Day 7 July 21

Because of the special report yesterday, we were unable to write about our trip to the rainforest. After about an hour ride through many rivers and the bumpiest terrain ever, we arrived and took a 45 minute hike through the rainforest. During the hike we stopped at three natural pools, two with waterfalls and one which was heated. During the hike we saw a sloth, caterpillars, and a basilisk (a lizard that can walk on water). Pranav was given a scare when he lost his glasses under a massive waterfall. A few minutes later he found them with part of them missing.

Today was spent finishing our science projects. We began to put together our PowerPoints for a presentation tomorrow. Around four o'clock we stopped for a nice coffee break with coffee cake and cream cheese frosting. It was a fairly dull day until bullet ants decided to have their nuptial flight in our lab. For those of you at home who are unaware, Bullet Ants are credited with the most painful sting of all insects. They are called bullet ants because the sting feels as if you have been shot. Most of us promptly evacuated to our cabins. We are happy to report that no one got hurt . . .Yet.  Below is a picture of a squashed bullet ant abdomen complete with extended stinger dripping with venom.

The night will be concluded with more field work, and finishing touches on our projects. Tomorrow is the big day when we get to report the findings of our experiments.

 

 

 Griffin and Nathan