Day 5: Project proposal and KILLER river walk

Some of us got up extra early to have a photography lesson from Lev at a picturesque place where 3 rivers meet. Some enhanced their camera skills and got great pictures of the landscape and rivers. After this, we met in the dining hall for a magnificent cacao nib pancake breakfast.

We were good ant parents and gathered more food for our ant colonies that chose not to eat the leaves we had already put in their containers with them. We picked our favorite bacterial petri dishes for later gram staining (discovering that the boots were by far the most covered in bacteria and if it was possible to want to wear them any less, this was not encouraging). Next, we gathered with our group members and brain stormed ideas for our research project. Then we presented- the Las Tortugas Blancos (Tim, Jaci, Jake B., and Joseph) proposed a question of how quickly we can observe the effects of the bacteria supported by the Acromyrmex ants on the escovopsis of Atta ant fungus gardens. The Mighty Churros (Erin, Kyle, Tony, and Sam W.) are doing 2 experiments; one testing the difference of the types of fungus that is found on ants that have different roles within the colony. The other is testing to see if they can extract pheromones by making a trail for the ants and seeing if they follow it. Los Avispones (Delane, Tyler, Tate, and Graham) are trying to manipulate the ant trails by placing obstacles over their established trails (mud, displacement of trail pieces, magnets). Los Depredadores (Shelby, Maddi, Sam H., and Jake A.) formulated and experiment that will test if the ants respond similarly to the queen versus the larvae she lays. Similar behaviors to each would suggest the sharing of a common pheromone between the two. Everyone got great advice from the other students, teachers, and of course Pinto and we are very excited to start! 

We had a scrumptious lunch (no surprise there) and then everyone was very excited for the hike to the river. We rode a tractor through the woods, while Carlos (our trusty tractor driver) hacked our way through the thick rainforest with a machete. He dropped us off about halfway to the river, and we had a 40-minute hike down to the swimming hole. Here, we cooled down in the water while some of the boys jumped off a tall rock. The girls screamed upon the sight of a water snake. Luckily, it wasn’t too close to us. We enjoyed ourselves until we realized that we had at least an hour’s worth of constant uphill walk that never seemed to end. 

By what must have been some kind of miracle, we all made it back to the farm in one piece and after showering, enjoyed a wonderful supper and fabulous rice pudding dessert. We weren’t to thrilled to hear of a second hike that was planned later that night, until it was explained to us that it was only about a half mile roundtrip and (thank 

goodness) NOT UPHILL! A few of the many amazing things we saw included a praying mantis, katydids, some cicadas emerging from their pupa, wolf spiders, orb-weaving spiders, a giant owl butterfly, and the star of the nightwalk, the glass frog! We took multiple photos of these amazing creatures that are extremely rare to be seen this time of year, even surprising our tour guide Javier and Lev, who hasn’t seen them in the other 10 times he’s been here. 

Signing off live from Costa Rica, 

Jaci and Delane