Day 9 July 23

¡Hola Familias!

Today we said adios to Finca La Anita, only after many of us cleaned the store out of the freshly made chocolate. Parents, don't expect ANY when we return. It was an incredible place to stay and do science. We all hope to return again one day, possibly for science, mostly for the food. :)

All 17 of us plus the two drivers crammed together into a bus/"hippie van" for an exciting 4 hour drive that included falling luggage, rap battles in the back, and card games up front. Emma refuses to play cards with Teresa and us in the back have come to respect Charley's fly rhmyes.

The ride was interrupted by a couple of stops. First to the grocery stores, where many were excited to find healthy wholesome American cuisine like Pringles, boxes of cereal, and WAY overpriced Oreos. (aka everything Carter bought). Our next stop was to a small souvenir shop. Some parents will be delighted with what we found, and some are going to have to be okay with nothing. Emma was upset to not find a Costa Rica pin, but excited when Teresa and her found "authentic" Costa Rica national soccer, ahem fútbol, jerseys.

We finally arrived at El Horizontes and were able to eat lunch and explore our rooms. This including checking the bed for scorpions and climbing a radio tower for a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains. Later, we began a game of World Cup. Teams ranged from Fiji, Ethopia, Guam, and of course Costa Rica (no USA, hmm...). Despite playing in rubber boots, players like Teresa, Maia, Corey, Mason, Nathan, and Mari showed off their fancy footwork, while Abby demonstrated hand work from years of violin as the goalie. We were interrupted by the announcement that the snake situation has suddenly scaled up (haha, but seriously there are apparently a lot of snakes). 

After lunch, some were excited and others less so to learn that our next activity would once again involve ants. We walked along the road to find acacia trees inhabitated by Pseudomyrmex ants. We had a lively discussion about our observations, interrupted by a bird that sounded like a cackling child.

We have also been informed about the second year trip and the future of bioinformatics that we will be able to study should we go.  Parents...if you want us to come home, we need the promise of returning on the second year trip. But for now, we'll be content with the promise of turtle patrol on the beach in a couple of minutes.

See you soon....maybe,

Emma, Teresa, and Abby