Day 3 July 17th

This morning, we ate breakfast. The same meal of beans and rice. After breakfast, we geared up to go searching for ant colonies with Dr. Adrian Pinto and Dr. Andrew Bouma. We were taught the proper way to dig up the colonies and search for the fungus gardens and the queens. Meghan, Kevin, Cort, and Andrea all had a chance to extract the fungus and queen from the chambers. Then we took our captives back to lab and prepared them new homes in the lab. For lunch, we had rice, chicken, beans, salad, and plantain chips. We continued to enjoy the delicious variety of juices.

After lunch we hit the road. We rode in a wagon pulled by the affectionately dubbed "Swagtor" (Swagging Tractor). The ride was calm at first but then we started to go through the jungle. We were whipped by branches and bombarded with a variety of insects. We saw preying mantises, stink bugs, daddy long-legs, grasshoppers, and stick bugs. The dogs from the farm followed the trailer all the way to the beginning of the hike. We started the long trek down the slippery slope of mud, similar to a slip-n-slide, down to the river. I [Allie] fell twice because they are not lying when they say the dirt is all clay. Melissa did not fall once. We finally made it down to the river. It was a beautiful place. We all went swimming and it felt great after the long, treacherous hike. We bonded as a group as we fought the current to stay together.
Before we started the trek back up the hill we got to see some howler monkeys. They were really cool to see in the wild. Then it started to pour. They call it the rainforest for a reason. It was even harder to get up the slip-n-slide in the rain. All of us persevered and made it to the top of the hill (although it felt like a mountain). We boarded the "Swagtor" and started our way back. It was a more treacherous trip on the way back. The leaves that whipped our faces on the way there, were now whipping our faces with water too. Ms. Leland had a huge stick bug land on her face. She wanted to hold it and check it out but our guide took it off and threw it out because the rest of us were screaming bloody murder. When we returned we finally got into some dry clothes.
We went on a night hike (as if we hadn't hiked enough) and some members of our group even saw a jaguarundi. We had dinner which tasted fantastic after a long day of hiking. For dessert we had something similar to bread pudding with cream. As good as cupcakes back home. We ended the evening with more science videos featuring Dr. Cameron Curie. Now we are going to sleep because we are exhausted.

Goodnight
-Allie Macdonald

P.S Mom tell dad there is a blog!
Melissa Bebchuk