Ants, Horses, and Cooking too!

Dear friends and family,

            Today was another fun and exciting adventure! We began with a delectable breakfast reminiscent of home: pancakes, sausage, eggs, yogurt, and fruit. Fortified for a busy day of learning and fun, we moved on to the lab to test our experiments in, which ranged from spraying leaves with a variety of liquids to determine the ants’ preference, to stimulating ants’ aggression towards other ants, to studying the effects of the ants’ pheromones. Each group is at a different point, but we all ran many trials to gather data, which we will share at our final presentation on Sunday. For example, the Ant Fam group is testing the effect of pH levels on ants’ leaf preferences, and they have run two trials so far. Each trial consists of placing five leaves sprayed with substances of different pH into an ant colony for three hours and determining how much of each leaf has been eaten.

            After working hard on our experiments, we were all ready for lunch, which was a delicious hamburger with chips. Next, we set off for horseback riding! We had a large spectrum of horseback riding experience, from several beginners to a few very experienced girls. Although many of us were a bit nervous to ride for the first time, we learned quickly thanks to a tutorial from Pablo. The excitement built as we began our journey! We travelled through picturesque scenery in the rainforest, such as rivers (we crossed two!), exotic trees, and wildlife. It began raining during our ride, but by now we’re all used to it and had a great time!

            Our next destination was Café Campesino, a restaurant run by a local woman named Aracely, who greeted us with hugs and kisses. Aracely taught us how to make a multitude of foods: we strained cheese, shaped dough into tortillas, fried plantains, and plated a salad beautifully. The Spanish-speakers among us had a wonderful opportunity to practice their Spanish and converse with Aracely and her family. The food was all scrumptious, and it was very satisfying to eat food that we’d prepared ourselves. We also made many friends, and we had fun solving the puzzles that they showed us. After dinner, we had a great time dancing and learning some new moves from one of the women at the restaurant.

            We returned to the lab after dinner to continue working on our experiments. We ran a few more trials, but we have a lot more work for tomorrow! What a fun-filled day!

Lots of love,

The Visitation Scientists

By Abby Rohy and Catherine Link

Science

Horses (and a few mules)

Making dinner at Aracely's

Dance party after dinner at Aracely's

And then more science before bed

As we returned from our horseback ride today Pablo shared the following thoughts:

"We have an expression in Costa Rica,
'God doesn't give you tears if you don't have a handkerchief to dry them.'
This group has had the worst weather with so much rain. I have seen many groups complaining with only a little bit of rain but this group is always positive and smiling. I am so impressed with them. It is a testament to them and to their families that they have such good attitudes no matter the circumstances." - Pablo

We echo Pablo's observations and are so proud to work with these wonderful young women!
Charlotte and Erin