Monday, August 6, 2012

Tillery

To the Master of Antology, Tillery Bailey. Absolutely incredible! What a great time you and the entire crew from Minnetonka have had. There is no doubt this is something you'll remember for a lifetime. To be able to wrap a great time around a learning experience like this is awesome! Mom, Kelsey, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the updates on your research and activities. I have especially enjoyed the photos. We've missed you tons. See you Monday night. Dad Bailey. p.s. Despite her dire declarations from several days ago, Kelsey does not have whooping cough. And don't bring any pet ants back, please :)

Sunday, August 5, 2012

August 5th Pica

Picasa Pics

Toshi's Response to Sam

Dear Sam, 
You da best. I won't be bringing you cool plants or animals, but I will show you all the cool pictures I took when I return. We saw some monkeys and an ARMADILLO today! 
-Toshi Higashi
P.S. nick is upset you built the TP. TTYL BOI 

Day Ten August 5th

Day Ten August 5th

The sun softly caressed the rugged terrain of the dry forest as we wrestled our disoriented heads out of the tiny bunks. We were greeted by the shrill call of Sean Holmes and the resounding echoes of morning greetings. They say the 20 square miles of Finca la Anita have more genetic biodiversity than America, our rooms here at Horizantes contain more than that. ANTS EVERYWHERE. Anyways, we then proceeded to take a hike of the Forest and viewed all sorts of local flora and fauna, including: monkeys, armadillos, iguanas, and more ants. Our tour guide was very informative and had a rich voice of mahogany, intimating years of experience and adventure. Our hike lead us to a picturesque volcanic riverbed. The phrase "Valhalla" echoed through my head as we viewed butterflies fluttering around soft pools. Following this excursion, we refreshed ourselfs with glistening bottles of Fanta, Coca Cola, and Water. Later, we went to lunch, partaking in Chicken and mashed taters. After a few more failed toilet flushes and sweaty naps, we boarded a bus to go to the beach - Sweet Baby Ray, what a bumpy ride. At the beach we body-surfed the oscillating waves and bopped in the sunshine as children do. Additionally, Toshi, Drew, Nick, and myself nefariously designed a "Crab Hotel" which was essentially a hole to place approximately one hundred Hermit Crabs (yes, they were released unharmed) Despues, we ravenously devoured a dinner of smoked meats. The crescendo of the waves created an ephemeral ambience as we absorbed the the vibrant hues of the sunset. What a wondrous and reflective moment to conclude the trip. For those loving parents still actually keeping up with the blog, sleep well, we'll be home tomorrow!




With warm regard, Ryan 

August 4th Pics

Picasa Pics

August 3rd Pics

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Day Nine August 4th

Day Nine August 4th

Today we woke up to a glorious morning for our departure. Though it was sad leaving Finca La Anita, the sun was shining the birds were chirping, and the boys were singing good morning. Breakfast, just a walk away, came with intense deliciousness as it always does. We all took our last bites with incredible savor. Especially Dane, because he eats so slow. The bus came a little late for our canopy tour but we waited while being serenaded by the musical talent of Ryan and Dane on the Guitar. When the bus drove us away we took one last long look at Finca, and then looked 15 degrees to the right to see Pablo waving with one hand and while standing on one leg, swaying back and forth, claiming his right as the most interesting man in the world. 

As we raced to the Zip Lining, we came across some construction. Thinking we were screwed and forever stuck in the jungle we realized we took the wrong road. 
Finally we arrived upon the Canopy Tour, suited up hiked the mountain and arrived to the top!We were met with 4 guides that were very nice. One that was just such a crazy guy, screaming like a monkey as he went down the zip line. We all enjoyed it very much. Especially playing king of the midway point and the morning song with Mrs. Joel. 
The canopy tour ended after one last long zip line and we headed off to the Jumbo Market and met up with Anna. We arrived at this place and began to shop. 15 min later we all had our shorts and snacks.
When we arrived at Horizontes we were welcomed by Anna again in the dry forest. We had a small exercise of the ants on the trees, then unpacked and relaxed before playing football. Dinner was soon set and we feasted. Finally after sunset we headed to the beach to see the turtles and basically stayed there until bedtime.

-Alec 

Saturday, August 4, 2012

August 3rd

Today was a science day... We got out final stats together and practiced our presentations. We then made final presentations to the finca family in a true scientific fashion. It was a great fun filled science day. Below are the findings of the 3 groups
 Los Lobos 
(Alec Englander, Drew Julius, Emily Moore, Ryan Hedblom)
This last week was one of hard, yet frantic work. Our group set out to help reduce the immense detriment of Leaf Cutter ants on Agriculture. We hoped to achieve this through the use of the Ginger Plant, as it is in great abundance at Finca la Anita and is a Eco-friendly solution. We conducted various lab and field trials, spraying solutions of Ginger leaf and Ginger root on the trunks of trees and on leafs placed on foraging trails (ant highways). Long story short, many of our trials were conducted erroneously and we were forced to discard hours of work. We would have loved to redo duct our trials but given the brevity of our stay we had to move on. This was undoubtedly a setback to our groups overall progress towards a strong conclusion backed by statistical data, however we were able to salvage some data and learn from our mistakes. In the end we were able to conclude, qualitatively (through observation), that the Ginger leaf solution was less effective than the Ginger Root solution and that the Ginger Root solution was not a viable economic solution to the ant problem (the cost out-weighed the Benefits). In summation, though our experiment was far from perfect, we learned a lot about the Scientific Process and the great extent of details required for a statistically valid, conclusive experiment. 

 The STP's were Nick Nesbitt, Natalie Hunninghake, and Tillery Bailey. Our experiment had two parts.  We tested the effect of citronella and root beer plant on fungal health and growth, and ant foraging activity. 
  In the lab we set up sub colonies and treated them with teas that we made from chopped citronella stem or root beer plant flower. We charted the change in mass  and observed the change in fungal  health. The fungal health deteriorated with the addition of the teas and eventually the control groups, water, deteriorated also.  The ants even moved their queen to protect her from the dying, damaged fungus! We ran our stats test, and sadly our quantitative results were not statistically significant. Our qualitative results were quite interesting because of the great effect the plants had on fungal health. 
  Our field experiment was less successful,  mainly because of human error. We made a citronella or root beer and oil paste. We then coated  a leaf and put it in an active foraging trail.  We measured the change in surface area after thirty minutes. These results were interesting, but also statistically invalid. 
  Local farmers might try to pump citronella dust or ash into a colony as a natural fungicide..

Our group, the pollos hermanos tested the deterring effects of cinnamon, hot peppers, and ashes on the leaf-cutter ants. The members of pollos hermanos were me, Dane Falline, Toshi Higashi, Nikki Degenereffe, and Hannah Charpentier. We found through our observations that both cinnamon and hot peppers were effective deterrents, as well as mineral oil one of our solvents and control tests. When combined the cinnamon and pepper were much more potent. We also tested ash. Ash was the most practical and cost effective substance we tested, and also the best deterrent for the ants. The local farmers will try to pump ashes into the ant colonies as an Eco-friendly and cost effective alternative to the chemicals they currently use due to the findings of our research and experimentation. 




Friday, August 3, 2012

To TILLERY!!!!!!

To Tillery The story about the spider and beetles makes me glad that you are there and not me! The week has flown by for us, so I know that it went fast for you. Kelsey has had fun at camp!! Her group has led songs every day, so she is in songbird heaven. She wants to be a JC next year. The only bad thing is she has the cold that you had before you left. We can't wait to hear about your experiments and all your adventures. I hope you took lots of pictures. Have fun and we will see you on Monday. Kelsey has her over night at camp and will not be there to pick you up at the airport. Sam will be waiting for you!!!! Mom, Dad and Kelsey ps. this is kelsey! i miss you! its more than a cold! i went on the mayo clinic website and put in my symptoms and i could have a serious illness! I could have whooping cough or pneumonia! I love you and miss you a lot!

August 2nd Pics

Picasa Pics

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Day Seven August 2nd

Day Seven August 2nd

Hola Minnesotans!
Today is August 2nd and we now are all very close to concluding our experiments and wrapping up our leaf cutter research. The day began off a little rough for me, last night TORRENTIAL rainfall kept me from uninterrupted slumber. After a nice breakfast consisting of rice, eggs, toast, and frrrruit we met up with Adrian, finalized some of our lab experiments, and then Dane, Mr. Holmes, and myself went on a beetle larvae retrieval mission in the forest. A few days ago my fellow colleague, Dane, chanced upon a group of rotting logs tucked away by the river. Gabrielle asked us to search the logs for beetles after he had left and collect anything we found for a scientific study he and Adrian were contracted to carry out. So today we went in search for beetle larvae and found quite a few creepy crawlies. First, Mr. Holmes found an earthworm inside of one of the logs that was bright blue (we asked both Adrian and Pablo and neither of them knew why it was blue!). After that Dane hit the larvae jackpot, and we put several of them in a Tupperware bin to bring back to the lab, they were around 2 inches long! The last creature our epic trio found was a a spider. This wasn't just any spider, it was probably the ugliest living thing we've seen yet. It was  light brown and not too big, but for some reason it looked very prehistoric and a little like a dried up octopus. Dane spotted right away that the spider had huge fangs and venom sacs, so we decided to put that in a plastic Tupperware bin as well, to save it for later until we could talk to Pablo. Turns out it's a very poisonous spider, it's Spanish name roughly translates to "horse spider", and Pablo has scars on his hands from the bite of a horse spider. Pablo told us the story behind it's name: it's venomous bite is so powerful that if a horse gets bit by one in the leg or foot it loses the corresponding hoof for over a year. Jumping back to the original mission, as we were leaving the beetle hotspot and traveling back across the river by hopping from one slick rock to the next, Dane took a spill. He fell on a deceptively slippery boulder and landed hard on his tailbone, as I'm typing I  can hear him saying "Dude. My butt hurts." After he fell the first time, he slipped once more only this time instead of falling, he stuck his hand out to the nearest overhanging tree. Unfortunately for him, the tree he grabbed was a type of Palm with massive thorns/spines, many of which punctured his skin and broke off the tree, remaining in his hand and wrist. So that was fun! Following that ordeal and a very good lunch (lasagna), everyone piled into a pickup truck and range rover for a long drive to a special rainforest reservation-type-deal owned by an acquaintance of Pablo and Ana's. The owners of the property try very hard at keeping excessive amounts of people out of the primary forest (a very old and well established woods) as a means of preserving the natural beauty. Our group was very lucky to be allowed entry and man oh man was it great! The plot of land had hot springs and several waterfalls, which we toured as a group for a few hours. We got to see 3 different major falls, exploring and swimming in each one (the water was nice and toasty :)). On our way back to Finca La Anita, the sky was the clearest its been since we got here last Friday, and the clarity of the volcanoes set against the rosy, gold sunset provided for a truly breathtaking view. Dinner was tasty as usual, with savory pork slabs and steamed vegetables followed by some sort of rainbow colored cake that was muy bueno! Now we're abut to cap off a great day with more late night field experiments with the leaf cutters. For the boys back home, this one goes out to you.

-Toshi Higashi <3 <3 <3

Thursday, August 2, 2012

To Hannah

Hannah, Master of tortillas, imagine that. Can't wait for you to make some here. Sounds like you had quite a hike the other day. Can't believe how fast this week is going without you around. Your mom and Barb are at the Man concert tonight and they leave for San Francisco tomorrow. Dan and I and five of his buddies are headed to the cabin for the week-end. Dan starts official football practice on Monday. You forgot to tell me about the show but I got your email and will look into it. How did you send me that email? That was a surprise. I'm not sure about the cookies. Pictures are great, glad to get them along with the updates. Continue learning and having a great time. We miss you and love you. Pa

Hannah's Reply Home

Hey mom
Horse back riding was very fun, but I had some struggles getting on....just kind of gave the horse a large hug around the neck. I did not get andi to go to the farmers market so I guess I am out of that race. ...thats because the pickles are good. Could you possible get ahold of boy and tell him to at least say hi...Daniel can get his number from Patrick if needed. Love, Hannah 

Aug 1st Pics

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Day 6 August 1st

Day Six August 1st
Good morning parents and friends,
Yesterday morning we woke up and ate breakfast and began our science. All the groups worked on their experiments working in the lab or field experiments. Next we all  headed back to the eating area to eat homemade burgers before our adventure begins. We headed back to our cabins to get ready. We all boarded the wagon to head to town. Nick sat on the floor among the young palm trees we were going to plant at the park. Once we arrived at the park we got our instructions about how to clean up the park. We started by loading large branches on the tractor wagon and cleaning around the trees. The boys left to unload the branches down the road. The ladies began picking up piles of leaves when we realized they were covered in fire ants. We then started grabbing handfuls of the leaves and running for the pile before the ants could attack. The boys got back and we began to load the truck again. The girls and Alec continued to gather leaves and weeds and fire ant bites. The boys and I returned to the dumping ground to dumb the truck load. It smelled like fish and we were told that was from snakes. We continued to load and unload until the park was clean. Pablo arrived on his motorcycle with Pepsi in hand. We took a quick break and then planted our own palms. We each got a palm to plant so if we ever come back we can come visit out palm. The we headed over to the soccer field to play a game. It started to rain which made soccer even more difficult. Our team relied on Toshi, Drew, Ryan, Nick, Dane, and Mr. Holmes to keep us going. We ended the game 3-1 with Cost Rica in the lead. Our goal was completed by Holmes to Dane and Dane kicked it and Drew who tapped it into the goal. Pablo brought us popsicles and we headed over to our cooking class. We walked down the road to a little house where we went Araseli (spelling is incorrect). She invited us into her home and we went down to her kitchen. We started by making cheese logs which were quite a challenge. Then we prepared a salad. Natalie and Tillery made the salad. Araseli then showed us how to make tortillas. Emily and Hannah mastered the art of tortilla making because she has made them at home. Hannah was told she had style while making her tortillas  Drew helped us talk to Araseli and he was also the tortilla cooker. We then put on our shoes and headed to the back to devour out home cooked meal. We ate out food and talked for awhile then Araseli showed us games like the north facing cow. We said our goodbyes and walked back to the farm in the light of Adrian car. Once back some groups decided to go to sleep after the long day of working and some continued their tests in the field. Ms. Joel made sure we all got back to our cabins safely. Thank you for reading my blog post I hope you enjoyed this. 
-Nikki Degeneffe 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

July 31st Pics

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Day Five July 31st

Day Five July 31st

Good evening from the rich cultural jungle of Costa Rica
Today was filled with science and adventures. Science today was very frustrating as nothing seemed to go as planned. And then, after a lunch, there was a hike. This was no normal hike. This hike was 2 miles one way. Down hill. On slippery mud. While wearing rubber boots. It was glorious. And at the end of this two mile hike there was A wide spot in the river and we got to go swimming. Some swam like crazy to pass a strong current to get to the other side. Eventually we made our way back to shore, tried to dry off as best we could, put put clothes back on,  and started our trek back to Finca. The walk back was just a tad harder than the walk there as it was all up hill on slippery mud. After many breaks and making sure Nikki (who was nauseous before the trip) didn't get sick we made it back and returned to our science. After dinner there was a night hike to find bugs and other interesting creatures. After that hike some went to bed and some went back to their experiments.

-Hannah

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Hannah, I had crackers and cheese on the Barbie plate because I missed you!! It is strange here without you but so excited about what you are seeing and doing. Did you like the horse ride? It's Tuesday; did Andy go to the Farmer's Market for you? I shared the pickles with a friend today...she loved them!! I love You, Mom

July 30th Pics

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Day Four July 30th

Day Four July 30th
Good morning parents of Costa Rican Adventurers-

Although today is clearly Tuesday I will be blogging about Monday as I went to bed before completing my duties. I apologize to all the worried families. We're all still alive I promise.

Yesterday morning we slowly rose, had breakfast, and went straight to education. We began our morning of science with Pablo (the ranch owner) taking us out into the woods, machete ablaze, helping us collect our required materials for our projects. Once we had everything, we immediately began work in the lab constructing our trials for the lab. We had lunch about 12:30 and after went on our horseback riding adventure! We took a wagon pulled by a blue tractor for 40 minutes down an incredibly bumpy road. Mumbai (one of the ranch dogs) followed us all the way there and home. Once we got there we got basic instructions on how to "operate" a horse. Once we were all boarded onto our steeds we road into the sunset. Except not actually because it was only 2:30 in the afternoon. We rode over the river and through the woods....literally. There were many steep hills as we were actually riding up the side of a volcano. We invented the "poor mans" polo while we rode around throwing papayas. After the long wagon ride home we went straight back to our experiments and all of us were able to start our sub-colonies. We also checked our microbe experiments, had dinner, and drifted off to sleep. 

Everyone is well and we're all having a good time. Thank you for tuning in to this mornings posts. Until next time this is Emily Moore and Nikki Degeneffe signing off.

Tillery's Reply to Kelsey


Hi Kelsey, I'm glad you had fun at the concert and camp. I had tons of fun with the horse ride. My horse wanted to bullet away like at horse camp!  I have lots to tell you about.  See you soon and say hi to everybody for me!
Love you,
Tillery 

Natalie's Reply Home

Hi parents. We are testing whether certain plants have an effect on inhibiting fungus growth or repelling  ants from cutting the leaves of crops that we apply it to. The accommodations are great and we just have screens for windows. My horse was pretty good until it tried to buck me and I had to hold on for dear life. But it was fun going up the mountain. We are going on hikes today and I'm pretty excited! I hope jack isn't crying to much

Natalie

Monday, July 30, 2012

More Pics from July 29th

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Picasa photos


Hannah's Note to Home

Dear pa and ma and da and ra
The food here is very very good. The potatoes are pretty much the best and the banana chips. Thanks for going to the cabin with me. Feel free to do that much more often. Bye.
                                                                                   -Hannah

Natalie's Note to Home

Dear Parents and Jack
     Everything is good here and we just came up with our experiment idea yesterday. I am excited to get started with it, and this morning we are going out to get our supplies. I am excited to go horseback riding this afternoon. The time is going by quickly so far! See you soon!

Natalie

Nikki's Note to Home

Dear Home,
I am having so much fun here! The food is incredible and I'm having so much fun seeing all the new insects and sights. I miss you all very much and hope you're having fun! Love you lots!!
Nikki 
P.s. Emily says hey!


Day Three July 29th

Day three July 29th

We started off another great day with an amazing breakfast with more delicious fresh juice  Today we started our activities with an exciting ant hunt.   We all ventured down a muddy hill to see a VERY large leaf cutter ant colony.  The group then continued our hunt with all of our leaf cutter ant hunting gear. We observed the ants and they were really cool! We even let them crawl on our hands and held some of their fungus. The first colony we found, we didn't find the queen. The last mound we went to was a great pick. It had five fungus garden chambers that we extracted. I even scooped a giant chunk of fungus out of the colony! The final chamber contained the queen and she was giant. 

After we brought the ants back, we got into our research groups to work on our science activities and cultured some fungus. We also started our lab design and presented our ideas to the group and Pablo to get some helpful feedback. We will all be telling you about our research adventures and excitement hopefully soon. 

We just had a flavorful dinner and are going to go to class soon to check on our bacteria cultures from yesterday.  I am kind of scared to see the amount of microbes in the lake water we tested...

See you soon!
Tillery 

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Looks like fun

Wow,what beautiful countryside and sounds like fantastic food. Sounds like everyone has been kept busy since arriving. Hannah-what are you eating? Can't tell from the picture if it was good or bad, but glad you tried it. We had a great week-end at the lake but we missed you as I am sure you missed being there. Thanks for the updates, they are fantastic to read. Can't wait to hear more. Mom and Dad Charpentier

Some pics

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Day 2 July 28th

Day Two July 28th Drew's birthday!!! Good evening outside world! What a day. For Nick and I it began at 5:45... Something about time zone changes and alarm clocks. Breakfast was fantastic. I am beginning to see a trend of great fresh food. I think I can eat the homemade corn tortillas every meal without complaint. After breakfast Pablo took us on a great tour of the farm. I do not think there is a question that he cannot answer. Pablo's wealth of knowledge on the flora and fauna of the area is incredible. After a great lunch, we had an hour or two of free time which "the boys" of the trip spent swimming in a JUNGLE LAKE! Following our quick dip, Pablo showed us around the town which is attached to Finta La Anita. Suffice it to say, Costa Rican homemade coconut ice cream is TAN SABROSO (means tasty for all the non-spanish speakers). Back on the ranch we finally had the long awaited meeting with Dr. Adrien Pinto. HE IS AWESOME. Adrien knows his ants, and has a great sense of humor. It will be a great week under his direction. A great meal promptly followed with a surprise homemade birthday cake and ice cream (courtesey of Ana and the wonderful kitchen staff) to top off a great day. Thanks for the birthday wishes Momma! Hola Padre! (I don't miss you too much yet) ;) -Drew
Wow... only day one and it already sounds wonderful! Can't wait to see photos and hear more about this adventure. Happy Birthday Drew! I hope you are having a wonderful Rainforest Birthday! Thanks Dane for the great description of your day. Enjoy... and happy exploring and researching! Julie Julius

Friday, July 27, 2012

Day One July 27th, We're here!!!!!

Day One  July 27th We arrived in Liberia, Costa Rica at noon, met with Ana, one of our hosts and boarded a bus that would take us to Finca la Anita. About 45 minutes into our drive, we stopped at a restaurant on the side of the road and ate some of the best food I have ever had. There was different choices of chicken, potatoes, fried bananas, and something I had never tried, fried plantains,  all served along with rice and beans. After stuffing our faces with great Costa Rican cuisine we got back on the bus and drove about an hour down a slim rocky road. On the ride we got to take in some of the beautiful Costa Rican scenery, and see some of the friendly locals. When we finally arrived we met Pablo, Ana's husband, and got into our cabins and unpacked. Pablo scheduled a group meeting at 5, an hour after we arrived. In the meantime we met the two dogs Corleone, and Mumbai, and the horse that they torment. At the meeting we were briefed about the safety precautions we will be undertaking to protect ourselves from venomous snakes on the property, and tried some interesting local fruits. Between the meeting and dinner all the boys went looking for frogs  and lizards during the rain. At dinner we had fresh fish, salad, and a tasty local dessert, then promptly went to bed after a long day. -Dane 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Entry Post

Everyone,
I have created a generic author login for any of you that are having difficulty getting permission to post at this blogsite.

You may post to this site with the sign in name tonkacostarica and password tonka123. Please sign your NAME to any posts that you make under this login.

If you want to use your own account to sign in, send me your email address, and I will mail you an invite with directions for how you add yourself as an individual that can post uniquely.

See you soon!

Joel