Day 9: July 23

Well, last night was quite the adventure. We were up very late doing turtle beach sweeps, which prevented us from blogging last night, so we are doing it instead this morning. Yesterday was a bittersweet day because we had to leave Finca la Anita to come here to Horizontes (a dry rainforest). We had our last delicious meal from Finca la Anita, and hopped on a bus that we took all the way to Horizontes with a stop for some snacks and fun treats at a grocery store in Liberia. Some people bought only a few things, but some of the teachers went there on a shopping trip and got a whole cart-full of jams and other gifts for her friends and family. When we finally arrived here, we got settled in our adjoining dorms, and realized that we all shared one big unisex bathroom where we cannot flush the toilet paper. We had lunch, and realized how spoiled we were with the food at Finca la Anita. Next on our to-do list we went out into the field and learned and discussed the relationships between pseudomyrmex ants and acacia trees. Following that adventure we played another game of soccer with the staff here. This game we played against much older men who worked here, and only three of them showed up to play, so Cort and Mary went over and played on the winning team. An hour later, the score was 7 to 4 in favor of the staff and Cort and Mary. During the game, we had a herd of large bulls get herded through the soccer field, so we all stood quite still and hoped the bulls didn't stampede us.

 For dinner we had some very delicious noodles, salad, and bread. So while many of us ate it, Anna was unable to eat almost any of the meal, so she got some special treatment and got leftover beans and meat patty from lunch. We then got back on a bus and went 3 miles to the beach which took us 30 minutes. We all love dirt roads! (Especially the runners) We got to the beach, where the j fam dub team saw the ocean for the first time. We started our sweeping and told ghost stories and riddles to pass the time. While we didn't see turtles, we had a lot of fun, at the beach under the light of the moon. We got back at 12, and took our showers together (in separate stalls of course). One member of the group also decided that the second to last day would be a good day to do all of his laundry as well. We finally got to bed at 1:00. Some of us also decided to wake up at 6:00 to milk cows which was definitely an interesting experience. We are now off to breakfast in the pouring rain, so we will sign off and others will tell you more tonight.

The American members of the winning Costa Rican team,

Mary (aka Bloody Rosemaria Poppins del Bano sin Pantalones) and Cort