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!
Monday, July 6, 2026 (Archit)
This day was really special for me and hopefully for the group as well because we were going to the Monteverde Cloud Forest for a tour. The morning started off with a rainy walk, and Abby caught up to me. We walked to the institute and said hi to Luisa. At 8:30 am, we reached the cloud forest. Over there, we were welcomed by our tour guide, Erial. We started the tour by seeing tadpoles even before entering the actual area; it was like a small garden in front of the gift shop. I was in awe of the forest as soon as I entered it, with huge trees. There was misty rain in the forest, and we could see moss all around us. Then, Erial explained that since this forest is at high altitude, it constantly gets rain or that misty rain without constant sunlight which enables moss to grow all over the trees. We saw a lot of animals and were fascinated throughout the trip. The first animal we saw was a spider that instantly ran away as soon as I started making a video. Maybe it was just camera shy and introverted lol. Next, we saw big movements above us in the trees and identified them as spider monkeys. They were so cool (que chiva), we saw a bunch of them making noises at us as we were heading into their territory. The baby monkeys were also very cute. During our walk, we saw a bunch of mushrooms growing on trees and in random places. This made me think about the stone ape theory, which is a hypothesis that hunters & gatherers started eating mushrooms randomly and made significant cognitive strides due to mind-opening side effects of some mushrooms. There is no evidence for this theory, but it is an interesting one. I’m sure it would’ve been the last meal for a few of the ancestors because some mushrooms could be poisonous as well. After mushrooms, we saw hummingbirds, caterpillars, and flycatcher birds. In addition, we observed another big movement above us in the trees, and guess what? The monkeys were back again, but this time different ones. These were white-faced monkeys and they also made a lot of noise when we were deep into the forest. A whole family of monkeys was swinging from one tree to another. They were flinging poop or dirt balls at us, but thankfully they didn’t land on us directly. Somebody made a joke around us that you’re not considered a Costa Rican local if monkeys don’t fling their poop on you. Our tour ended at the hummingbird garden; they had these feeder nests where hummingbirds would fly next to you and sit on the feeder. Abby and I were flinching as they were flying right past us. When we came out of the garden, the universe decided that the tour would not end here, and a quetzal appeared on one of the trees next to the gift shop. Now that was a rare sighting. We thoroughly enjoyed our quetzal sightseeing as it flew from one tree to another. We ended our day back at the institute preparing for the next day, as it was going to be sampling day. Moreover, my host family took me to their extended family’s dinner party, and everyone watched the USA vs Belgium game with some delicioso food.
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 (G)
We started our workday at 9 in the morning today, and most of us got the chance to meet Dr. Cornejo in person for the first time. When we were all set and ready for sampling, Luisa drove us to our sites to begin sampling. Dr. Cornejo was really helpful in decoding the mysteries of one of the sites that had been giving us a lot of trouble. At our last site they had the Argentina/Egypt game playing while they offered us coffee and we got to witness the utter disappointment of the last 20 minutes (we were all supporting Egypt). After which we returned back to the institute for lunch. The Little Ants (the youth camp) were all out for the day, so it was very peaceful, and I had a good conversation with one of the interns from Swarthmore.
With lunch wrapped up, we made our way into the lab to conduct our tests. This time they went relatively smoothly, with only one rerun needed after we had made a mistake. It was during this time that Gabby and I left to do some quick pile sorting with a member of my host family. We returned to the unfortunate sight of Colombia being absolutely robbed by Switzerland in a final shootout. At which point we all decided it was time to go home as our lab analysis had finished. We walked to the Supermercado before splitting off to go back to our homestays. I’ve included a picture I took on our walk to the Supermercado of Abby, Archit, Gabby, and Lucas.
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 (Natalie)
The morning started with the team surveying the area. I, too, was surveying; however, due to health circumstances, the extent of my survey area was limited. I walked around Cerro Plano to ask the owners of local businesses if they had time to pile sort. Despite my efforts, it became apparent that many did not want to participate in anthropology work. So far, I’ve received multiple rejections from the local bakery, arthouse, and the market. Either the employees were occupied, had no interest/knowledge of the subject, or the owners were not present. Over the past few days, I have been surveying and pile sorting, but today there was little to no interest. I have hope that this will change soon. Eventually, I made my way to the institute to eat lunch and listen to Dr. Cornejo’s presentation. He gave a lot of great information on the SEE methodology, LCA, and LCCA. It was interesting to know how the data we collected from the expert interviews, as well as the quantitative data from the influent/effluent analysis, will tie into the overall summary. I’m waiting for a response from the last pile-sorting participant, but no official answer has been provided. For tonight's plan, I hope to finish up the IRES work and my public health, spiritual, and environmental health courses. I’m looking forward to planning for my K12 public environmental health project/activity in which you may present a topic to an audience. Tomorrow will be a lot of fun since we are doing surveys. I included a cool photo of a beetle with two parasites (thanks, Natalia)!
Thursday, July 9, 2026 (Lucas)
Today I woke up to some of the most deafening thunder I have ever heard! A crazy storm had rolled in overnight, and it felt like the whole house shook. Luckily it cleared up a bit after breakfast and I was able to head over to Gabby’s homestay to conduct a pile-sorting interview with her and her host dad. Due to the stormy weather, we decided to hold off on heading into town to conduct more interviews and headed over to the institute to work on our paper and the various tasks we had ahead of us this week. Along the walk Gabby and I encountered a random street dog who we decided to call Remmington, because why not. He seemed very interested in where we were heading (or maybe he just wanted us to feed him lol) and ended up following us all the way to the institute. He wanted to come to the lab, unfortunately, we have a strict no lab dog policy. :(
Much like last Thursday, today was a busy one. The team spent some time working on our paper and organizing the information we have, and information we still need (shout out G for the bomb.com excel sheet). We eventually headed up for lunch, which was delicious (as per usual). We worked a bit more on our paper after lunch and began coordinating plans for our exciting trip to La Fortuna next weekend. Today we were certainly reminded that transportation is NOT cheap. The cost, however, is definitely worth the amazing adventure we hope to experience!
In the afternoon G, Abby, Archit, Gabby, and I met up with a student from Costa Rica, Andrea, and all headed over to the Bat Jungle and cafe. We got to see quite a few adorable bats. I loved watching them hang upside down with little pieces of fruit in their hands. We spent some time learning about the incredibly large amount of bat species in Costa Rica (123!!) and the tour guide impressed us with his knowledge of the number of species in each of our states and countries of residence. Abby headed out for a run while the rest of us headed up to the cafe to enjoy the view and some DELICIOUS hot chocolate. We had a lot of fun chatting before heading to our favorite vista point to take in the views. We eventually parted ways and headed back to our homestays for dinner. It was a productive and fun day overall, see you next Thursday!
Friday, July 10, 2026 (Abby)
Today we had originally planned to see the floating gardens that Andrea (the student from University of Costa Rica) had created, but we rescheduled it to Monday due to weather conditions. Instead we spent the morning working on the Life Cycle Assessment of each system. It was very tedious work, but we are definitely making progress which is very exciting.
It was the last day of the kids camp so we heard lots of stomping and banging above the lab which made it difficult to work, but thankfully it was the last day. Also because of the kids camp we decided to line up 15 minutes early for lunch. I am traumatized from Monday, where we got in line behind 5 kids from the camp when the entire rest of the camp CUT IN FRONT OF US! I didn’t even know what to say. Some kids were even looking at me when they stepped in front. We waited an extra 15 minutes to get our lunch. I know that I’m an adult and I shouldn’t be too angry at kids, but I was hungry.
In the evening the Chico state students, Archit and Lucas, and Andrea had to go and look at a site for a biojardinera for another project. The site was actually G’s host dad’s house so they went along. Gabby and I stayed back and did more work on the report and the LCA’s.
Because it was Friday (and because I love ice cream) we decided to go to the ice cream store right next to the institute. It was my third time getting ice cream this week, but it’s so good and I want to try all the flavors before I leave. This time I got coco (coconut) which was so good, I may have to get it again before I go home. On the way back we stopped by the Monteverde square and decided to get another group animal photo this time with Andrea. We chose not to sit on the horse because it was a little tall and if someone fell off that would hurt more than the other animal we chose. I am not exactly sure what it is, but we all think it is a small blown up animal or a prehistoric animal. Anyway we got 5 of us on it!
After that we split for dinner, where I had Fried Tilapia, beans, rice and for dessert a marshmallow dipped in sweetened condensed milk. We then met back up at homestay hotel and sat in Gabby’s room and worked on the report. It ended up not being very productive, but was very enjoyable. I went to the supermarcado and grabbed more of the flavored marshmallows (I think I’m a little obsessed). Here is a photo of Gabby trying to throw one in Archit’s mouth. The marshmallow is the pink blob at his chest.
Very work heavy day, but still fun!
Saturday, July 11, 2026 (Gabriela)
This was an incredible day to be a World Cup fan. I woke up early and did most of my work for the day before lunch so that the rest of my day could be clear for hanging out with the squad and watching the games. Archit, Lucas, and G came over early to play a friendship bonding card game that I acquired a digital copy of while sailing on the high seas. We spent so much time analyzing each other’s clothing styles and first impressions that we almost missed kickoff. My host family brought out treats and a giant TV for everyone to watch the England v. Norway game downstairs, and we all brought our own snacks to share too. Andrea brought a whole selection of delicious Costa Rican snacks for us to try. It’s a good thing we had so much food, because we definitely stress-ate our way through that match. It was very touch and go for a while. There were several moments where G nearly passed away from fright. However, by the grace of Jude Bellingham, we did eventually persevere. We took a brief recess to eat dinner before Abby, G, Andrea, Archit, and my host sister all returned for the soul-crushing Argentina v. Switzerland game. Watching Argentina play is so disturbing that we spent most of our time playing Phase 10 and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza while doing our best to ignore the score. I am disappointed that Argentina has slithered through yet another round, but I have full faith in Jude Bellingham’s ability to crush them underfoot in the next match. Overall, it was a really fun day, and a welcome opportunity for sedentary leisure and group fun.
Sunday, July 12, 2026 (Gabriela)
Today was our grand adventure of the week: ultimate ziplining! We started our morning with a joyride to the zipline place, courtesy of my host dad, where we fit a totally reasonable amount of people into a totally large enough vehicle. After twenty minutes of physical torture leisurely driving, we arrived at the zipline place and explored the heinously overpriced giftshop for a while before it was time to suit up and head out. We all looked like alien xenomorphs in our ridiculous helmets. We went on several regular ziplines as a warmup before tackling the two Superman ziplines, where you get to float over the cloud forest while posed like a rotisserie chicken. The view was breathtaking. At the very end of the course was the Mega Tarzan Swing: a sheer drop off a high platform where you swing like a yo-yo until the ground crew employees manage to catch you. Abby went first as the bravest of the group, and I was terrified from just watching her get pushed off the ledge by the staff. Words cannot describe the sheer terror that I experienced when it was my turn to get pushed off. It was so unbelievably fun. I think I screamed the poor ground crew deaf. Watching Lucas, Andrea, and Archit take the plunge afterwards was almost just as fun. Everyone had very different reactions, but they were all equally entertaining.
On our hike back to the reception, we were ambushed by a small band of coatis—at least a dozen adults and babies crossed the trail right in front of us. It was awesome. As if the ziplining wasn’t exhilarating enough, it was time for another very normal car ride back home, complete with someone in the trunk and someone on the center console everyone getting their own seat. Apparently our passion in life is to fit more people on statues and in vehicles than should realistically be able to fit there. We then walked to a restaurant near the Institute for lunch. I got to drink some blackberry juice that I’ll be dreaming about for the rest of my life. Finally exhausted after our long day, most of the group splintered off to go home and rest—but the party never stops for the three youngest. G, Lucas, and I hiked all the way back to Santa Elena to play on the playground, where we swung on a three-person swing until the rain ousted us, just in time for dinner.
Monday, July 13, 2026 (Archit)
This day was quite interesting for me personally. I came this morning motivated to get a good chunk of the work done. However, it did not go the way I thought it would. We all met in the lab and decided to work on the stuff that we’ve already been doing till lunch time. I decided to go to the library and work on it until I got totally distracted. Right before I could tell, time flew, and it was already 11:00 am. I was just talking to the squad during that time, and everyone said the same thing. This made me feel slightly better. By that time, we got ready for our first meeting of the day, which was the LCA meeting. During that meeting, I realized that we do have a lot of the stuff for LCA, and if we just put a good amount of consistent hours into it, we’ll be able to complete it.
In the afternoon, we got ready to go to Andrea’s project- the floating garden. It was a really cool project. The name of the place was Finca Lantana; we got to know that they do night tours as well, and we all decided to do one next week. We saw the floating islands in the stream, and sadly one of them was broken. We took some samples from the stream for Andrea and also did macro invertebrates in that stream. Abby and I did the macro invertebrates after the floating island. It was important to do one before and after the stream. Luisa reached the conclusion that the quality of the stream has been the same over the past few years. I might have condensed the information a little bit, but it took us 2 hours to do the whole thing. Personally, I found that place interesting because they said sometimes a puma can be spotted during the night tours. Our day at the institute ended there. While walking back, I saw a full rainbow right behind my house. It was awesome. My host family’s friends had come over for dinner today. Apparently, they were also students like me living in a hotel in Monteverde, and my host family used to work at the hotel. This was more than a decade ago; they still keep in touch and visit them whenever they’re in Costa Rica. After dinner, we all played a new game called Sequence, which was super fun.
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 (G)
We left for sampling early today, and met Dr Cornejo at the first site. We had a great time at our last site, which always fed us coffee and chocolates. Each of our sites was very productive, our contacts all answered the questions we had. After which we headed back to the institute for lunch and lab work. In between lab work, I ran up to check on the France v Spain game. That was an upset, I was not expecting France to play so poorly. Lab work went relatively smoothly, and afterwards Luisa helped us plan all of our itinerary for the next day. We had a lot of appointments to keep in order to finish our pile-sorting. Throughout it all, we had a very adorable bat hanging on the lights in the lab–our lab bat.
Wednesday, July 15, 2026 (Natalie)
The morning off started with soft rain covering the trees and buildings of Monteverde. Our mission today was to conduct surveys and sort piles in Santa Elena and around the Monteverde Zone. Lucas, G, Gabby, and I were walking through the center commercial, asking around to see if people had a few moments to speak with us. It was intimidating at first, but eventually we got the hang of it, and it was exciting! Shortly after, we made our way back to our next location for pile sorting. We had to cross steep roads, troubling terrain, and some dirt roads to get there, but it was worth the wait. Our participant was fantastic; they knew so much and were wonderful! After our lengthy pile sorting, the team went to the next location. We teamed up to complete our next pile sorting interviews. As a treat, we got to see a sloth and a baby mama during our site visit; it had us in awe (almost forgot why we were there-oops). By then, our tummies were growling, and we managed to grab lunch at the institute, where the nice ladies there made some awesome food for us. Lastly, our day consisted of going back out to Santa Elena, where Abby and I conducted some spontaneous pile sorting throughout the local community. It was an eventful and fun day – but necessary for a long nap time. Today's photo is of a stray named “Buddy,” inspired by teammate G.
Thursday July 16, 2026 (Lucas)
Today started off as a very normal workday for me. I woke up and ate breakfast with my host family (gallo pinto, my absolute favorite) before heading out to meet up with the squad to make our daily pilgrimage to the institute. As per usual, it was a beautiful walk. Archit, Gabby, Natalie and I had a moment to take in the sights at the vista point bench while we waited for Abby to catch up. Once we got to the institute, we were all sad to say goodbye to Andrea, who was leaving Monteverde. We all loved having her be a part of our team, and are incredibly grateful for all she did to help us, and for all the fun times we had. We are going to miss her!
It was time to get some much needed work done. We broke off into various groups, some of us working on the spreadsheets for the pile sort interviews while others got working on the LCA analysis. Sometime through the work day, Archit and I went to check out the biogarden system at the institute. We had the opportunity to talk with the people maintaining the system and to discuss potential solutions to a problem they were having with the garden.
Eventually it was time for lunch. While gathered around a bunch of us tried our luck at today’s Wordle and Connections. I fortunately got the word, butte in 4 attempts (Shoutout Butte Community College!!). Afterwards, we had a meeting with our professors, where we had the opportunity to discuss the successes and challenges of the previous week. The meeting ended with a rather energetic conversation of who we wanted to win the World Cup (Argentina was not the popular choice). We got a bit more work after the meeting but eventually… IT WAS TIME FOR OUR COOKING CLASS!
I have been excited for this class for a while now. Our amazing homestay coordinator pulled some strings and was able to fit this into our busy schedule. I had a lot of fun preparing various foods with the whole squad. We made patacones, empanadas, guacamole, pico de gallo, platanos maduros con queso, a starfruit fresca, and an amazing desert with squash, cane sugar and ice cream. The best part was getting to eat all the food at the end. This was an absolute BANQUET. What we didn’t eat we have packed to go with us to La Fortuna tomorrow. On the way back home, it started raining super hard and a bunch of us got super soaked. RIP my shoes (of course the ONE time I don’t wear my rain boots).
It was a great day overall, more adventures await in La Fortuna this weekend. :)
Friday, July 17, 2026 (Abby)
Today was a travel day for Gabby, Lucas, Archit, G, and myself. Natalie stayed back to work on her online classes. We got to hotel homestay at 7:40 and got picked up by van at 7:50. We booked a jeep boat jeep earlier this week. Once we got into the van I realized my scatterbrained. I left both my wallet and water bottle at the hotel homestay (.....everytime). In the van we met a nice family from California. They told us a couple of cool things to do in Monteverde and we told them about our research, which they found very interesting. After about 1-2 hours we got to the dock, where we had to wait for about 40 min for our boat. The boat was super cool and had a great view. The trees were covered in all sorts of vegetation, every speck of land was covered in vibrant green.
Once we got back to land we hopped into another van and after a 30 minute drive, we were in La Fortuna! It was about noon, but our AirBnb wouldn’t let us in until 2pm. So we went to La Fortuna park, got the empanadas and guac we made yesterday and had lunch. I immediately started getting eaten up by bugs. We finished lunch and walked around a couple stores. We stopped by a liquidation store with tons of shoes. Gabby wanted a pair of thigh high boots (I don’t know how she expected to get them in her suitcase), but they didn’t have them in her size so we left empty handed. Around the corner to our AirBnb was an ice cream shop that looked so so good so we grabbed some ice cream. I have always wanted to split a banana split with someone, so Gabby and I split one with tons of caramel (very yummy)!
There was a little playground right across from the shot, so Gabby, Archit, and I (being the fun ones), jumped on a trampoline and see-sawed. After that we went to the store to pick up some food for the next two days. After that it was time to check in to the AirBnb. Everything was super cute and homey, EXCEPT FOR THE COUCH. I don’t think I have ever felt a more uncomfortable couch. When you sit on most couches you sink into them a little bit or they have a little bounce to them. This couch was like sitting on a wood plank with a blanket on top. Not the best feeling. After getting settled and claiming beds (no one was sleeping on the couch), Gabby, Lucas, Archit, and I went to the pool, swam and chatted, while G stayed back and talked with their parents. After about an hour we came back in and ate dinner. Following that we decided to watch a movie and landed on My Cousin Vinny, which has some of the best lines ever (“My biological clock is ticking like this!”). After the movie we ended up heading to bed, because we had a big day planned for tomorrow!!
Saturday, July 18, 2026 (Gabriela)
If this blog entry seems excessively long, it’s because I’m trying to condense a 16 hour non-stop adventure into it. Please go grab a cup of coffee and find a comfortable place to sit—this is going to take a minute.
We started our day bright and early at 6am by making breakfast: mango chunks, fried eggs, toast, and refried beans out of a bag. Even outside of the lab, we still revert to doing everything in an assembly line—one person toasts the bread, another butters it, another tests its pH, and so on. We ate in a hurry, afraid of missing our transport bus, and rushed out to walk to our pickup location—just in time to catch the Category 6 rainstorm that was raging outside. Our leisurely 15 minute stroll turned into treacherously navigating the second coming of Noah’s Flood. We poured into the tour bus—literally—and headed to the tour company’s base camp to begin the 11 hour trip we had booked. While waiting for the tour to start, we did get to see a family of 10 bats cuddled together under a palm leaf, which was as adorable as it was insulting. There they were, bone-dry and cozy, while we huddled together like soggy penguins for a modicum of warmth.
The tour itself started with us loading onto what almost looked like a livestock trailer that had been retrofitted with bench seats. It took us to the start of our first adventure: a waterfall hike. We walked down 500 steps to the waterfall basin, and the storm walked down there with us. The residual laundry detergent in Lucas and G’s saturated socks formed into a lather so that they were practically mopping the forest floor with every step. Never in all my years of being a Floridian have I been so profoundly waterlogged, but it was impossible to be upset about it when the view was so gorgeous. Besides, hiking down muddy stone steps in a torrential downpour is the most fun you can have in your twenties.
We squelched back up the mountain, entirely drenched and laughing like kids, and were rewarded by our tour guides with pineapple boats to snack on. Then they revealed our next surprise adventure: meeting an indigenous Maleku guide to learn about her culture. The livestock truck drove us to a recreated Maleku home. Our guide waited for us inside the massive structure, which served as a gift shop for Maleku crafts. She gave us a traditional Maleku drink, taught us how to greet and cheers in the Maleku custom, and taught us about her culture. She even passed around some artifacts for us to appreciate, such as a wooden mask that had been carved and painted to represent some of their important symbolic animals. The craftsmanship of everything was divine. As an anthropologist, I could’ve cried. I couldn’t get over the masterful thatched roof. It’s a good thing I forgot my wallet at the AirBnB, or I would’ve spent my entire stipend on wood carvings.
On our way to lunch, we stopped at a butterfly garden and got to see a red-eyed tree frog, a troop of howler monkeys, and a swarm of morpho butterflies. Lunch itself was brief but delicious. On our way back, we made another pitstop on the side of the road to see a three-toed sloth. He was smiling, greasy, and crusted to a tree. It felt like the closest thing I’d ever get to seeing Kurt Cobain.
After that, we drove to Arenal Volcano for a lava trail hike. It was the highlight of the day. The weather had finally cleared up by that point, and the view was breathtaking. Our guide, Franklin, was as whip-smart and knowledgeable as he was hilarious. He taught us everything imaginable about the local flora on our way up to the highest viewpoint that tourists are legally allowed to climb to, where we took the coolest photos ever while white-knuckling each other’s shoulders to avoid getting blown right off the cliff. It was a life changing experience—one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
To close the adventure out, Franklin took us to a nearby hot spring, where we got to go down a waterslide and boil like lobsters. We returned to our shoebox and attempted to play mermaids in the pool, but it was freezing, and we’d had enough of being cold and wet for one day. Instead, we threw together a struggle meal dinner and played card and guessing games for the rest of the night—by which I mean maybe two hours, because we were exhausted. I washed everyone’s dishes, tucked G and Lucas into bed (but not Abby or Archit, because they’re too old for that), and promptly conked out.
If you made it this far, thank you for joining me on this incredibly lengthy narrative journey. I hope it felt just as long to read as it was to experience. As a reward, enjoy extra trip photos! I had to dust off ye olde collage maker for this, because there were too many great pictures from this day to pick just one.
Sunday, July 19, 2026 (Gabriela)
Sunday was something of a nothing-burger day. We woke up, exhausted, to a freezing-cold AirBnB. We threw together whatever food we had left for breakfast before packing our bags and leaving. I slept for most of the van ride to Lake Arenal. I tried to enjoy the boat ride back across, but I was lulled to sleep by the incredibly loud motor. I ended up passing out hunched over my own backpack face-first like a roly-poly. Most of us slept on the drive back to Monteverde from the lake, with barely enough energy to spot cows in the hills around us. When we were dropped off at my homestay, Abby, Lucas, and I were too tired to even move. We dragged ourselves upstairs so that Abby and I could sleep while Lucas sat in the corner, presumably playing Pokemon Go. I eventually mustered the energy to unpack and go downstairs for lunch with Lucas and G, who came to watch the World Cup final. I would’ve been more interested in watching paint dry than in watching that matchup, so I worked on a cross stitching project while they watched the match. Abby only woke up when we had to move our watch party back upstairs. Thankfully, Argentina lost, and everyone was able to go home and resume sleeping. The only group photo we have was this picture taken by Lucas, who thinks he’s hilarious, so I’m also adding a photo I took of the view from Lake Arenal (moments before I fainted into my backpack).
Monday, July 20, 2026 (Archit)
I was still very tired from our weekend adventure. As soon as I woke up, I stared at the ceiling of my bed for a hot minute. Eventually, I did get ready and headed out for Banco de Costa Rica because that’s where Luisa was going to pick us up today for our Coffee tour at FINCA Life. Luisa picked up Lucas, Abby, Gaby, Natalie, and me, whereas G came with her in the Can. We arrived at the coffee farm, and Diana was our tour guide. She gave us an introduction to the whole place and how it started out. Then, we were supposed to do an activity where we had to come up with ideas related to policy, education, and community. We split up into two groups of three and presented our ideas on the poster. It was a new experience for me as I’ve never had a tour start with a presentation before. We walked around the farm and saw many fruit trees, such as plantains, guavas, and bananas. We even got to taste a purple colored leaf plant, which is edible; the taste was quite interesting. We saw this specific plant all around the farm. They also had a playing area with swings on it, and we could climb the tree. Abby reminded us of a quote that was introduced in the training. The PI’s said that we should also think about the group while making some decisions, as it could hurt the group indirectly. Then they had a picture of somebody climbing a tree and falling off from it while the whole group was in dismay of that decision. As we went on with our tour, we also saw goats; we fed all the goats with anything we could find around us. Since this is a coffee farm tour, I will say that my favourite part of the tour was looking at the roasting room and the coffee tasting. During the tasting, Diana gave us 3 different roasted coffees but didn’t tell us which one was which. In addition, she told us that different parts of our tongue can help us test different aspects of the coffee. So, the side of our tongue is to help us taste the acidity, the front is for sweetness, and the back is for bitterness. This is called the tongue map for coffee tasting. I looked it up on the internet, and the verdict is that the tongue map is a myth (not to dog down on Diana though). However, the myth worked on me at that time. When I tasted the first coffee, my taste buds told me that it’s a light roast coffee. The next one felt more like a dark roast, but I still went with medium roast. We decided that the order of coffee was light, medium, and dark. Womp Womp, we were wrong. It was light, dark, and then medium roast (interesante). At the end, we tried honey-processed and natural-processed coffee. I loved the natural one since it was very different than what I’ve had before. Overall, the coffee tour was very fun. Luisa finished her macro-invertebrate sampling at the same time, and we got ready to head back to the institute for lunch. We locked in the rest of the day to work more on the paper and LCA stuff. I had to leave a bit early today because my host family has a dinner every Monday with their friends and family, so they invited me to join them.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 (G)
Today was our last sampling day, it was certainly very bittersweet. We were done collecting data, we could move on to analysis; but on the other hand, our time in Monteverde was almost over. We worked like a well oiled machine, taking our samples. We spent some time buying souvenirs at our last site before heading back to the institute for lunch. We decided to take one final picture in front of the can, to commemorate a mainstay of our trip.
Then it was time for our last lab day. I was on the heating block, which was nice because it meant that I had a hand free to do something other than nothing while we waited for our samples to cook. The lab work went smoothly, and we left MVI early. Gabby, Lucas, Archit, and I decided to head to Cafe Monteverde to get some work done. I had the most delicious spiced roll (I will be going back) and a strong coffee; which was great, but we only managed to get around an hour of work done before we got rained on.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 (Natalie)
My day started off by calling a previous professor of mine for interdisciplinary. Recently, I have felt like it has been difficult to incorporate not just the different fields but also exercise teamwork. It has been causing me some level of stress, and I needed to speak to someone who has had experience in a similar field. Speaking to her was like a relief of fresh air. Not only did she remind me how difficult interdisciplinary work may be, but she also reminded me of the purpose of our stay. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed because of workload and communication errors. However, despite this, her advice and counseling made me feel a lot better about myself, not just as a researcher but also as a teammate. After our call, I made my way to the institute, and we talked about working on the report, especially figuring out a plan to examine and analyze the anthropological work. It was nice to address everyone's concerns about the project, and I felt proud to speak up. After a long day of work, the team did some dancing and karaoke to celebrate G and Archit's birthdays! After a nice celebration, we finally made it home, and I had pretzels and onion dip for dinner! This is a nice throwback photo.
Thursday July 23, 2026 (Lucas)
All Thursdays are busy, but some Thursdays are more busy than others. Today was a big report day for the team. We got to the lab bright and early to continue working on our report. We had a meeting with Deven Gray, the PhD student from USF who kindly offered to meet with us to go over our pile sorting process and various questions we may have. Because of this, the topic of the morning was pile sorting. Many of us worked on finishing inputting data into the large excel sheet of doom so we could share this information in our meeting later. Aside from this, we worked on pieces of the report, such as edits and revisions that needed to be done. The amount of work still needing to be done seemed a bit daunting to us today. I kept myself moving through a steady flow of tea and coffee (thank you Monteverde Institute coffee bar). Eventually we broke off for lunch, taking a break from today’s busy schedule. I struggled through the strands (as per usual), getting absolutely diabolically pranked by the spangram. Towards the end of our break a few of us went to get ice cream. After lunch we had our meeting and continued to work on the paper. Eventually we headed out after a long yet gloriously productive day.
Friday, July 24, 2026 (Abby)
Coming soon!
Saturday, July 25, 2026 (Gabriela)
Let’s start this entry off by all agreeing to pretend it’s as richly detailed and well-written as my entries from previous weeks, because I really could not tell you what we did on Saturday. I had to check my camera roll for clues.
I went for a morning hike in the Children’s Eternal Rainforest with Lucas, Abby, and G. It’s the largest private reserve within some geographical boundary that I no longer remember–Costa Rica? Central America? Perchance the world?? (Definitely not that last one). The hike was great fun. We got to see Morphos butterflies, capuchin monkeys, a motmot, a bellbird, an agouti, and a small pack of turkeys. We got to hike through the Jaguar Trail, which is advertised as the most difficult. It really wasn’t difficult at all, but parts of it were pretty slippery, and my recently-repaired hiking boots were no match for it. Our World Cup withdrawals motivated us to start keeping score: Forest vs. Gaby. I got a point for every time I slipped but didn’t fall. I’m sure you can context clue out how the forest got points. Abby, who was walking behind me, served as VAR. Lucas was the ref. G was the forlorn fan watching from the stands. The score was tied for so long that we made a plan for a penalty shootout: if it came to it, Lucas would push me five times to see if I fell or not. Thankfully, however, the match ended 3-4 in my favor. We crawled home for lunch afterwards, and then I met up with Lucas and Abby at a nearby cafe to work on the report until dinner time. That’s all I’ve got, folks. A picture’s worth a thousand words, so I’ll throw in a really cool one and a vaguely creepy one. I’ll even let you decide which is which!
Sunday, July 26, 2026 (Gabriela)
If you thought yesterday’s blog entry was sparse, then boy do I have news for you! G, Lucas, and I went souvenir shopping in Santa Elena in the morning. I bought [REDACTED] for my mom and [REDACTED] for my aunt, in addition to the [REDACTED] I bought for my dad earlier this week (no spoilers–they read this blog religiously). I hope they like their gifts! Archit spawned in at some point, and we all briefly went to Cafe Monteverde together for sweet treats before G had to depart to hang out with their host family.
The remaining crew walked to the nearby playground, where we found a triple swingset that we sat and chatted on for a while. Here’s a fun behind-the-scenes fact: I wanted to puke for most of that time. The swing practically blended the nutella croissant and hot chocolate I’d had at the cafe into an emetic, but I pushed past it because 1) mother did not raise a quitter 2) I was having lots of fun still 3) I really like swingsets. I made my stomach contents fall in line through sheer force of will, just in time for Archit to suggest we all climb on the adult monkeybars. Sublime.
After our Capuchin monkey enrichment time, we walked to the grocery store to emotionally support Archit through a cilantro purchase, and then we parted ways for lunch. Abby came over afterwards to work on the report together until dinner. We did not finish our work, but we did finish the mythical tub of shared ice cream, and that deadline was much more pressing anyway.