July 10-14

Hola, I know you are all wanting to know about my vacation and soon enough you will. Let's just call it the Amazing race. This week was intense as well. Sunday we got back from the Amazing Race and Monday morning bright and early we had to leave on a hike and overnight stay at Fince Amapala. The hike that I heard was 2 hours turned out to be 4.5 which wouldn't be bad considering what I did last week; however, my big toe nail is black and blue and it hurts to be confined in my boots. The trails were not the greatest and at one point Anibal had to use his machetti to bush wack. The are cool, I need to for sure buy one. Anyways to along the hike we had these things called water apples..yum they are like pears almost, Anibal also found us snot berries which are in the kiwi family. Once you pop them open you suck out the snot like liquid and seeds that are sweet. Once we got to Finca Amapala we walked through the banana plantation and after about 20 minutes more reached the lodge. We rested and did some measurements and then had dinner finally. My tummy shrank over break so I ate more than I should and regretted it moments later- if not the entire night. I went to bed super early and the others continued playing cards. In the morning we ate, took a hike to get GPS data and almost got blown away. The winds were going abour 50 mph according to Anibal. After we hiked back, we got lunch and then took off to get down the mountain. Of course, I got sick on the hike and started puking, Luckily Cameron is super nice and carried my backpack for me and stayed back with me and kept making me drink water and wash my mouth out. Anibal sent me home as soon as we got down and got to the cars. I was thankful and slept the entire day.

Wednesday I still was sick until the evening. I should have stayed home from school because I didn't contribute anything and kept falling asleep during the reserve lecture. I asked to go to the car and sleep after the lecture because they were going on a hike and I knew I couldn't make it. I went home after clas and slept and slept..

Thursday, we had a 7:30 apt at the Monteverde Reserve. We got a free tour since one group is making a handicap trail there. It was neat to hear about the plants and animals and see the difference between secondary and primary forests. Also to learn about the numerous hummingbird species; which I must say get really close and at some points I had to duck in fear they would run into my head. We saw monkeys and birds and lots of kewl plants and trees. Some ferns were prehistoric from the dinosaur times and there as tall as some trees however the bark was not bark but only their vascular system. The stranger figs were neat to learn about as well and how they take over the host tree and years later after the host has rotted away the inner part of the stranger fig is hollow. When we got back from the hike, I made a survey for our group and emailed it out. I felt productive. The 6 of us from our week vacay plus Anibal and Asia went out to dinner and had a movie night at the Institute...XMEN3.

This weekend should be more relaxed since we are all tired still. Tonight we are going out to celecbrate Anibal, Cameron, and Kameron's bdays. The girls are doing our hair and makeup and trying to feel girly for once. WEll I have a lecture in 5 mintues to go to so I will tell you about the Amazing Race soon! It will take a while!