So I know it's been nearly a month, but in the past two weeks, we've started and completed two research projects, given two presentations on these projects, written two papers on these projects and taken two final exams. It feels almost as if we just fit the entire semester into the last fortnight. Needless to say, much sleep has been lost, much coffee drank, much hair pulled out of stress and all of this hasn't been without an occasional disagreement between stressed Type A pre-med students over the correct way of doing something.
The past two days of presentations have been long, but incredibly interesting. Given the amount of time we had to squeeze our research into the end of the semester, the studies the class was able to conduct, complete and present were very impressive. Research topics included sexual education, attitudes and belief among adolescents in rural San Vito, whether breastfeeding has a protective effect against diarrhea in young children, what kind of zoonotic parasites are found in dogs kept by the Ngöbe coffee workers, how the presence of water treatment in the indigenous territory has lowered incidence of diarrhea, whether redrawing EBAIS districts according to current utilization would create a more equitable network of primary care,
However, I just finished my final research paper and am feeling very liberated by it. Our research looked into how crappy living conditions on coffee plantations affect the respiratory health of the indigenous migrant workers who work and live on these plantations. The whole experience was peppered with unexpected twists and turns, as I think all research is, but I'm feeling rather proud of the 13-page product that has come of it. Hopefully my professors agree.
In other news, our days in Costa Rica are numbered. We leave Las Cruces for the last time on Sunday, return to San Jose on Monday, and most of my classmates fly back home to the States on Tuesday. I have been looking forward to aspects of being home since the end of October, but don't feel that I'm ready to leave Costa Rica once and for all. Luckily, my parents are flying down to spend a week of vacation in the land of Pura Vida, so the abrupt end of the course won't actually bring an abrupt transition home - not just yet at least.
Another cool tidbit: Mahmood Sasa, the director of OTS' Palo Verde station, our guest statistics professor, herpetologist, and crazy guy that led us into the Palo Verde marsh on a snail collecting mission was just named Scientist of the Year in Costa Rica. Pretty cool.
And for your viewing pleasure, some photos!
Hanging out with the howler monkeys on the bridge at La Selva.
Learning about ethics in pineapple agriculture with the people from Foro Emaus.
String for bracelet-making: our official class pastime.
Crossing the river to visit the Bribri people.
The main house at Luna Nueva Lodge: home of a medicinal plant garden, interesting food and really nice interns
A red-eyed tree frog brought to us by a young Maleku man who emerged suddenly from the marsh
Love the newsy updates. See you tuesday!
ReplyDeletethose do not look like the hands of a man who brought you that frog. are they yours? did you actually hold a tree frog? wow!
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