Day 5 - 1/13/2024 Invertebrates and Water Falls (Maria C)

Today our morning started off with a good and filling breakfast, which included rice with beans, eggs, plantain, and flour tortillas. It was a very busy day, including many activities and lots of fun! We started by driving about 45 minutes out to a whale-shaped beach called Marino Ballena National Park. We walked around the beach and admired the beautiful view of the mountains and then reached a tidepool. Using what we had learned the previous day about invertebrates, we walked around the tidepools and saw many different species, such as hermit crabs, baby shrimps, starfish, and many more. Not only did we just look at them but we got the chance to learn about them at the same time as we were finding them. Although the rocks were a little slippery and hard to walk on, everyone pushed though and we all agreed that it was worth it for the animals we ended up seeing. 

After finishing this, we got the chance to jump into the ocean and ate some fruit! This was a short time; it was a great way to cool down after the long walk at the tidepool. While we were in the water, we saw a stingray and learned a technique to not get stung; it was to shuffle our feet when going in so they would know that we were approaching them and they cloud swim away. Once we were all cooled down, we started walking towards a small river that connected to the ocean water and looked for invertebrates for a little longer. After this our Innoceana instructors left and we could now choose what to do. We chose to stay at the beach for a little longer and talked to some locals. 

We then got back into the van and drove to a small market near by, we had many people buy bracelets, tote bags, food, and more. Doing this gave many of us the chance to talk to some locals and practice our Spanish! The heat of Costa Rica was starting to kick in so we went to an ice cream shop and got ice cream and some very good pastries. 

Once we were back on the bus, we drove to a very nearby waterfall. It was a beautiful place, not just the actual waterfall, but the surroundings were stunning. There were many places to jump off of, there was even a natural slide! (Nobody went on it because it looked painful). Some of us went in the water, some sat on rocks and relaxed, some explored the area, over all we all felt a sense of peace and freedom. At the bottom of the waterfall there was a natural pool so we decided to head over there for the last couple of minutes, and found that there was a diving board! Surprisingly, and despite how high it was, many of chose to jump off of it. 

After arriving back to Innoceana we all took a shower and calmed down after that very busy day. At 6:00 we went to our class about whales, we learned about the importance of whales for the ocean, their risks/ thing that endanger them, etc. We got a quick over view about tomorrows activities and went to get dinner. For dinner we had curry vegetables and rice, we had our daily journaling time, and community meeting. Goodnight!