Preparation for the days ahead ...

Day 3: We have survived our first night in La Selvas! I woke up recharged and energized. I only had 6 hours of sleep but it did me justice. I had to take a cold shower but that didn't ruin my morning. If anything it helped wake me up. We made our way to the cafeteria by 7:00 a.m. to enjoy some breakfast and begin our long day ahead. One thing that I wasn't so happy about was crossing a wooden bridge that was wired. I am terrified of heights but I had to face my fears. Besides, I was really hungry. After breakfast we split up again and went with our tour guide, Kenneth (Edgar and Paul joined us). We hiked for 3 hours and learned so much! Time went by so fast we wanted to stay longer with Kenneth and learn more about the secondary rainforest. On our hike we saw a Howler Monkey resting on a tree. We learned that La Selva is habitat to 3 different types of monkeys and there are 4 in total in Costa Rica. We were only able to see the Howler Monkey in the morning on our way to breakfast, but La Selva is also a habitat for the Spider Monkey and White- Faced Capuchin Monkey. Later in the day we visited the classrooms we'll be doing research in, the labs, and the investigators facilities. I was very impressed with the facilities and how well put-together they are for being in the forest. We also met our scientists, Amanda and Socoro. Once again we split into groups of two and hiked certain parts of the forest. Each scientist has a different specialization. Amanda is a specialist in Bromeliad plants, and Socoro specializes in Stream ecosystems and studies bioindicators to determine life in the stream or small body of water. Both groups were able to tour with both scientists and learn or see something new. This activity was preparation for the days ahead of us. After our interaction with the scientists, we were given an hour break before dinner which I was so happy for. I relaxed 'till dinner and after dinner the teachers decided to fry our brains with more information and work. For the rest of the night we worked on our research (animals we had choosen back in the city). Overall I had a great time today and learned a lot of different type of information about animals, insects, and the rainforest.