Everyone here has come up with an original experiment and worked in groups to design and conduct them over the course of the past three days. One of the grad students serving as a sort of mentor told us that one of the most exciting things about this experience is that no two experiments are ever the same, and our group is no exception. We have people tracing leaves on graph paper to analyze the amount that leaf cutter ants consume depending on various extraneous factors, measuring changes in size and composition of fungus gardens based on the acidity of the soil around them, and even pitting ants against each other in a fight-to-the-death sort of situation that has resulted in some interesting discoveries about ant war tactics. It's been incredibly impressive to see the dedication that everyone here has for this kind of work and to watch the experiments develop. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to seeing the final results tomorrow!
As stressful as today was, it was also incredible for me because of the amount of love and support I felt from the people around me. I turned 17 today and despite my threats to put various insects in the shoes and cabins of anyone who sang the song, the entire group (from both schools) surprised me during a break by singing happy birthday and bringing out a cake. I'm pretty sure Bella has a video of my reaction, and I'm even more sure I was near tears at the overwhelming display of affection from this incredible group of people that I had never really interacted with before this trip. In my opinion, one of the greatest things about Costa Rica so far has been the relationships I've developed with the people who came with me. Not only are these people absolutely brilliant, incredibly creative, and weirdly knowledgeable about ants, they're also generous, open-minded, and positive. It's been an absolute honor to get to work with these people.
Since today was spent entirely on experiments, I really don't have much to talk about in this blog. I doubt you really want to hear the details of my ant-counting experiment. Instead, let me go over a few of today's best moments.
Erin and I went on a morning hike at about 5 am because we were both up. We got lost in the cacao trees (twice....oops) and then ended up in the cafeteria with coffee. It was fun to be able to just wander and relax while completely ignoring our looming experimental deadlines and instead sharing stories about waffle trucks and leeches.
After the first person said happy birthday to me, everyone else did the same. It got to the point where there was a competition to be the fastest person to say happy birthday. That was about the time when I started threatening to leave beetles in peoples' shoes.
Right before dinner, Logan found a giant beetle in the cafeteria area and everyone started screaming for me to come and pick it up. I was in a building across the path and ran over thinking someone was hurt only to find a gigantic cricket-looking bug that was around three inches long. When I picked it up, it did some fun yoga poses with its legs and then flew directly towards the face of one of the girls from Mounds Park Academy (the other school on this trip). She recovered quickly and our guide at the resort came over to pick the bug back up and give us some more information.
After dinner, Benny and I went behind the cafeteria to a little grove of trees and picked a bunch of starfruit (you can just pick them off the trees here!!) that we shared between the entire group from both schools.
Overall, today was both uneventful and incredible, or as Kinga really wants me to say, "stressful and blessful".
There were many many other tiny moments that made today wonderful, and I doubt tomorrow will be any different.
Thanks for following our adventures!!
Grace Lynch
Happy Birthday Grace!
Mrs. M
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