Day 7

Today the first year students focused on getting their presentations ready for tomorrow’s final presentations. After lunch we went Sonsoria, a local favorite where we experienced beautiful hot springs and waterfalls.  We swam in the frigid water pool under the falls and then proceeded to another smaller waterfall and pool and swam there.  On the last part of our adventure, we went to two hot springs.  We had an enjoyable time relaxing in the natural volcanic heated pools.  When we got back to the beginning we were greeted with ice cold juice and cookies, and after the long walk it was a refreshing treat. We had a fantastic dinner of sea bass and then the students started their practice presentations.  The students were given honest, constructive criticism on their posters and presentations. All the groups have a great start and the presentations in the morning should be phenomenal.

~~Stanton and Olesen

Second year Update:

Today was a great day for the Second year students.  All of us made huge progress on our bioinformatics projects as well as had a great time doing an experimental hike.

We all finished our PowerPoint presentations for the big presentation tomorrow morning.   We had to be done this morning before we had lunch. We then went on our “experimental” hike.  After we returned from our experimental hike this afternoon, each of us did a practice presentation for only the five Second year students and Gabriel.  We each tried to help one another with our presentations.  Gabriel provided each of us with great suggestions to improve our presentations.  We all sat on the deck after dinner and made changes to our presentations.

The experimental hike that the Second year students went on this year was a really cool experience.  We took a tractor ride for about 30 minutes long to a nearby village.  From there we hiked through some farmland until we got to the edge of the rainforest.  We hiked on a trail and ended up doing some climbing for 20 minutes.   Each of us had to balance on rocks and trees in order to not fall down the side of the ridge and into the river.  At the end of the trail we got to the waterfall.  It was a very pretty cascade.  We went swimming in the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall, that can be described in two words: cold and rocky.  It was a fun time!

Tyler Maas