Day 7: Hiking, Swimming, and Celebrating

Waking up in the rainforest meant another day filled with adventure. Breakfast was again superb. All the food here is incredible. I don’t think anyone is looking forward to returning to cafeteria food at school. After fueling up, we headed to the lab and out to the field to do more science. Los Avispones did a lot of setup and test trials, but possibly discovered something huge. One of the problems for the farmers at Finca la Anita is that ants eat their plants. Los Avispones accidentally discovered that the ants did not go near wood with varnish on it, so a possible solution may be in the making! Los Depredadores conducted baseline data with their oxygen and carbon dioxide probes to see how the ants responded to their queen and her larvae being kidnapped. The Mighty Churros crushed ants and built experimental containers for their two experiments. Las Tortugas Blancas had a setback on their experiment. The spray they used drowned the fungus, throwing the results off. Due to time constraints, they weren’t able to fix it, but they did another short experiment along with the old one.  

Experimenting for three hours was actually quite tiring, so a break was much appreciated. All 16 students, along with their teachers, Pablo, and Pinto hopped into trucks and headed to the cloud forest. Once there, we were all lead on an amazing tour by our guides Johnny and José.  They took us to the Buenos Aires blue waterfall (and it was definitely VERY blue). We swam and took many pictures. It was nothing like anything anyone had seen at home. It was sad to leave the beautiful waterfall, but we had other adventures to go on. On the way to the warm and hot springs, we spotted a howler monkey and spectacled owl. Everyone took many pictures. We eventually arrived at the warm and hot springs, where we frolicked in the water like little kids again. Unfortunately, all things seem to come to an end too soon. We had to leave the hot springs because otherwise we would be hiking in the rainforest in pitch dark. When we returned to the Sensoria lodge, we were treated to a presentation about the wildlife and history of the reserve. We even were able to see footage from hidden cameras in the rainforest! They were wonderful hosts and even gave us coffee and cookies. Afterwards, we said our thank yous and goodbyes and piled back into the trucks for the long journey back “home” to Finca la Anita.

When we returned to Finca la Anita, we were treated to a delicious meal of shish kebobs, salad, potatoes, corn on the cob, and pea pods. For dessert, the excellent chefs at Finca baked a PERFECT chocolate cake in celebration of my and Lev’s birthday. It was so very tasty. I’ve never had anything like it. What a way to celebrate the most exciting birthday I have ever had.

The science continued through the night as each group did their own thing in order to be finished in time to present results tomorrow. Talk about pressure! Pinto wandered around helping everyone with his vast knowledge. Lev took Maddi, Sam H., Joseph, and I out to the forest to capture a picture of the beautiful and rare glass frog. It was a lot of work, but the image turned out wonderfully. As the rest of the science groups finish up, many people head to bed in order to prepare for eight hours of science experimenting and presenting tomorrow. Sleep should come easy tonight. We are all exhausted, but all the adventures are so worth it. What a day. What a perfect way to celebrate turning eighteen. Happy birthday to me!

Jake Bush