Sustainability and the Environment: "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Arthropod Day"

 Saturday, the 16th of February, was Arthropod Day! That basically meant that it was a day that the students were going to get to play around with all sort of cool bugs and insects and stuff like that, and maybe do a little learning while they were at it. Adam was taking the whole day to walk them around the town and teach them about the little multi-legged critters that we share this planet with. Of course the first thing that the adventurers had to do was to walk up Cardiac Hill to get to the Study Center from their homestays.

Meg is really making the most of this experience 

After the rendezvous at the Study Center, Adam walked the adventurers down to the butterfly garden, a nice little hidden spot only a couple miles down the road. This was a cool place with lots of insects crawling around, and it was a good little spot for Adam to teach the students everything he knew about Arthropods, and he knew an awful lot. 

Eilish is not so sure this little millipede isn't gonna cyanide her 

Here's Adam talking about Hercules beetles and how they use their giant horns to fight over pretty women

Adam taught the students about a ton of different bugs, including scorpions, katydids, tarantulas, but one of the most interesting was a little guy called the "asthma beetle," and he mentioned that they were totally edible, which gave these hungry adventurers an idea. 

The asthma beetle senses what's to come and makes a run for it across Meg's hand 

Dan doesn't appreciate the buggy taste 

After a short little lecture and overview in one of the classrooms, Adam took the adventurers into the butterfly garden itself, and taught them about how species vary in different life zones. There are multiple enclosed gardens here, and each one represents a higher elevation, and encompasses a different life zone, so the students got to interact with lots of different species of butterflies. 

Amanda makes a new winged friend 

This guy's helping himself to some banana 

Here's a very pretty monarch

Sadia and the other adventurers are in awe of the arthropods  

Well they learned about of lot if interesting stuff out there, and then they scampered back to the Study Center for a shortish little break before night fell and Adam took them on a night-hike expedition in search of tarantulas hiding in their dark and sketchy holes. Everybody was really stoked to find one of these super-interesting creatures. 

Adam points at something that may or may not be a tarantula (it's not) 

It's a scorpion! 

Meg found something, but she wasn't sure exactly what, so she carried it around on a stick at safe distance until she found Adam again

The slick explorers enjoy their 7pm adventure

Well none of the family-sized tarantulas were spotted this evening, but Sam did manage to get his hands on a little baby tarantula guy, and he carried it all the way back to the study center to show the kids who were better at walking fast. 

Everybody was super stoked, and they all lined up for their turn to hold the little guy. Aislyn in particular was excited. 

Look at how excited about the little spider Aislyn is 

After a lot of negotiating and trust exercises, Aislyn lets the spider crawl on her. A very excited Julia applauds.  

 What's better than a night-hike in the wilds of Monteverde, Costa Rica. With Arthropod Day a complete success, the explorers helped themselves to some leftover pizza and wandered off into the night, looking for their next adventure.