Last night was so amazing. The beach was beautiful at night, the waves crashed against the beach and there was lighting branching out across the sky that was as bright as daylight. We made two sweeps of the beach and found two sets of turtle tracks. At one end of the beach, stuck in an estuary, we also found a baby turtle! Since it was stuck and most likely would have been picked off by a bird the next day, we got to rescue it. Grace picked it up and gently set it on a course out to sea where it will hopefully have a better chance of surviving. We ended the night by sitting on a cluster of rocks under a tree, watching the lighting and listening to the ocean. I thought that waking up at 5am would be rather difficult. Not at all! I couldn't wait to milk my first cow! We all got a chance to milk, and we learned it was pretty darn difficult. We all stood in awe as the local farm boy milked three cows in the time we all did one. Then, we had our first official monkey sighting!!! Emma's trip is now complete. There was a howler monkey mom and baby right next to the dining tables. After that, we went on our dry forest tour. We learned a ton about all the different types of plants here and heard, but didn't see, many birds that had very exotic calls. On our tour we walked over a rocky area that had a waterfall on one side. We almost didn't make it back for lunch because the tractor got stuck in the mud! The long hike was incredibly tiring and sitting down to lunch was rewarding. After lunch we had free time which consisted of card games, ninja, and wa. The rejuvenating free time helped us to get even more excited for our afternoon at the virgin beach. I had never seen a beach like that before. I couldn't take in enough of the scenery- the clear waters, sandy beach, crashing waves, blue sky, trees lining the island... Seeing it during the day was so much different than at night, and it was even more beautiful. As soon as we arrived at the beach, everyone ran for the ocean. It was actually really warm and it felt so good. We swam all the way down to the estuary at one end of the beach. Then, we explored the beach and took tons of pictures of the beautiful landscape. For dinner they grilled chicken, sausage, and beef right on the beach and we had fresh tacos. While we ate we watched the setting sun until it was obscured by clouds. Before we left, most of us went swimming one last time. The waves had picked up a bit so we did some body surfing. As the darkness settled in, we said our farewells to the ocean and piled back into the bus. These blog posts can not even begin to describe the memories made or friendships that have been formed during this ten day experience. I think by now, most of us are ready to be home. To be clean and not sweaty or sticky or constantly being pestered by bugs (did someone say bullet ants?) will be absolutely wonderful. This trip will be something that I know none of us will ever forget. We have grown so much as individuals, but at the same time we have grown together as a group. I am so thankful for this time we've had in Costa Rica. We can't wait to see all of you tomorrow night at the airport! Lots of love, Katie L and Olivia U.