River's Senior Project

 Day #14 Unfortunately, our time in Costa Rica has come to a close. Duffy and I woke up at 4:00 am on Monday to head back to the states. We had no issues getting to our gate and we had plenty of time to get some breakfast. After landing in Miami, Duffy and I had to go through customs and another round of security which took way longer than expected. With that out of the way, Duffy and I arrived at the gate only to find that our flight had been delayed. We decided to get a couple of burgers, something we had refrained from doing in Costa Rica due to the fact that the burger meat is just not the same there. Even though the burgers were sub-par, they still tasted amazing. Additionally, while at lunch it was very amusing to hear Duffy mistakenly say, "Hola" to the waitress who gave us a weird look. In what felt like no time at all, we were boarding our flight to Boston. It was great to arrive back on campus and see some familiar faces. 

 Weekly Reflection #2         We just made it to San Jose today and are flying out tomorrow morning on a flight that leaves at 7:00 am. After so much time spent waiting to do this trip, I cannot believe we are at the end of it. These last two weeks have been such a great time as well as provided me with some very valuable learning experiences.            This project turned out to be very beneficial in preparing me for having success in the future. It helped to reinforce proper time management skills and frequent goal setting. The responsibility of booking travel and hotels, cooking meals, getting assigned tasks at work completed, writing blogs, and writing my Academic Concentration research paper was all put on me a no one else. I would be lying if I didn't say that it was quite a lot, but it was a challenge that I was prepared to tackle.            It is also amazing to see how little h...

 Day #12 Today was sadly our last day working at the Institute. We met Victorino in Calandria this morning. The plan was to plant trees today, but unfortunately, the sight was not quite ready, so we did some organizing in the tree nursery. There was a lot to resort after last week's large tree delivery from Tranadora. We used wheelbarrows to relocate sapling bags with seeds that had been stacked to save space. We also helped load people's cars that were doing pickups although it was not nearly as busy as Monday. After our morning in Calabria, we headed back to the institute, ate a nice lunch, and said go bye to everyone before we headed out. Everyone was super thankful and invited us to come back soon. I know I have said it before in my posts, but it is really crazy how fast the time flew by. It felt like just yesterday that we were getting started! After work, I was finally able to meet up with my host family who I had not seen for two years. It was really great to see them an...

 Day #11 Today was another day filled with logging data. We set up our office outside on a patio at the institute and got to work. It was the first day with bad weather. It poured the entire day so it was nice that we had the cover of the roof to be under. We were able to cruise through the rest of the data sheets in what felt like no time at all. I was shocked to look at the time and see it was already 1:00 pm. Once finished with the data logging, Duffy and I had some great fried rice that Duffy made the night before for lunch. We finished off the work day filling bags. In the evening, we went to a great dinner at Alida and Wyatt's house. I am sad it is our last day tomorrow but looking forward to planting some trees! Daily time: 8 hours Total hours: 71 hours  

 Day #10 Today was the first day we did work that did not involve getting our hands dirty. Before leaving, Randy gave us two large assignments. One was to laminate an immense stack of flashcards that would be used to teach children in Monteverde about some of the endemic tree species of their home and the important role these plants play in upholding a balance in the ecosystem. Duffy and I, along with Wyatt and Alida, spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon working on this project and were all able to get it finished by mid-morning. This left us with one more task that was a little more daunting. Over the past year, data from hundreds and hundreds of saplings had been taken down for research but was all recorded on paper. Our job was to transfer all of this data to an online spreadsheet that will allow it to be easily analyzed. This proved to be very laborious work that took way more concentration than I was expecting. Through many cups of coffee and a variety of music and podc...

 Day #9 Today we had a nice sleep-in and started work at 9:00 am instead of our usual 8:00 am start. Duffy cooked some great bacon this morning that we enjoyed with our breakfast before we headed out for the day. At the start of the day, we listened to a talk about the Ocuteious Monteverdencie tree, which is a tree we had been working with very closely over the last week. We learned that although there is very little known about them, it is estimated that it takes them at  least 50 years to first begin producing fruit though it is estimated it is most likely around 100 years before they are able to reproduce! They have extremely strict growing conditions and so far have only been found in Monteverde, Costa Rica. They are a type of avocado tree and have extremely high-calorie fruits. The are a huge source of food for many organisms. One more interesting discovery about the tree is they flower on a 3-year cycle and will only do so when conditions are perfect. The institute ...