Harper College is closed Friday, July 3, for Independence Day (Observed).
Today we took a hike through one of the rainforests at ITEC. We learned all about plants and animals in the area.
A Yellow-Striped Poisonous Frog 
One species I really took a liking and interest to were the sloths we spotted hanging high above. We learned a super cool fact about these slow-moving creatures; thousands of years ago sloths (Megatherium) ranged from 10-13 feet and weighed 5 tons. Now sloths on average are roughly 23-27 inches and weigh 17.5-18.75 pounds. The sloths we saw were 3 toed sloths, which are similar to the Megatherium, but obviously MUCH smaller.
After the hike through the Isla Colon Rainforest, we stopped to eat some lunch. Next, we did a privilege walk. Everyone, including the professors, were to partake in this study. Professor Johnson asked questions and depending on if it was related to you, you would either take a step forward (privileged response) or take a step back (less privileged response). We had to all hold hands until we were too far from each other, at the end no one was able to hold hands anymore. It really opened our eyes to how privileged we are compared to others. In Panama many people don’t have access to clean water, own a house, or have air conditioning. At first, I was really nervous to partake in it, knowing I might be more privileged than others. The end results surprised some students, and while others could predict their place in the line. I was very surprised that I was almost the farthest from the other side. At the end we all got to talk about how we felt about our place in the line and what surprised us about it.
Following the privilege walk we went snorkeling on the island. Once everyone was ready, we all swam through mangroves to the coral reef. At the coral reef we saw all different kinds of sea life including sea urchins, sea cucumbers, star fish, sting rays, jellyfish, tuna, sea grass, algae, plankton, and fire coral. Unfortunately, our time was cut short after three of us got stung by an upside down jellyfish. We then had to make our way back to ITEC Field Station and address our jellyfish stings by pouring vinegar on a towel to soak our wounds. Though we were in some pain from the stings, we muscled through the rest of the night, as we all enjoyed dinner together. After such an adventurous (and somewhat painful) day, we all decided to end the day early and hit the hay (and apply some bug spray).