7/6/2023 - Butterflies and Science!

Written by Los Triangulos - Maddie, Kennedy, Clark, and Tegan

The group woke up for breakfast at 7:30. We had plantain pancakes with cacao nibs which were very good! After that, we started to head to the butterfly research center which is run by 10 women in the area. We saw eggs, larvae, caterpillars, fully grown butterflies, and every other stage in between. The ladies crafted very beautiful jewelry and keychains made of recycled material for us to buy.

Recycled bracelets and a view of the butterfly enclosure

Two different species of butterfly are raised by the women - the blue morpho and the owl butterfly

One of our science advisors, Miguel, found a snake!

To finish up our morning, we went back to the lab and finished our escovopsis fungal garden experiments. We headed back up to lunch and had some American food we all have been craving… burgers and fries! Following lunch, we returned to the house for a break. Today in the lab we began brainstorming ideas as groups for our own research projects. Each group has their own research question to create their own experiment to conduct over the next three days. Then we had a quick coffee and chocolate break, as well as pineapple empanadas! It started to rain really hard as we refocused our efforts into our projects. Everyone finalized their research questions and created proposal presentations for the whole group.

We were hard at work on our proposals all afternoon!

A toucan we spotted on our coffee break. Sunset was beautiful!

Then we went back for dinner. Dinner was beef roast with potatoes and vegetables. We also put in our chocolate orders that will come from the chocolate factory located right on the farm we are staying at! Once again heading back to the lab, we proposed our ideas to every group and received positive and constructive feedback for each experiment. It was a long but productive day of science that will help set each group up for the rest of the trip!