to throwback songs from NSYNC, Michael Jackson, and obviously, Katy Perry. After an hour and a half drive to the national park, the gang had no idea they were about to embark on a five hour hike. Ten minutes into the hike, we crossed a stream and almost stepped on a small but venomous snake. Shortly after, we got an alert from our adorable guide, Freddy, that there were spider monkeys and howler monkeys above us in the canopy. For about half an hour we watched the spider monkeys as they "performed" acrobatic tricks for us. After taking a million pictures, we trudged through the rain forest, seeing many species of bugs including stinkbugs, cicadas, fire ants, and stick bugs.
After slipping, tripping, and laughing for about two hours, the gang finally arrived at the natural thermal springs. Leaving our friendly boots and tube socks behind, we hopped into the water and submerged ourselves in the eggish smelling water (the water smelt like eggs because of sulfur). The iconic Eddy, our faithful driver and companion, found some natural exfoliating clay and put it everywhere, influencing us to do the same. After taking some disgustin' (inside joke @Mitchell) pictures, we finally headed to the waterfall. Once we arrived, we slowly made our way down the slippery slope into the waterfall and swimming hole. After having hypothermia, we slowly got used to the temperature of the water, and everyone enjoyed jumping off the rocks into the brisk water. (For all the moms concerned about safety, we didn't get actual hypothermia, and the water was deep enough for us to jump in). The waterfall was the highlight of the day but it sadly had to end and the gang had to make their way back to the vans. The hike back was another two hours but felt much longer because we had to walk up rocky hills. Before leaving we had a nice picnic in an abandoned looking historical building that Teddy Roosevelt stayed at to train U.S troops in the jungle. The picnic consisted of american hot ham and cheese sandwiches, potato chips, juice, and some amaaaaazing chocolate cookies. The drive back to Finca was equally as legendary with Felix, featuring Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, and Felix's personal favorite, AC-DC.
When we got back, it was time to work on our experiments. Quick FYI, after three days of studying leaf cutter ant colonies, the scientists gave us a choice to study water quality. Anna's group is determining the change in dissolved oxygen and turbidity after rainfall. After two days of no rain, almost all hope was lost for having the necessary rainfall. So naturally Anna stood beside the pond and did the "rain dance" which looked a little like hula dancing, which actually worked and made it storm. Alana's group is studying bacteria diversity and pH levels in different bodies of water near the village and deeper in the rain forest to determine whether humans drastically effect water quality. Getting the water samples from the streams and pond was tricky, Alana slipped many times but gracefully recovered... not really. Although Alana and Anna's groups are studying water, other groups are studying leaf cutter ants or biodiversity in a variety of ways.
Although the dinner was really good, we had to get back to experimenting. Anna's group quickly headed to the pond and nearby river to collect dissolved oxygen levels, temperature, and turbidity, only to deal with frogs jumping into the samples. Alana's group successfully collected their final samples and swabbed their bacteria onto petri dishes, tomorrow they will test pH (acidity).
As we write this blog we are anticipating taking a much needed shower and sleeping with the friendly lizard that lives in our cabin. Thanks for exploring with us, goodnight!
PS Alana and Anna have both been invited to Eddy's wedding next year :)
Our super sweet tour guide, Freddy
Our "healthy" hike
The killer... but he's cute
Natural Thermal Springs
Waterfall fun!
Rustic dining at historic National Park building
Another amazing day! And as a concerned mom; I’m very relieved to hear that you survived the killer snake, hypothermia and your jumps into the water!! Anna, I look forward to seeing your rain dance someday ;)
ReplyDeleteNote: The pictures didn’t show up...is it just me??
No pics here either.
DeleteHi- the pictures should be fixed now. Thanks for letting us know.
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