Entry 1: July 6, 2009

The first biological station that we visited in Costa Rica was the University of Georgia Biological Station in San Luis. I was a little sad upon our arrival because I had just left my four week homestay in San Joaquín de Flores and was already missing my familia tica. However, the station in San Luis proved to be tons of fun! We stayed in cabinas that housed three girls to a room. The rooms were pretty spacious with a fan, comfy beds and a bathroom with hot water (sometimes). Our first night in San Luis we ate dinner in the comedor. It was a typical Costa Rican meal of rice, beans, a meat, vegetables and juice! After dinner I met some other girls who were there studying from the University of Georgia. They told me they were having a dance class later that night so I hung around to learn some new dance moves! Geovanny the local server at the station taught the dance class, and even though there were only four girls and him, we had a great time. We learned to dance salsa, meringue and kumbia.

During the day in San Luis we would go hiking through the trails. I learned about many types of plants and animals. While in Costa Rica I learned that Banana Trees are not even trees at all. They are herbs because they don't have hard, woody bark. They can be split in half with a machete in less than 30 seconds. We also participated in faculty research projects while in San Luis which was interesting and hard work because we had to go out to a stream and collect data like pH, average rock size, depth and width, and we had to go out to a regenerated forest and set up plots to see how the trees were growing back. It was very hard work but lots of fun!

The best part of San Luis, besides the dancing, was the waterfall. Our last day there the whole group took a hike to the San Luis waterfall. It was almost an hour hike to the waterfall from the campus. Once we got there we all jumped in despite the freezing cold temperature of the water.

That afternoon we went to a local home and made Arepas, or sweet bread, with a tica family! I bought some beautiful earrings that were hand made from the daughter that lived in the home we visited!

I enjoyed San Luis so much because it was a place where we could get lots of work and research done but also go out to explore and have fun at the same time! I will surely miss Costa Rica! ¡Pura Vida!