Workaholics

Greetings from the tired yet enthusiastic K-NOISE-evic, Scorpion Setesak, and Monkeyin' Around Myles. After a long day at the beach and probably not enough sleep, we rose this morning for our daily breakfast at 7 o'clock. Guess what?? We had Rice and Beans! Again. Like every meal. Since day 1. We went off to the lab to continue the second part of the research we had started on Tuesday. Our good friend Daniél helped us recollect the leaf bags we had gathered previously from the drying oven in order to record data for our experiments.

Daniél helping us sort and label

 The sorted bags

While some groups washed roots out of soil, others measured leaves that had been left to decompose (more on that experiment later...), while others separated bags into categories of twigs, leaves, fruits and seeds, flowers, and caterpillar poop. What a joy that was. After a few hours of good hard labor to whip us rowdy teenagers into shape, we went to lunch. Which was a surprise in many ways. Not only did we get a new type of rice for lunch, but we also got to see a troupe of about 10 howler monkeys in the Guanacaste tree right outside of the Comedor (which is the Spanish word for the mess hall). After lunch and a little down time, we went right back to work. We began to do our analysis on our experiment on the decomposition of leaves. We were examining how two types of leaves decomposed under the tree they came from (Home Status) versus where the other type of leaves came from (Away Status). We measured how much of the mass had decomposed and was lost in the process. We had to almost yell across the room to hear each other over the sudden downpour outside. After a long development of the hypothesis and other critical information about the layout of the project, we took a small break. After all, we had been doing science for 2 hours. No kid can last that long during the summertime. 

Some of our layout for the experiment analysis

We returned to look at the mathematical patterns and calculations regarding the experiment, and spent the next hour taking an introductory course in statistics. Needless to say, by the time our 5:30 dinner rolled around, our brains were more cooked than the rice and beans we ate (although some of us have complained about these staples in Costa Rican cuisine, us three have been enjoying them a lot. Except for Myles. He doesn't like the beans :( But we won't judge him). We took some time to relax and take a nap (for the third time today if your name is Nick Setesak...). We were then surprised with a game of charades, which pitted the Seniors-to-be against the other students and Dr. Wood. It was a long, hard fought battle, as seen below:

As the last contestants from each group rose and acted out their Costa Rican themed terms, things were looking bright for the "Everybody Else and Dr. Wood" team. But those whiny old seniors couldn't lose. And Mr. Carlson decided to call for a Lightning round. Things got more heated than the Costa Rican sun. The tensions were increasing by the millisecond. We played our hearts out until the final stopwatch beep. And the Seniors rose, and screamed, and I, Alex, may or may not have exited the room in tears. Needless to say, there are grudges to be settled. But the dark, rainy evening perfectly displayed the crushing loss and defeat in all of our hearts. Or maybe just Alex's. But anyways....

We are preparing for a termite swarm tonight as they are on the hunt for mates. But we will tuck in our mosquito nets tight and hope for the best. We hope to survive. Stay tuned for more. This has been Myles Olson, Nick Setesak, and Alex Knezevic, reporting from the Santa Rosa Sector of the Área Conservación de Guanacaste. Thank you and goodnight. PURA VIDA!!!!