Statue of the first generation coffee farmers in the square
Our second week in Costa Rica started off with an awesome food and walking tour that Madison found for the group to do. We met our tour guides in the central square of San Jose where there were statues representing the first generation of coffee plantation workers in Costa Rica.
The fruits at the first market
The tour guides then took us through the fruit and meat markets. There we sampled many different native fruits and they were all delicious. My favorite one we tried was probably the mangos. Then we made our way to a second market and taste tested some ice cream that tasted a lot like pumpkin spice (also delicious). Then we got back to Selina right as a painting activity started. I painted a telephone pole and the mountains behind it.
My painting!
The next day was the start of Engi 350. This class was taught by Dr. Wettergreen at ULACIT. It is so cool to visit the universities here! After listening to a polarizing talk by Henrik Von Scheel. We started writing more background information about the needs statements we wrote last week. I decided to research more into the right to repair in hospitals. I focused mainly of defibrillators. It was interesting to dive into something I know very little about.
The sunset on our walk to the grocery store
View of downtown San Jose
After the needs statements we worked on creating more in depth testing plans for past engineering design projects. The project I worked on with Benji was for a toddler with a gene mutation. He uses a gait trainer to walk and the project was to modify the device so that the toddler was more likely to use the walker.
We spent the rest of the week working on these testing plans and as a reward for finishing Engi 350 on Friday, Dr. Wettergreen took us bowling. I did not bowl well at all but it was fun regardless. We finished the night by walking to to grocery store to buy ingredients and then we cooked steak tacos at selina for dinner. All in all, it was a great end to the second week.