Covid 19 has made international travel very difficult and many of us had to cancel or postpone our trips abroad. Trinity High School and Mercy Academy (both in Louisville, KY) along with Lexington Catholic (Lexington, KY) have paired together to take an amazing adventure in Costa Rica. In collaboration with Seeds of Change, these three schools will be studying leafcutter ants and conducting experiments in the rainforest. 10 days of learning in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Students will be posting a daily blog to share their experiences and highlight their research. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts. Trip One: May 29th - June 8th Trip Two: June 9th - 19th Let the learning begin.
The day started with breakfast, today's was eggs and ham. After breakfast, we went to the classroom. There, Dr. Pinto and Allen explained how to dig up an ant colony. After the explanation we started on a hike to a place with a lot of colonies for us to dig up. We first saw a palm plant that had been ravaged by leafcutter ants, leaves the size of my chest were just gone, taken away by the ants. We then continued our hike, coming upon a small Atta colony. This colony was too small to excavate so we counited on. As we passed more colonies, Dr. Pinto explained the larger colonies make their own highways to improve the effectiveness of the cutters. We finally reached the field, and we split up in our groups. my group was unlucky and instead of finding a leafcutter colony, we found a fire ant colony. I was the one digging, but the ants seemed to avoid me. Joey got the worst of it, they got into his jacket. After that bad experience, we moved on and found a real leafcutter colony. It wa...
On day two of the trip, we did horseback riding, which was easily the most stressful part. Mounting the horses was more difficult than expected, and some of the horses did not want to do what we wanted them too. On day four, we went to a place in the village that grows and exports butterflies. They also sell very nice jewelry and clothing, and other items made of recycled materials. On day five, we got a chocolate tour of the farm. We got to see how the chocolate is made, the history of chocolate and cacao, and got to try some of the items that Finca la Anita produces. We tried five different things, 100% cacao nibs, 28% chocolate, or as Pablo called it, chocolate flavored candy. We also tried pieces of 72%, 82%, and 92%. Not many people appeared to be fans of the 92%. On the topic of the ant research, most groups seem to be successful so far with their projects. One group is trying to find a way to protect the cacao plants, one group is seeing what leaf leafcutters favor, one is ...
Absolutely amazing! The farm looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHave a great time, gentlemen!
ReplyDeleteLooks amazing, have fun!
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