Wednesday 12/18/19 Departure and Presentations


Day 11 Costa Rica

Hand carved frogs 
Today our indigenous friends from Panama left; Lazaro, Armando and Lucia. It was sad to see them go. I learned so much from them during the short time we have been here. After breakfast, I received two gifts from Lazaro. First was the frogs above. I was surprised to be given this carving because it was one of the ones I looked at a few nights ago. The immense detail and time spent to create such an amazing piece of artwork its outstanding. I really liked this particular carving because it was the only one that was not painted which allowed for the many carve marks to be shown. In return, I gifted Lazaro a necklace made from Juniper berries. I also gave Lucia a bracelet made from porcupine quills. I hope one day I will be able to see all of those I met in Costa Rica again. They all made a big impact on the person I desire to be in the future. They showed me what true strength and resiliency is.  I now have a new found goal to be able to travel to remote tribal villages around the world to learn more and share more about culture. This experience has made me want to get more into environmental studies to be able to have a greater impact on tribal nations and to be able to support them as they fight to keep their environments intact.

Hand made by an Embera woman 
The second gift I received was this handmade basket. A few nights ago, while Lazaro had his crafts for sale. This is something I had my eye on. I probably picked it up five times and set it back down. I was hesitant to buy it because I already spent so much money on buying items from Lucia. I decided not to buy it. To my surprise, it was gifted to me. This meant the world to me and I truly will not forget those who I met during this experience. Everyone was truly so genuine and nice. I am honored to have been able to meet Lazaro, Armando, Lucia and Celestino. This experience would not have been the same without them here.

Celestino, Lucia, Paula, Armando y Lazaro. 

Presenting
Today was presentation day. It was a bit nerve racking to share my project today. I thought I did an okay job, but I think the project itself could have had some more work put into it. Overall, I learned a lot during this experience but I do wish that we had more time to gather more data. My project was on plant disease severity along the river. It was a quite interesting project and I learned more about ImageJ. I enjoyed listening to everyone's projects and wish I could have been able to help with some of the other projects as they were very interesting as well. Everyone did an amazing job today it was a pleasant experience.


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