Day 4: July 18

As a teacher, I would like to make a comment to all of the parents of the students that are on this trip.  Your student is doing an amazing job here and they are a delight to have on this trip.  -Mrs. Leland

As the amount of bug bites that each of us acquires grows exponentially, so does the plethora of knowledge and fun. We spent the morning eating, yet again... rice and beans. To top that, we had the Costa Rican equivalent of cheese curds; much healthier than the state fair version that we are used to. Post-breakfast, we reviewed our bacterial samples from a couple days prior and brainstormed/decided about the experiments we will be completing later this week. This required some laborious thinking on our part: nothing a group of teenagers can't handle. Most of the students were just glad to have a break from the grueling treks through the jungle. After our lack of physical activity, we filled our bellies with another authentic Costa Rican meal; spaghetti and garlic bread. :)

After a short span of playing Farkle and Presidents (the card game), we bused out to the location where we would be completing our next activity: horseback riding (Andrea and Hannah had been waiting for this moment since before the trip). Pablo reassured us that all the horses were very tame, and tame they were. The wilderness on either side of the trail was ten times as crazy as any animals we were riding. Even the terrible gassiness of some of the horses and the extreme slipperiness of the freshly rained on slopes could not stop us from having a great time.

We returned from the experience with sore legs and smiles and continued our day of fun by hiking out to the local poperia (a local market containing just about anything you need). When we returned to Finca La Anita with fanny packs full of suckers, we had more down time to play more cards and dice.

We of course had to leave some room for the most impressive sirloin and freshly squeezed passion fruit (maracuya). This went along with an array of grilled veggies and of course the ever popular accompanying salad. Dessert was Tres Leches (A sweet cake drizzled in milk). We found time for one last round of Presidents before we had a quick de-briefing about tomorrows activities. 

For now it's off to bed. That is if we get any sleep with the excitement boiling inside us for tomorrow.

-Andrea Polis and Hannah Nelson (And of course the rest of the students here.)