I have more mosquito bites than you.

COSTA RICA!
What's up, our loyal followers. Heh--OBVIOUSLY we haven't been doing our part in keeping you up to date. That's because we've been straight up living in the JUNGLE! Seriously though, Gandoca is an awesome place. It's different from what I expected--different from what we all expected (but isn't that always the case?) but hey, that's what makes it interesting.

So, updates. For the last week, we've been living at a research station a little bit outside of Gandoca. We're staying in a barracks type area, and our day basically consists of eating, morning activity (nest digging maybe, or beach clean up) eating, some down time, and then whatever our shift is at night. It's very cool, unlike anything I've done before, and probably unlike anything I will do. Challenging?--yes. The heat & humidity not only make it hard to work, but hard to sleep as well. The bugs are ridiculous--what's that about? I'm about to cut off my foot and feed it to the frogs (which are the size of my dog) to save myself from itching. Oh, crabs in the jungle--that's something I didn't expect. It's pretty cool though, having jungle and beach right next to each other. The two environments combine to form this like... super itchy jungle ocean creation. And we're right in the middle of it.

Favorite part?--I know you're dying to know. For me, it's probably some of the people we're working with. There are some really cool people volunteering at the station with us, and also people who are employed there. I've gotten to use what spanish I know A LOT, and that's been a lot of fun too. After four years of spanish classes, it's about time I check out a spanish-speaking country.
Overall, we've got a pretty good thing going down here in Costa Rica. Our group has an awesome support system, and we've gotten pretty dang good at taking things one day (or hour... or minute...) at a time. This trip is going to be one of those trips that really forces us to take a look at ourselves--probably in different ways for everyone. I'm glad we're through the first week, but I'm also excited to see what week #2 will bring. Thank you Costa Rica, for the good, bad and ugly. Can't have one without the others, right?

Kate