June 6

   Today, we left Cahuita for Veragua Rainforest Research & Adventure Park. Before our arrival to our main destination, though, we stopped at Brisas Elementary School. (This is a public school with twelve students, but receives little government funding.) We received a special presentation from the students: a calypso dance with costumes! The dance was highly entertaining and the students' enthusiasm was through the roof. I was amazed that the girls and boys were not shy about performing in front of strangers at all. The students were preparing another dance, this time with what we all thought were props, but were actually gifts of flowers for us. The music started, the students walked up to us in our seats, and then they grabbed us by the hands! We participated in this this dance and we all had a great time just being silly with the kids. We were asked if there was a song/dance we could teach the students, so we taught them the hokey pokey.

Next, we took a tour of the school, going into the classroom and cafeteria. We then cooled off with coconut water straight from coconuts, with the tops cut off by a machete. The visit concluded with a fierce game of soccer, us ASU students against the children. Those kids were so talented, and they clearly kicked our butts, but the winner of the game was the team that scored the last goal. So, we ended up winning but with the sad feeling that the students actually dominated and we just won on a technicality. (It was a win no less!)

   We left the school for the research park after the soccer match, where upon arrival, we had a delicious lunch. We were then whisked  off to explore the park with our guide, Marco. We toured through a few of the exhibits. The snake exhibit was really interesting because we got to see some of Costa Rica's deadliest snakes, including members of the viper family. Here, I learned that one of the snakes we really have to be careful about is the fer-de-lance. Not only is this snake  poisonous, but it is quick and aggressive. Luckily for us, this guy was behind glass! We moved on to the frog exhibit, and again came across some deadly creatures. Some of the frogs we saw were also poisonous; in fact, most pooisonous frogs are diurnal! One can tell if a frog is poisonous if it has pretty, bright colors. Be careful because the colorful frogs release neuro-toxins! The next exhibit we saw was the butterfly garden. This place was absolutely beautiful, with all of the vibrant plants and species of butterflies. Attached to the garden was a lab, where the chrysalises are kept until the butterflies emerge. Here, we put on rain boots and walked out to the trail to help check the butterfly traps and catch butterflies. For the butterfly traps, we helped stir the bananas on the plate and change the string holding up the the net. We caught a couple of butterflies in the hanging nets, and Kirsti caught one with the hand net! Afterwards, we walked back to the butterfly lab to help. Some of us put pins in the cacoons so they could be pinned up, some cleaned the glass windows of the glass cases used for storing the cacoons, and others cleaned out the chrysalises of already emerged butterflies. One of the highlights of helping out with the lab work is that we each got to set butterflies free into the butterfly garden.

   The night concluded with a Night Walk after dinner, where we encountered several animals. As soon as we started, we came across a male frog who was trying to find a female to mate with. We learned that frogs mate externally, and the female chooses whether she'll let a male frog fertilize her eggs or not. We also came across a small type of lizard that can be worn as jewelry. The male will gently bite onto the ear lobe and stay there for a few hours. The walk was full of amphibians, cicadas and, laughter. Overall, it was a pretty amazing day!