Overview of the Week
This week we started off with a trip to the Irazú Volcano and continued to make good progress at work. We also tried a few different places to eat, and I tried out some old and new recipes here in Costa Rica. Keep reading to hear all about it!
High Altitudes
On Saturday, we woke up super early to catch the bus in San Jose at 8am. After the two hour ride, we were dropped off at the entrance to the Irazú Volcano National Park. Irazú is the highest active volcano in Costa Rica, and at the park, you are able to walk around and see the five craters of the volcano. We specifically saw Cráter Diego de la Haya and Cráter Principal (the main crater). We were quite surprised that there was no water to be seen in the craters given that it has been raining so much. Another thing that caught us off guard was the temperature – it was about 40 degrees, and we definitely did not pack for the cold!
Views of Irazú Volcano
We enjoyed our walk around and stopped for some hot chocolate at the café while we waited for the time to board the bus back. This bus dropped us off in the city of Cartago, a good distance from our destination of San Jose, so when we got off, we followed the crowd to find a bus that would take us there. Once there, we got on an Uber back to our hotel to show the rest of the group where we are living.
We finished off the night at Papa Dog, a hot dog truck-like location that has a huge array of items to choose from. Lastly, for dessert, we went to Pops where I got a coconut shake that I had been waiting to get!
Papa Dog and Pops 🙂
Prototyping and Writing
Costa Rican Supply Store
At the beginning of this week, we went to a large supply store that has all sorts of products to choose from for inspiration or materials to start prototyping for our project. We chose all kinds of items, including some silicone, plastic, and stretchy materials that we could play around with to see what would or would not work for our designs.
The rest of the week, we worked on writing the report section for the study we conducted related to implant deployments. I also worked some more on coming up with designs for my individual project, and we are hoping to order the materials needed to do testing of these designs. Unfortunately, it looks like I will not be here to conduct the testing, but I look forward to contributing more to the preparation. I guess that’s about all I can say about these projects :/
Side note: This week I ventured out and tried to make rice pudding (I have never made it myself before, just watched my mom) and to recreate one of my favorite soups from home (which was actually a challenge because a lot of the ingredients are not the same here as in the US). Overall, I was pretty happy with how the turned out!
Going Forward
Next week, we will hopefully have the green light to start prototyping with the materials that we bought which is something that I’m really excited about. For my other project, I will also be working on making more samples for testing and coming up with different pattern designs to also create. I will continue to soak up the last two weeks that we have here and will keep you updated with how everything goes! Talk to y’all next week 🙂