Welcome back to another week in Ravi’s life in Costa Rica. This week took a better turn from the last as me, Sid, and Santi conquered the infamous Poas volcano.
First, this week has been my most exciting and hands-on experience at Confluent as I got to characterize catheter samples that Hannah and I had built. We created samples at different min and max parameters and measured the maximum stress before yielding using an Instron tensile machine. This work helped me appreciate the work and testing required to validate the proposed work instructions. Overall, while this is just a tiny part of the development process of new medical devices, it is still extremely crucial.
The highlight of my week was definitely this weekend where the GMI group spent a weekend in Lourdes de Naranjo at an Airbnb. The place we were at was very scenic, serene, and extremely isolated. We had such a difficult time traveling there because a lot of taxis were hesitant to drive us across the gravel off-roads. Our place was elevated and oversaw a massive coffee farm. We definitely attempted to get some coffee (from the source) but after finding out we couldn’t from someone, we instead received a bunch of limes as a gift. You know what they say – “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. And so we did. After traveling into town and getting lunch, we got some sugar and made “limeade”. Unfortunately, while it was very fun to make, it didn’t come out too well because the limes were extremely fresh and tart. After the girls had left, the guys prepared for our 10-hr hike of Poas.
Poas was such a crazy adventure. From climbing trees like monkeys to nearly passing out from sheer exhaustion, none of it compared to the stunning view of the mountains and craters at Poas. Along a beautiful view was a bonding experience with our hiking group. Since we were definitely the slowest of the pack, the hikers helped us every step of the way and made sure got to each rest point safely. After a beautiful hike, we got lunch at a town in San Carlos and arrived back at Selina via an uncomfortable public bus.
This experience was definitely the highlight of my year and I don’t think anything will compare to it. For all my blog followers, see you again next week – chao!
