Trinity, Mercy Academy, and Lex Cath Costa Rica Trip 2024

 I'm Clayton Didyk and I'm gonna be a Sophomore at Trinity next year. Today was our group's turn to go to the waterfall instead of horseback riding yesterday. I knew there was a tractor ride to the place, but when my friends said there was a 30 min hike I thought they were joking with me. The hike wasn't bad, and definitely worth it for all the belly flops we got to do. Mr. Heintz got some pictures of everyone mid air doing those and I hope mine's good because I haven't seen it yet. Dinner tonight was fine, there's been better but it was good with some pork and fruit. Breakfast and lunch were fine too, good meals. Tomorrow we do all day lab work so it's not super exciting, but it'll still be kind of cool. Thanks, Clayton.

 Hi! My name is Vivi, I am a rising Junior at Mercy. Today my group and I hiked to the waterfall in the morning and it was so much fun. We swam and jumped off the rocks into the water. The waterfall was really big and loud. The little swimming pool below it was really cold but it felt good because of how hot it is here. After the hike we had lunch and then we went up to the lab to continue our experiments. My group finished our preliminary experiments and started on our final experiment. I can't wait to present all our research to you guys!

 Hey y'all it's Catherine from Lexington catholic. these past few days have been a blast and I'm making new friends. Am I tired?.... yes, am I dirty?.... yes, am I having fun?... yes. Anyways it's taken me a while to write this blog because through the nights we have lost power, water, been attacked by bugs, and kept up all night by a cute dog named domino that keeps barking at nothing. But beside the point we went on a hike that was basically a vertical climb to go swim in a waterfall!!!!! it felt nice to not be sweating, but after that we ate an amazing lunch and went to the lab for the rest of the day to work on our presentation. it was a long tedious cycle that ended in a lot of yelling but we all made it out alive. its been fun but I cant wait to go home and see my family. 

     Hi, my name is Catherine Seufert, and I'm going into my senior year at Mercy Academy. Today was super fun! We split into two groups with some of us going hiking and some of us going horseback riding. I was in the group that went hiking today. As we were hiking, we passed beautiful scenery with several small waterfalls and even some adorable farm animals. We hiked to a waterfall, which was very rewarding because I was super hot and sweaty. The water was beautiful, and so was the waterfall.       We then came back to the resort, had lunch, and worked on our experiments. I am experimenting with the antibiotic that leafcutter ants produce, which is psuedonocardia. My group is testing to see if it is functional outside the ant colony while also comparing it to a commercial antibiotic. It's very interesting and exciting to work on. To my family: I miss you guys and am excited to see you when I get home!!

Hi, my name is Mason Nunn, I am going to be a sophomore at Trinity, and I will be talking about some of the things we did today. We started out with a nice breakfast of eggs, rice, toast, and sausage. Later, we went on a ride in a tractor out to a farm where we started our hike to a hidden waterfall. We all tried to swim under the waterfall and also jumped off rocks. After lunch we went to start our research projects, which I really enjoyed, where my group is making a natural repellent to leafcutter ants out of native leaves. We also are dealing with a nuptial flight of the termites, which means that all the queens and males fly up to mate and then invade our cabins and lab after. Overall, it was a great day, and was very enjoyable, and it is weird to see how fast this trip is going by.

 Hi! My name is Cooper Duckworth and I am a rising senior at Mercy Academy! I have been having so much fun in Costa Rica so far, and I can't wait for the rest of this trip! Today was a super science-heavy day where we went up to the lab right after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Except for our hour of free time (where I think we all slept the best we ever have) we were in the lab working hard. Today, we came up with our own research questions and proposals in our groups. My group is asking the question of whether or not leaf cutting ants can cut grass and use it as its fuel for the fungus that the ants grow. Although the day was a super long day, we had a coffee break around 3:45 were we all got to drink coffee and hot chocolate.  I mixed them together and it may have been the best decision I have ever made. It was SO GOOD. All of the meals and snacks we've had have been so great! They also have these delicious juices with every meal with fresh fruit and they are incredibl...

 Hey! My name is Spencer and I am a sophomore at Trinity and I am having so much fun here! We had a really good breakfast this morning like usual and did a lot of fun learning in the lab today. First we did our first experiment involving our leaf cutting animals where we were finding where a bacteria called Escovopsis is located (below is a picture of our fungus garden in which we studied and experimented on). We later in the day after lunch we started to begin our experiments on our leaf cutter ants that we will be working on for many days. We had a lot of really good ideas and a lot of good feedback. We stopped for a short break with coffee/hot chocolate and pineapple empanadas. After some more research and starting our experiment proposals we had a good dinner with beef, potatoes and vegetables. After dinner we went back to the lab and presented out proposals to our class. I was really glad we did this because it made us realize a lot of flaws which helped us create a better gu...

 To my momma specifically, first of all I love you, second, hello to all the other parents. My name is Noah Leverette and I am a senior at Lexington Catholic. I suppose in this writing I will give you an account of the day. We first started out with breakfast. It was good. It reminded me of the Puerto Rican food that my family cooks. The base for Costa Rican cooking is very similar Puerto Rican cuisine. Also as another quirk, is my use of Spanish. My Spanish is derived from four sources: My Puerto Rican family, my trip to Spain, Duolingo, and the bits and pieces I hear in everyday life. As a result, the little bit of Spanish that I know is wack, which is funny. Aside from that, we did experiments regarding leaf cutter ants and then went on to design our own. Both the former and latter part of that were annoying. Though, admittedly, they were fun and informative as well. The chaperones and teachers exposed all of the weaknesses and flaws that we have or might encounter in our experi...

!Hola, amigos! My name is Kylie Connolly. I am from Lexington Catholic High School. Today is day 3 in Costa Rica! This morning, we had PANCAKES... WITH NIBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways... Today we dug up ants and their fungi gardens. I had so many ants crawling on me and I saw a monkey AND A TOUCAN!! Then, we went to the village and had the best ice-cream, pepsi and cookies. It finally rained and the air cooled down... THANK GOD! Later, we came back and went to the lab and took our ants and gardens and put them in a big box. Then, put mineral oil on the sides so they don't climb out. Tomorrow we will provide food. Finally, we had dinner at 6 and we had pork chop and fried yucca with sauce. Currently, we are playing uno with 8 other other friends... I MADE FRIENDS!!! ... OH YEAH, GUESS WHAT???!!! WE HAD THE BEST CAKE THING EVER, WITH CHOCLATE ICEING!!! and we saw a really big toad. That's it:) ... miss you mom and dad <3

 Buenas Noches! I'm Rachel and I am a rising junior from Mercy Academy. Our day started out with breakfast at 7:15 am, where we had pancakes with little pure chocolate nibs baked in. After, we went to the lab and finished our bacteria experiment from the day before. We took a small hike to see some huge ant colonies before excavating our own colonies. After we got to go back and have lunch which was also really good. After lunch we went into the village where we were able to buy sodas, ice cream, and other snacks. We also saw butterflies and learned about their life cycle in the village. Once we returned to the lab, we put our colonies in boxes and made homes for them. Then we had dinner, and spent our free time while the other groups hiked to play uno and catch toads.  Adios amigos, see you back in America!

 Hi, my name is Patrick Crawford. I am an incoming senior at Trinity High School. Today the group started to dive more into the lives of the ants. We observed both Atta Cephalotes and Atta Colombica ; the two species of leafcutter ants that live in Costa Rica. After watching our guides, Alan and Ibrahim, teach us about the  Atta Cephalotes, we then learned how to dig up our own colony in search of the fungus the ants care for and eat. Many of the groups were able to dig up both the fungus and the queen. After eating lunch, we traveled to the local village and learned about the women who care for butterflies. The ladies there raise the butterflies from the egg all the way to the adult form. We stopped in a shop in the village for snacks and also purchased bracelets that helped the families that made them. We went back to the lab to analyze the data from our bacteria lab and then made environments for our ant samples. The last half of the group went on the night hike while the ...

Hi, I'm Finn Oetken and I'm a freshmen at Trinity. This morning I woke up to the calls of howling monkeys. Then we all got ready for the day and headed to breakfast, which was buffet where I had guava for the first time which was interesting. The breakfast was amazing. After breakfast we got our boots and went on a short hike where we ran through a couple angry ant hills and ended at a stream. After that, we had a lesson in cacao, or coco, but Pablo the owner of the farm doesn't like when people call it coco, which is a completely different thing. We had a cacao drink made hundreds of years ago and tried different dark chocolates with different amounts of cacao. After that we ate lunch which was really good beef  and veggies. Next we had some break time where we played a couple card games, after which we went to the research lab where we learned about the scientific process, leaf cutter, and bullet ants through a couple experiments and videos. Then we had a heavenly dinner.

  Hi, I am Lilly and I am a student at Mercy. I woke up this morning thinking I slept past my alarm, because of how light it was in the morning. The breakfast was good and they had yogurt, which was good since that is what I normally eat when I am home. I also got to go on a nice hike and got to learn about the history of chocolate. I will be buying some so I can see how the different percentages effect the taste of cookies. We after that got sorted into our groups that we will be researching with and the people are nice. The lab is very cool and you all would love it here. I miss you all a lot (my family). We after that had a good dinner, which the juice they have here is amazing. I can't wait to be back home but I am having fun don't worry. I love you all so much and I miss you all (my family).

 Hello my name is Peyton. I had a lot of fun today. I had eggs for breakfast and then went on a hike. We saw a river and a lot of ants. The two dogs domino and lucky tagged along with us. They are very cool. Then we learned about chocolate and how it is made. We ate dark chocolate samples. They were bitter and i can say im not really a fan but i can see the appeal. After lunch we had science class and we learned about leafcutter ants and the scientific method. We watched two videos one about leafcutter ants and the other about cordyceps in bullet ants After that we had dinner. I had chicken and mashed potato's. After that we relaxed till lights off.

  What's up everyone! I'm Emma Stanley, a incoming junior at Lexington Catholic Highschool. I'm here to tell you about my day. First we woke up bright and early at 6:45 to make it to breakfast by 7:15. Breakfast this morning was eggs, rice, beans, yogurt with granola, and/or toast with spread. Then we went on a hike to a river. It was so pretty but everyone was dripping sweat by the end of it. Next we sat down with Pablo who taught us all about chocolate. We tried many different chocolates with different concentration of the cocoa bean. My personal favorite was the 72% dark chocolate. We also tried 2 drinks as well as 2 different pralines. One with raspberry and one with almonds.  Next we ate a very delish lunch of  roast with beans rice and mixed veggies. Next we took the bus up to the lab. We got into our groups and took samples trying to figure out what would have more bacteria. My group swabbed boots and toilets. Then we came back down on the bus and ate dinner which ...

The trip to Costa Rica started really early (for some of us at 3am or earlier) and at the airport by 4am. One of our groups encountered some hiccups with both planes experiencing maintenance issues and delays. But everyone arrived at Liberia safe and sound. Our first meal was a traditional Costa Rica lunch of beef, chicken, or fish with beans and rice, fried plantains and salad. After a long 2.5 hour ride to Finca La Anita, we finally got to see where we will be spending most of our time. We met Pablo and Anna, owners of the farm and they explained some rules and expectations. For dinner we sea bass with pesto sauce, veggies, salad, and a homemade coconut desert topped with cocoa nibs (it was delicious). The girls are staying in the dorms while most of the boys are up the hill in the new dorms. Tomorrow we get to go on a chocolate tour and see the lab.