Final Day in Costa Rica

On our morning hike with Freddie, and him showing us some cool leaves.

Last group picture of the entire group in-front of the beautiful sunset.

Planting trees in Horizontes.

Crazy picture in front of crashing wave.

Beautiful sunset picture in front of the ocean.

Chloe getting handed a small tree that was later going to be planted in the yard.

Manta Ray washed up on the beach

More pictures of us planting baby trees.

Amazing picture of the shoreline with an awesome sunset.

9th Day in Costa Rica

We departed from Finca la Anita this morning to go to our final destination on the trip. After the bus ride and a stop at the super market, we listened to a couple presentation about the work and research that the people do here. Later we got to conduct our own experiments on the pH levels of soil. We are now going to wrap up our day with a night on the beach looking for sea turtles!

One part of the pH experiments was to weigh the soil sample to make sure they were equal.

Here is one of the groups testing the pH of a soil and water solution.

We extracted the samples in a forest between two chosen trees.

In order to get accurate samples, we measured the distance between the two trees. 

At Horizontes, you can see for miles at the top of a metal tower on the back of the property.

Throughout our whole drive, we had a gorgeous view of the mountains.
-Gracie and Evelyn

8th Day in Costa Rica

Today we sadly had to say goodbye to our amazing mentors and scientific teachers. awww

We also had the chance to cool off after our service projects in a nearby stream.

Thank you to Dr. Pinto, Ibrahim, Alan, Silver, and everyone who made this experience memorable!

For our last day at Finca La Anita, we started with an amazing breakfast soon followed by the final presentations of our projects. The projects ranged from butterfly killing, to cane toad poison, to pH's affect on ants. Everyone's projects were unique and amazing! Good job to everyone! Once that was finished, we ate lunch and headed to the butterfly garden in town to take part in service projects. There, we dug up Piper auritum plants along the road to replant around the butterfly garden. We also dug a giant hole to help with their compost. After that, we went to cool off and unwind in a nearby stream. Now, we prepare to leave and relocate at Horizontes near the beach! There, we will study the soil pH and look for sea turtles at night.
- Madison Miller & Chloe Martin

7th Day in Costa Rica

A good end to an amazing night!

                                                    Just putting in the finishing touches.

                                     Caroline was one of the few people who did this right!

                              And Reed said that there were no Toucans in this part of Costa Rica!

                                    I guess playing with all of us crazy people wore this little guy out!

                                                I think it's just about time for a break here!

         We need to get these measurements right! Don't want to make ant attractant instead of repellent!

Need to check if we're growing the right stuff! We've gotten too far to forget that!

Today was pretty hectic! I'm gonna be honest, I woke up and waltzed down to breakfast thinking that I'd be done with my project before lunch, I was very wrong. Instead we had only barely finished our field tests by 11:00 AM and only barely managed to get our power-point to presentable levels at 4:00! Then just 30 minutes later we were off to make our own dinner, though some people helped more than others. Still despite everything, we survived, no-one burnt themselves and we got a delicious dinner! The desert was amazing as well, I haven't had ice cream like that in ages! Finally I'm back at Finca La Anita, writing this and thinking, today was a good day! -Owen Tinker