Day 4

This morning we awoke at the usual time and headed to a deliciously familiar breakfast of pancakes with cacao nibs, eggs, and fruit, plus yet another juice. We walked through the town to the Mariposario (butterfly garden), and some local women walked us through the process of how they raise butterflies from eggs and how their work has changed their lives. We looked at the life stages of the larvae and then got to traverse the butterfly garden as they explained the variety of species present. Then, we had the opportunity to purchase wonderful handmade crafts from the women as a way to give back to the community. 

After our expedition, we hiked back to Finca La Anita, where we met with Pinto and Miguel. They led us a short distance to a marked Acromyrmex colony and showed us a demonstration of how to find them and extract their gardens. We had fun watching the ants crawl around and playing with them while we waited for the van to take us to the lab. 

Upon arrival to the lab, we completed our Escovopsis experiments that we had planned the day before in our groups. We sampled different parts of our collected ant colonies and put them in agar to stimulate fungal growth. Once we finished setting up the plates, we had a short meeting with Pinto to go over the logistics of our main project, finishing with an assignment to come up with a question before we headed back to the lab in the afternoon.

At lunch, we were served yet another American classic in a Costa Rican style hamburger. Pablo's wife Ana made the meat and we made our burgers self-serve style with veggies, sauces, and fries on the side, leaving every student full and satisfied. Of course, we also drank more fresh fruit juice harvested on the farm. 

Once we finished lunch, we had roughly an hour to hang out at our cabins before we headed back to the lab at 2. We met up with our groups and worked on coming up with a main question based on the ideas we came up with during lunch. With the help of the scientists at the lab, we approved our questions and conducted scientific research. At 3:30, we had a nice coffee break with pineapple empanadas, hot chocolate, and of course, coffee. Then, we reconvened with our groups and continued working on brainstorming and following the scientific method. Pinto and Allan helped around and introduced us to our proposal presentations. After a good amount of progress, we headed back for dinner.

For dinner, we ate the marinated meat dish that we had eaten before, with more mashed potatoes,  vegetables, and juice, of course. After a small break, we made our way back to the lab to finish and present our proposals. Each group received questions and feedback from the other groups and the scientists, making note of any improvements that could be made. At 10, we headed back to our cabins and called it a night.