…continuing the story from last week
We got up around 4:15am, trying to find an uber. There was a single driver in Jaco, but they refused to take our ride. Didi was the same situation. We were stuck. Or so we thought. Alice clutched up and called some taxi drivers and got them to drive to Playa Hermosa and pick us up, getting us to the bus stop in the nick of time to catch our 5:00am bus ride. The bus smelled strongly of bubblegum. I quickly fell asleep.
We made it back to Selina and heard news that Dr. Wettergreen was sick, so class was cancelled. We took advantage of this and slept until heading to Heredia at 11:00. We met up with the other Rice students in Heredia and got some hamburgers with them before heading to the Heredia market. Afterward, we went to a cool park that had trampolines in the ground and some really cool workout equipment. I spent 45 minutes playing basketball with a local. It was nice to be able to connect with a local through sports, being unable to speak their language. In the evening, James Jeff and I got chifrijos from uber eats and we took it easy.
On Tuesday, we were back to the grind. Except for the fact that Sarah, Jeff and I were not feeling super productive, and we spent the morning creating Gary. Gary is our friend who is powered by the same dc motor-offset weight configuration that powers our Parkinson’s device. So, in a way, it was productive.
Gary.
In the afternoon, Dr. Wettergreen let us know that we were very behind on our testing, so we had to rush to finish that. For Gary, however, it was worth it. That evening, Summer and I cooked some spaghetti and meatballs. They were pretty solid.
On Wednesday, we executed our testing plan. We set up a table in the entrance to ULACIT, and our friends from ULACIT helped recruit students to test for us. Our group completed the spiral test, the frequency test, and the cereal tests on 26 people for a successful day of work.
Our cereal test instructions.
Jeff and I ordered KFC in the evening. Jeff lost his passport. Tough situation.
On Thursday, we analyzed our data and finalized our presentation. We made a video to demonstrate our product and then ran through the presentation a few times to make some small edits. After class, we were going to have our final dinner with the group, and the restaurant happened to be right next to the bus terminal for Manuel Antonio, the place Leticia, Alice, Carly, and I planned to visit on the weekend. Leticia, Alice, and I walked over to the station and got the tickets, then met up with everyone at the restaurant. The menu was massive. It was the paradox of choice. I went with a classic- sweet and sour chicken. They brought out the food as it was ready in the kitchen. The servings were massive. Chicken, rice, steak, soup, sushi- all in abundance. It was overwhelming. I finished my sweet and sour chicken. Walsh stole the prized chicken I saved for last. Curse you Walsh. My one picture from the dinner is Leticia’s interesting meal choice, which was shrimp, vegetables, and potatoes. Entirely deep fried.
Deep fried everything.
After dinner we ubered to a bowling alley while Dr. Wettergreen, Claudia, and Douglas made the treacherous hike over. We got some alleys and started bowling. After a bit of a warmup we were playing pretty well. Unfortunately, no one broke 100, but James was 1 point off. Jefferson had the most style points, and Walsh had the fastest throw. He also had no competitors because as soon as he did his fastest throw, the guy managing the alleys turned the speed cameras off. It was a good time.
Standing around during bowling
After bowling, we went to our ULACIT friends’ house, and then to a club because we got kicked out of their communal space. The club was okay, but I was too tired to truly enjoy it. We said goodbye to them and it was the last time we saw them in person. Maybe we will see them again.
The ULACIT squad
On Friday, we had our final presentations. We made our presentations, and ran through them a few time before giving them around 1:00. It was awesome to see all of our projects come together, and I was really proud of what we all did. We also got some cool ULACIT merch. On the way home, we said goodbye to the dog that always barks at us as we walk past, and I stopped by the supermarket to get some Chiky cookies to take back to my family. On the way to the supermarket, some taxi driver tried to convince us that the route we took was the most dangerous area of San Jose when we’d walked there many times before. I don’t think I’ll miss that.
Dog
I prepared for our 4:45 bus ride to Manuel Antonio, and said goodbye to everyone that I wouldn’t see Saturday night as we hopped in the Uber. The 3.5 hour ride took about 5 hours because of traffic, but I had the best fried chicken of my life at the rest stop. We got to Manuel Antonio, walked to our place, and called it a night.
On Saturday, we spent the day at Manuel Antonio. We started with a tour and the guide showed us so many animals we wouldn’t have seen on our own. Sloths, insects, bats, lizards, iguanas, crabs, and a bunch of other plants. It was sick.
Crazy spider we saw
We then went to the beach and hung out for a bit before hiking to two viewpoints.
Viewpoints were sick
We spent the rest of the day swimming and checking out the other beaches, and spent some time hanging with an iguana before we caught the 5:00pm bus back to San Jose.
Iguana chillin Me chillin
We got back to San Jose at around 9:00, and then got the uber back to the Selina. I got McDonalds for the final dinner in San Jose. James was still there surprisingly, and he seemed to make friends with some guys from Belgium which was cool. I packed and then set my alarm for 4:30.
Sunday, I woke up and then headed to the airport with Leticia and Alice. I had some complications with my flight but it turned out even better because I got a direct flight to New York rather than stopping in Montreal first. Leticia and I hung out in the airport and at 12:40pm, I said goodbye to San Jose, marking the end of an amazing trip.
Thanks to Dr. Wettergreen, Rice, and all the other students on this trip for making it such a great experience. I found that I truly love engineering and the design process, and this program got me so excited to move on with the Engineering Design Minor and the Mechanical Engineering Major. I didn’t end up learning much more Spanish, but I was able to get by well enough. I was inspired to possibly take some language courses at Rice to gain proficiency in another language. Overall, this trip was a great experience that has taught me so much, and I’ll never forget it.
Thanks for following my journey in Costa Rica!
Yours Truly,
Brendan