The End of Costa Rica... :(

During our first week back, our busy schedule began once again. We had tests and field practicals up the wazoo, so we had to concentrate on that for an entire week. As always though, tests and essays pass, and we celebrated this by going back to our favorite bar, Mata de Caña. And as always, the day after was used for recovery. This was no ordinary Sunday however. At 8 in the morning, we were all whisked off to our homestay families where we would be staying for just under a month while working on our independent research projects. When I got out, my Tica mama que se llama, Mayela, immediately grabbed my hand and dragged me into the house while I was still struggling with my baggage. Apparently everyone else found this hilarious.

My Tica family, consisting of mom Mayela, pop Victor, and highschool drama queen, Diana, were great. Since both pop and HDQ were usually out due to work and school, most of my time there was spent con mi Tica mama. She spoke very quickly, but was very willing to repeat herself a second, third, and fourth time. I think she got mad at me whenever I asked a fifth time though, so at that point, I just had to nod my head and say ‘Yes’ with the hope that that was the right answer. Regardless, my Spanish improved tremendously while on homestay. Speaking to people who don’t even have a hint of English comprehension does that.

I stupidly didn't take a photo of my host family. I lived in that house in the back on the second floor though.

While we were on our homestays, we only had structured, organized classes every Friday. The rest of time was meant to be used on our independent research projects. I knew that I wanted to study the Atta and Acromyrmex leaf cutter genera, so I formulated a project around them. To return to their nests after picking up their flora, leaf cutters use pheromone trails. I initially wanted to collect their pheromones and change the directions of their trails to see if that would affect their orientation. However, they avoided the pheromone collecting paper like a baseball player tries to avoid random substance abuse tests, so this experiment did not work. After, I tried to compare the two leaf cutting species in the area (Atta cephalotes and Acromyrmex coronatus) and their foraging rates after natural disturbances on their pathways, but apparently Acromyrmex are very, very hard to find. So, finally, I settled on conducting my study on Atta cephalotes and their foraging rate recovery after disturbances of different sizes.

Their foraging rates dropped by up to 90% after faced with a disturbance. In other words, it really fucks them up.

My study brought me to ten different colonies where I counted over 20,000 ants. Also, during my data collection, this bastard stole my lunch.

The Coati (Nasua narica) is now my least favorite animal, followed closely by Biting Midges (Culicoides). The most hilarious animal, is, of course, the Three-Toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus).

He apparently unzipped my backpack, ripped open the plastic bag holding my lunch,  and slammed open the Tupperware container. As I was blasting music at the time (because what else is there to do when counting thousands of ants), I did not hear his initial devious actions. I only began aware of this robbery once he started slamming the container down on the concrete porch where I had foolishly abandoned my backpack. When I became aware of his treachery, I chased after him. He jumped off the porch and dropped the Tupperware, causing my food to explode over the forest floor. Still though, my beef with the foul creature was not done, he still had my container so I threw rocks at him so that I could retrieve it. But of course, I missed him and broke my container, so, Coati-1 Me-0.

During my time in Costa Rica, I only got to play soccer three times. “But Aki,” you may be asking, “Isn’t Costa Rica a Central American country, and therefore is a country that loves soccer? What gives?” The answer to that is most definitely yes, but apparently there is no such thing as a public field in Monteverde, so it didn’t happen as much as I would have liked it to. There was an indoor field nearby though that was great, and it only cost around $4 for two hours of play, so I got some soccer in.

This is what you call an all star lineup.

Of course, just because we were on our homestays does not mean that extracurricular activities cease. Halloween is not celebrated in Costa Rica, but as usual, Mata de Caña came to save the day. They hosted a Halloween party with cheap drinks and had our teachers band play again. There were some frightening costumes (Jonny’s Joker), some hilarious costumes (Logan’s woman),and some group costumes (butterflies and pirates!). However, above all of these stood Ahasanur’s costume, which consisted solely of three pizza boxes around his waist.

The horns really top it off.

Also Logan went in what I believe to be a Mexican folk dancer's dress.

This guy shoots deer by the hundreds when he's back home.

After our month-long homestay, we were brought back to our home at the biological research station for the last week and a half of our program. After the usual test and research paper bombardment, we were treated to a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner. Alan procured six turkeys for this delicious meal that we shared with the other Costa Rican CIEE program, the sustainability group. Their program only had 9 people in it, as compared to our 22, but I do wish that we gotten to meet them much earlier, they were a great bunch.

Thanksgiving with friends is the best, no matter where you are. Photo courtesy: Alyssa Hansen

On the next day, we had our last assignment of the semester. We had a symposium on our independent research results. In high school, I was the absolute worst at public speaking. I would sweat, my hands would shake, my voice would fade in and out and I'd forget the words that I had perfectly articulated only minutes before. I've improved much since then, I don't even bat an eye when I hear I have to stand up in front and talk. But something about this symposium was different, and my body revolted, causing my hands to shake. Still, regardless of that revolt, my presentation went just fine. In fact, I'm planning on presenting my results again at the spring symposium at Vassar.

Laser pointers do not project lasers in a line.

This last weekend was packed. On Thursday we had our Thanksgiving dinner, on Saturday we had our symposium, and on Sunday we our Spanish picnic. Of course, we all had one last presentation; we decided to put on a Spanish telenovela. It was absurd but amazing, and it was a good way to finish off the academic portion of our program. In addition, most of us got to see our  host families one last time.

I still don't know if they were laughing at us or with us. I'm going to assume the former for my well being.

After our classes were finished, we had one last hike. It was brief, but it let us have one more look at the cloud forest that we had come to love so much.

I'm going to miss this place. A lot.

That night, our teachers showed us a slideshow of all of the photos that they had taken during the semester. It was nothing short of spectacular. The photos elicited so many happy memories; this program and this semester have been unforgettable.

Also, hug circles are a thing.

On our last day, we were brought to a place unlike all of the previous places we had went to. Los Lagos, Hotel and Resort (I understand how a place can be a hotel or a resort, but how can it be both?). Its hot springs were relaxing and the slides were exhilarating, especially since there weren't silly things like safety regulations or speed limits.

Apparently you can go 40% faster by utilizing the Wedgie Technique. I was going plenty fast without it, thank you very much. 

Afterwards, we returned to San Jose for the last night of our program. We got dinner at an Italian restaurant, where we had previously gone on our second night of the program. It was a rica last dinner.

This semester was an absolutely exhilarating experience. It is really quite hard to put into words why this program was so amazing. I loved all of our destinations, I loved our activities, I loved our teachers, I loved my classmates, heck, I even loved our lectures. This program was such a breath of fresh air; I love Vassar but this program was just so different. I will never forget it and I am so thankful for this opportunity that I was given. I'd like to thank Alan Masters, Moncho Calderon, Branko Hilje, Johel Chaves, Maricela Porter and Kathy for making this program possible for us. And of course, I'd like to thank my wonderful classmates for making this such an unforgettable experience. 

I don't know what I was expecting when I applied for this program, but it was the best choice I ever made.

I love you guys.