Day 9 Good Bye La Finca Anita. Hello Horizonte Field Station
Day 9
We had a sad goodbye and headed to Horizonte through Liberia. It is very hot at the research station.
After taking the night to relax and decompress from our final presentations, we had to bid adieu to La Finca Anita Ranch this morning. The climate is quite different given the fact the Horizonte research station is located in the dry forest. No more sporadic rain showers, woohoo!
We took a 3 hour car ride to get to our new base of operations, we had 2, 30 minute stops. On the way we took a much needed pit stop. The excitement was palpable in the bus when we passed a McDonald's. After heaps of begging, the drivers were nice enough to pull over and let us get some much needed trans fats. For most of us it was our first time eating something non-organic in the past week. There was also a market where some of us were able to stock up on junk food.
We then continued our journey, finally arriving at the Horizonte research facility, which is in close proximity to the Liberian airport. The conditions were drastically different from what most of us were accustomed to at La Anita. The facility provides us with a chance to get first hand experience at the living conditions of science researchers. Some, if not all of us, were quite surprised to find out the facility grounds house iguanas, scorpions, & snakes.
Once we settled in, we had a meeting in the classroom where we regrouped and got our bearings. We learned about the sea turtles in the area, during our meeting they surprised us with none other then PIZZA! There were some misty-eyed people in the room at the sight of the pizza.
From there we took a hike into the forest where we learned about the mutualistic relationship between Pseudomyrmex ants and Acacia trees. We were divided into groups and given fifteen minutes to analyze the relationship between the tree and the ants. We returned to class and discussed our observations.
Once our meeting finished, we went back to our rooms to relax and prepare for our night at the beach to study the sea turtles. We hope to find some sea turtle nesting sights!
Some of us even saw signs from our loved ones who have passed on in the form of a rainbow and a dragon fly.
We had a sad goodbye and headed to Horizonte through Liberia. It is very hot at the research station.
After taking the night to relax and decompress from our final presentations, we had to bid adieu to La Finca Anita Ranch this morning. The climate is quite different given the fact the Horizonte research station is located in the dry forest. No more sporadic rain showers, woohoo!
We took a 3 hour car ride to get to our new base of operations, we had 2, 30 minute stops. On the way we took a much needed pit stop. The excitement was palpable in the bus when we passed a McDonald's. After heaps of begging, the drivers were nice enough to pull over and let us get some much needed trans fats. For most of us it was our first time eating something non-organic in the past week. There was also a market where some of us were able to stock up on junk food.
We then continued our journey, finally arriving at the Horizonte research facility, which is in close proximity to the Liberian airport. The conditions were drastically different from what most of us were accustomed to at La Anita. The facility provides us with a chance to get first hand experience at the living conditions of science researchers. Some, if not all of us, were quite surprised to find out the facility grounds house iguanas, scorpions, & snakes.
The rooming situation is also very different for us. There are three boys/girls per room and we have communal bathrooms. They are also quite smaller and less luxurious to those at Anita, but that's the price we have to pay to experience the life of researchers.
Once we settled in, we had a meeting in the classroom where we regrouped and got our bearings. We learned about the sea turtles in the area, during our meeting they surprised us with none other then PIZZA! There were some misty-eyed people in the room at the sight of the pizza.
From there we took a hike into the forest where we learned about the mutualistic relationship between Pseudomyrmex ants and Acacia trees. We were divided into groups and given fifteen minutes to analyze the relationship between the tree and the ants. We returned to class and discussed our observations.
Once our meeting finished, we went back to our rooms to relax and prepare for our night at the beach to study the sea turtles. We hope to find some sea turtle nesting sights!
Some of us even saw signs from our loved ones who have passed on in the form of a rainbow and a dragon fly.
There is a dragonfly under the rainbow.
We are enjoying the hammocks.
Comments
Post a Comment