2026 Blog
Monday, June 22, 2026 (Archit)
I like to call this D-Day since we all landed in San Jose, Costa Rica at the same time. Prior to this, we realised that all of us were on the same flight from Orlando and decided to meet up in front of our gate for the first time, except Gabby, since she had her flight from a different terminal than us. It was really cool to see everyone in person, since we had only briefly seen each other during our training, which was via Zoom. After landing, it took us at least 1 hour to get through immigration/customs because the line was super long. Luisa had come to pick us up at the airport and was waiting for us outside the airport. During our ride from the airport to the lunch place, we were playing a game called Guess Who. Abby thought of a person in her mind and we had to ask simple yes/no questions to figure out which person she was thinking of. We played that game a lot, and I got the hang of it eventually.
Then we stopped for lunch and had our first traditional meal in Costa Rica. I ordered a traditional Casada, which consists of rice, beans, mixed veggies, plantains, and a tortilla. Everybody seemed happy with their meal and decided to hop back into the car, which took us straight to our hotel afterwards. I was so sleepy from my flight travels that I had to skip dinner with the squad. I proceeded to sleep for the whole night after that.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 (G)
Our day started at 7am with a delicious breakfast of Gallo Pinto and huevos fritos in the open-air breakfast lounge of Hotel Aranjuez. After which we hopped in the van to head to Universidad Nacional (UNA), which made for a long trip through San Jose commuter traffic. Once we arrived, we had time to look at the horses and to observe a colony of leafcutter ants going about their business. After a while, our guide arrived and we received a tour of their research wastewater treatment system. While it was meant to utilize plants as a method for wastewater treatment, the person in charge of the project told us that their research indicated that the microbial community in the media had more of a role in treating the wastewater. After our tour, we also spent some time observing the river running through the Universidad and discussing the pollution we could see (mainly visible detergents and plastic litter). Before we walked up the hill to the university dining hall, where I saw a cool Iguana on a log.
After lunch we took the van to the oldest market in San Jose (est 1880). I slept for most of the trip, also long due to traffic. We wandered around the mercado, at which point Archit made an iconic purchase. We took a short stop at the pharmacy, and another stop at a street vendor of World Cup jerseys for Gabby to show off her Colombia pride. We walked along central San Jose until we reached the National Theatre, where Don Marvin picked us up to shuttle us off to the hotel.
At the hotel, we had some down time. I played Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza with Gabby, Lucas, and Archit. At which point it was time for dinner. We went to a beautiful restaurant called Cafe Mundo, they basically had a jungle in their front garden. We all had some great conversations, and got to know each other better. Their bread offerings were muy rico and their tiramisu was fire.
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 (Natalie)
My morning started by chowing down on my favorite bread, Musmanni, Costa Rica’s beloved bakery chain. It is the perfect way to start a busy day like today. I had completely forgotten that we needed to be ready by 8 AM to drive to Monteverde. After some speedy packing of my one suitcase and backpack (lol), I was ready to join the team for the long ride.
The ride to Monteverde was scenic and something I had never seen before. The amount of mountainous range was beyond what I had experienced the last time I visited Costa Rica. Despite the beautiful scenery, our ears popped a few times at the altitude, and it took time to adjust. Marvin, our bus driver, did an awesome job driving despite the different terrain. A challenge arose when a tree fell onto the road and took down a light post, causing us a 30-minute delay. We rerouted and continued our journey despite the small hiccup. In the meantime, the team and I played a round of Spy, an app on your phone that gives you and everyone a word, and each person describes their word with another word without saying it. However, one person has a different word than everyone else. The game was so fun, I quickly realized how bad I am at guessing context clues.
After more than 2 hours, we finally arrived in Monteverde, where we had lunch and a debriefing. The tour of the institute left us in awe, especially when we saw the glass classroom and the plant nursery. After listening to Evelyn, Gabriella, and Luisa, we finally packed up once more to meet our host families. My host family, the Brenes, was outside waiting for us. Martha greeted us with a smile and so much energy. My homesickness disappeared in an instant. These past few days have been very hard for me due to adjustments and other factors. Despite feeling a bit down, I felt very cheerful to meet Martha and Juan Carlos. I even got to meet Martha’s father, who was in town. He introduced me to his garden and taught me about local herbal medicine. After my long day of traveling and learning, it was time to rest. I am looking forward to learning more about the local culture, and especially the flora and fauna.
Thursday, June 25, 2026 (Lucas)
Today was our first sampling day in Monteverde. I woke up and had breakfast with my host family, then met up with the other students and walked to the Monteverde Institute. We then visited our first site, where we toured the water treatment facilities and took samples and readings from the site’s main water treatment system.
Afterwards, we drove to the next site where we took readings from their water treatment system. We returned back to the Monteverde Institute to have lunch. Afterwards, we made our final visit. Just like the previous two sites we took water samples from their wastewater treatment system. We went back to the Monteverde Institute where we had a little time to clean up and organize the lab as well as to write down some materials we would need. We had finished our first collection day!
This was our first time on this trip to figure out our workflow and become familiar with the equipment, so we moved a bit slower and did not have much time for analysis. That being said, it felt like a very interesting and productive day. I am looking forward to honing my water sample collection skills as the research progresses! ¡Pura Vida!
Friday, June 26, 2026 (Abby)
Friday was the first lab work day. We got to the institute early (8am) to process the samples taken the day before. On the walk to the institute we saw a little weiner dog (perro salchica) running past us. We planned out about 3 hours, but it took a lot longer than expected. It was the first day we were going through each test slowly to ensure that there would be no major mistakes. First we ran the COD tests because they digest for 2 hours which is the longest time out of all the tests.
While they were digesting, Dr. Himmlegreen and Dr. Romero-Daza spoke to us about free listing and pile sorting. The first pile sorting exercise we did was thinking about meals or types of foods that reminded us of our childhood memories. After we wrote some down we then got to sort them into piles in any way we thought best. I sorted it into the family member that I connected it with really made me think and as I was doing it. I love the activity because it brought back so many memories of my childhood.
Right when the activity was wrapping up, the COD test had finished digesting so we took a break from the lesson and tried to finish the COD test and also complete the Nitrogen and Phosphorus tests. All of the tests we ran were HACH tests which had test kits that were easy to transport along with all the equipment (spectrophotometer, digester, etc) needed for it. These tests ran into lunch time so we took lunch shifts and had some people in the lab working or reading samples and others eating.
After lunch, we had two more lessons with Dr. Romero-Daza and Dr. Himmelgreen, the first being another pile sorting activity.
Saturday, June 27, 2026 (Gabriela)
Saturday was a much needed day of fun, exploration, and relaxation. Many of us slept in scandalously late, and we did not meet up until 10am. I invited everyone upstairs to see my room, which they proceeded to camp in jealous wonder for an extended period before we set out for Santa Elena. We stopped at a cafe for a while to bond over smoothies, and then we began exploring tourist trap shops and buying souvenirs. We’d originally planned to go for a hike afterwards…but then the hunger set in. We bounced from restaurant to restaurant while being humbled by the prices before realizing we’d be better off eating anywhere except tourist trap central. Instead, we walked back to my homestay, which is a hotel and restaurant, and had lunch there. I had the best-tasting refresher that I’ve ever drank in my life. My host dad–the greatest of all time–gave everyone a bowl of ice cream on the house. By then, the World Cup match between England and Panama had begun, and our hiking plans were long forgotten. G stayed downstairs to watch the match. Everyone else retired upstairs to lay down and play the New York Times games. After three business days, Archit finally finished the Wordle, and everyone settled in to play Phase 10 instead. Ridiculousness ensued. We didn’t get to finish the game before everyone went their own ways for dinner, but we did have a lot of fun relaxing together.
Anecdotally, today marks the day that FIFA pulled off the world’s greatest heist since the Mona Lisa got stolen. They robbed Colombia of their incredible last-minute goal. If Davinson Sanchez had clipped his toenails before the match, it wouldn’t have been offside.
Sunday, June 28, 2026 (Gabriela)
Sunday was equal parts serious productivity and playful exploration. We started our morning at Taty’s Bakery Café, where we worked on the research paper for a while and enjoyed some drinky drinks. G left early to partake in bingo with their host family, which ended up taking several hours. In the meantime, we stopped by a local market for some snacks and had a picnic on a bench overlooking Santa Elena. The squad split up again for lunch. Lucas and I settled back in to work on the paper for about 5 minutes before giving up and hopping on Roblox to play bingo instead. After several rounds of getting annihilated by small children, we rage quit just in time for Archit to arrive.
We then settled in for our apparently favorite pastime, card games, and played the world’s longest, most ridiculous game of BS. It was nightmarish. It just wouldn’t end. Eventually we had to call it to go outside and reconnect with nature. We went on an art walk in the woods around a nearby art gallery, which was beautiful. Archit really wanted me to try swinging on different ropes that very obviously would not hold my weight. Then we walked to the Monteverde Institute to go on a brief hike with G, where we got to see an armadillo! We were getting buffeted by strong winds during our walk back to our homestays, but we still risked taking this very scenic selfie to celebrate the incredible day.
Monday, June 29, 2026 (Archit)
Monday started with a beautiful walk to the institute around 8 am. I caught up to Gabby by the end of the walk, and we proceeded to walk to the lab together. We had stream sampling in our itinerary today with Luisa. So, to prepare for that, Luisa gave us a presentation on the water, aquatic species, and streams affected by the wastewater in the Monteverde region. Shortly after, we hopped in the car and went to Quebrada Sucia stream to sample for parameters such as pH, phosphate, nitrogen, and to identify species present in that particular stream. Everybody had lots of fun finding and identifying species that are indicators of how good or bad the stream is. Luisa told us that she does these kinds of activities with school kids so that they get inspired and motivated to protect the streams. During sampling, we saw some howler monkeys right above us, and then they tried to fling their poop on us, but thankfully it didn’t actually land on us.
By the end of our activity, we realised that this is a very satisfying and fun activity to do even for adults. After that, we headed back to the institute for lunch. Dr. Orner had some stuff ready for us after lunch. He debriefed us on collecting infrastructure data and Life cycle assessment. During this time, Lucas and Gabby went with Dr. Romero Daza to take notes for an interview. This was followed by a discussion of each of the wastewater plans, which led to the conclusion that site A is very complex. We ended our workday with more discussion about the research paper and decided to head back home. I had to split up from the squad and head back immediately to my host family as they wanted to take me to a family dinner. The rest of the squad went to the Cheesecake Factory to try some ice cream and milkshakes. My dinner with my host family was really good, as everybody was always joking and laughing. The dinner place was also special since I got to eat a mango directly from a tree and saw a bird called oropéndolas, which is native to Central America.
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 (G)
Today was a sampling day, so almost as soon as we got to the institute we were packed into the back of the Land Cruiser with all of our gear. This week, though, we had our systems down and got done with our first site of the day in 30 minutes. Then we were off to site two, which similarly took only a short while, however Gabby talked the system manager into a thorough tour of the system and a short diversion through the kitchens. At which point, Natalie and I broke off from the rest of the group to observe an interview that Dr. Romero-Daza was conducting. It was very interesting to watch, however because I speak only a little Spanish, I found some parts difficult to follow along with.
After the interview, Natalie and I popped by a local bakery for some delicious confectionery. Before Luisa picked us and Dr. Romero-Daza up for lunch at the Institute. After which we began the lab analyses for our samples. This ended up taking much longer than we had hoped because we had to rerun several tests with different levels of dilutions. That was exhausting. I got home at around 5:30 and basically passed out.
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 (Natalie)
Today’s weather was so rainy and windy; all I wanted to do was sleep and procrastinate, but today was a very busy day for me. The agenda for my schedule today was super packed. Currently, I am taking two online classes, and I have a lot of work to complete for both the cohort and USF coursework. Someone who reminds me to keep being a busy bee is Martha, my host mom; she is always doing something, and I admire her a lot. After breakfast, I noticed Saeeda, my host sister, would be late for school, so I let her know I would walk her there, even though it meant I'd be a little early. Saeeda often shares with us what she has learned in school and in practice. Recently, my host family's been teasing her about a phrase the teacher taught her: “Bicho Malo!” Her nickname is permanently Bicho Malo, which is kind of mean but in a loving way. She’s a really funny and awesome person. Her work centers on architecture, and I wish I had her artistic skills! Eventually, we reached the Institute, and today's schedule was largely anthropology-centered, including learning about data analysis and a host family check-in. Deven, a current PhD candidate at the University of South Florida, gave us the rundown on anthropological methods, including content analysis and data entry. After a full session of knowledge, Gabriella from MVI asked us how we felt so far during our stay and whether we needed any adjustments. She's a really great coordinator and pays attention to detail. After we ate a delicious meal, we got back to work in the lab and edited the paper, audio logs, and other important documents. Sunsets in Monteverde are breathtaking, and I was in awe of the scenery and the refreshing rain on my walk home. Hopefully, I get to explore more of Monteverde as the weeks go by. Overall, the day was bittersweet because I had to say goodbye to our anthropology professors, but it was too pretty outside to be sad for long.
Thursday, July 2, 2026 (Lucas)
Today I woke up early and spent some time organizing my many photos from the trip so far. I ate breakfast with my host family. I met up with Abby at the bottom of the steep hill of doom and we walked over to the Institute. We got pretty soaked since it was a super rainy morning. Once at the institute, I met up with the whole team in the lab to work on our report and various deliverables we had this week. Some of us moved upstairs to the library to work in style. We grouped back up for lunch, enjoying some time eating with heavy rain and occasional thunder outside–it was definitely a vibe. Once we finished eating we still had some time, so we met back up in the library to play our favorite game… SPY.
We worked a bit more on the report after lunch and eventually THE RAIN STOPPED! We saw our opportunity and decided to head home. Some of us split off for dinner. Gabby, Archit, G, and I started our walk to Santa Elena. On the way we saw some brown-hooded parrots, which were so cute. Archit headed off to his homestay while Gabby, G and I visited various shops in Santa Elena. I finally found my coveted towel with the 2 mil colones bill design. Afterwards, I headed back to my host family, and then over to Gabby’s to finish up some work and play some games.
Today was definitely a busy one overall, but it felt really productive. Working on the report with the team, and the adventures in the afternoon made for a very fun Thursday!
Friday, July 3, 2026 (Abby)
While at the MVI it was fully a work day. In the morning we split up and either worked on the report or did surveys with MVI students. This morning we also learned that Archit is not the ideal choice for making observations. After listening back to one of his recordings where he said “Location A effluent looks… *minute pause* … I can’t tell.” Below is also a photo of Gabby and Lucas demonstrating his recording skills. While impressive it doesn’t work well when you are trying to understand the speaker or pick up any necessary sound.
After lunch, Gabby and Lucas started work on surveys outside the MVI, while other students worked more on the paper. After 2 hours the paper was finished and an hour after that Gabby and Lucas returned. We found out that even with 3 hours of work they had no luck and got only 2 surveys (yikes). We discussed our options and decided to put extra emphasis on all anthropological work the following week.
Also when Gabby and Lucas got back the Cabo Verde and Argentina game started. We all were rooting for Cabo Verde because 1) they are the underdogs and 2) they are the sworn enemy of Columbia. We checked in on the game on our walk home but after Messi scored we thought nothing would come of it.
We then parted ways, but I needed to go to the store to pick up a birthday tres leches for a member of my host family and Archit was nice enough to tag along. We also decided that because Columbia was playing we should pick up a yellow, red, and blue snack to make the columbian flag.
When I got home my host family had the Cabo Verde and Argentina game on. IT WAS TIED AND IN EXTRA TIME. We were all very excited and watched the rest of the game. Cabo Verde ended up scoring an own goal in the 111th minute, but it was still a very fun game to watch.
After dinner we all met at Gabby and Natalie's homestay hotel and Archit and I pulled out the Columbian colored snacks. After that we ordered some drinks (I had a Sangria that was very good, but very strong), ate the snacks, played phase10, and watched Columbia beat Ghana. Overall a very fun day!
Saturday, July 4, 2026 (Gabriela)
If wandering around was an Olympic sport, we would all be gold medalists. We started off our morning with a hike to a nearby waterfall. It was the coolest thing ever. We saw funky beetles, crossed several cable bridges, and stumbled upon a leafcutter ant superhighway. The waterfall itself was beautiful. We took our sweet time climbing all over the place to take silly photos of each other before finding a nice boulder to sit on while sharing snacks. As nice as all of that was, the real highlight of the hike came just as we were about to exit the trail, when I stumbled over what I originally thought was a rock—only to find out that it was the sole of my shoe. The entire thing came right off like a Lego piece. We couldn’t stop laughing about it for the rest of the day.
The adventure doesn’t care if you’re wearing a whole shoe or not. It forges onward, sole or no sole, in the direction of the nearest art gallery, which is exactly where we went. We spent the rest of the morning on an art walk from gallery to gallery, splitting apart briefly to eat lunch before hitting the galleries again. G, Lucas, and I ended up walking all the way into Santa Elena on our quest to be price gouged by every art boutique in town. I bought a pair of earrings that are significantly larger than my actual ears. Lucas bought a t-shirt. G pined over a painting of a quetzal but ultimately decided against it. We closed out our time together by talking about music over drinks and sweet treats at a café in town (any Deftones fans in the audience?) before retreating to our homestays for dinner and sleep. As a whole, it was a terrific day full of fun, excitement, and Google searches for a local cobbler.
Sunday, July 5, 2026 (Gabriela)
Today was grueling in a fun way: 3 bars visited, 20,000 steps walked, 10 pictures taken of Archit kissing a boulder, and countless ankles rolled—but most importantly, lifelong memories made!
G, Archit, Lucas, and I started the day with what we foolishly assumed would be a normal hike to Cerro Amigos, the local TV tower. Instead, it turned out to be the hike of agony and ankle destruction. That trail made us put in work like we owed it money. It was such an intense steep climb that after 30 minutes, I decided to just stay behind at a rest area and wait for the rest of the squad to return. However, my boredom quickly overcame my self-preservation instincts, and I set off after them. The looks on their faces when I casually caught up to them at the summit an hour later were priceless. It would’ve been worth it just to see everyone’s surprised happiness, but to top it off, the views were absolutely stunning. It was such an incredible and rewarding, albeit brutal, climb. The terrain was all loose rocks and dirt, which was punishing on the way up but completely unforgiving on the way down. We had to descend the mountain through what can only be described as skedaddling in order to make it down safely. It was really funny.
We celebrated our return to civilization with a visit to a café near the Institute for drinks and sweat treats before hiking back to our homestays and breaking for lunch. Then after a brief recovery period, it was time to hike to a beer garden in Santa Elena to watch the England vs. Mexico match. G, Lucas, and I played some games together while waiting for kickoff, but we soon ended up on a bar hopping side quest—not because we were drinking, but because every place we visited was terrible for viewing the match. We ended up making a frenzied sprint from Bar Amigos all the way back to my homestay during halftime. Lucas and I stopped at the corner store for color-themed match snacks, which we shared with Natalie, G, and my host parents while watching the rest of the ridiculous match. Overall, today was awesome. ¡Pura Vida!