My Third Week in CR

There’s quite a bit to tell since I last wrote. My class went to the Talamanca Mountains last Friday. The Talamancas are the highest mountains in Central America. It was beautiful! The highway had amazing views of the valleys and peaks. We stayed at La Georgina, which is a landmark for people traveling along the highway because it used to be the only place to stop and get some food while traveling along the Interamerican Highway.

We stayed in a great cabin on a slope overlooking a valley. There were 12 of us in total including David, the ecology professor and Johnny, a Spanish professor. There were two bedrooms each with a double bed. In the hallway there were bunk beds, and in the living room there were mattresses laid out on the floor. One wall was made of large stone slabs, which had great drawings on them of things like a priest, a deer, and a painted face.

When we first arrived, we dropped off our stuff and went to a forest that’s being researched by CATIE, a research institution focused on sustainable agriculture. CATIE started this research project in the 80s to see how a forest should be sustainably harvested. We hiked for a while through the forest learning about the different trees. Then we sat down in a sunny patch and learned more about the research project.

Afterwards, we drove up the bumpy road back to the cabin to get some lunch at La Georgina. After lunch we spent some time in the cabin discussing bioregionalism. Then we had dinner and watched the Costa Rica vs. Honduras soccer game. Costa Rica won, of course. :)

That night it was very, very cold. There was no heat in the cabin and it reached temperatures as cold as 15 degrees F. I was very cold despite having on long underwear, sweatpants, a sweatshirt, smartwools, and 3 blankets. I also think I had a fever for the first half of the night, which didn’t help.

The following morning I wasn’t feeling very well. I had a stomach ache and head ache. We got up early, around 7am. Before we left, a few of us walked a little ways down the hill to a sunny patch to look at the valley. On the way back up, I got very faint. I ended up feeling faint for the next hour or so. At breakfast, I couldn’t eat anything and started to feel nauseous. Needless to say, I was sick. I couldn’t go with the class to the blackberry farm. I was really disappointed about that. I ended up staying in the cabin and napping for most of the time. I was really weak and feverish, so it was a good thing I didn’t go. The way back to San José was okay for the most part. Towards the end, we had to pull over so I could throw up though. :(

When I got back to my house in Curridabat, I told my family I wasn’t feeling well. They were amazing! They took such good care of me. They gave me some suero (serum for my stomach) and rice water, and then took me to the hospital. They were very efficient there. The doctor told me I probably have a viral infection; but just in case of E. Coli, he prescribed me some pills to take. For the rest of Saturday, I just relaxed. On Sunday I went to a big farmer’s market with my Tica sister and her boyfriend Luis. It was great seeing all the farmers selling their vegetables and fruit. We bought some really delicious stuff like guayabana and javo. :) I went to the internet café for a couple hours after that, and then I just relaxed and read for the rest of the day at my house.

Monday we had the morning off, so a bunch of us went to the Gold Museum in San José. It was very interesting and informative. They had lots of Pre-Columbian gold and other interesting artifacts. I learned quite a bit more about Costa Rica’s far off history. We got lunch to go from Vishnu, a vegetarian restaurant in downtown San José. Then we headed back to ICADS for Spanish class at 1:30. My evening wasn’t very exciting. I had dinner and then did homework with Joanna and Sam, two girls who live near me.

Tuesday night we had a latin dance class taught by a fun, little Tico named Roy. We learned meringue, salsa, mambo, reggaeton, and a couple others. It was really fun!

Yesterday the class went south of San José to a shade coffee farm in the mountains. It was the best thing we’ve done so far! It was awesome seeing how an organic, (partially) shade grown coffee farm operates. We learned more about the owner and the association he’s a part of (called AFAORCA) while sitting on huge bags of coffee beans ready for export. We got to see the small, clever machines they use to take the pulp off the seeds; and how the seeds are dried in the sun after the pulp is removed. We also had the pleasure of having some fresh coffee made using the beans grown on the farm. I don’t like coffee at all, but this stuff was amazing!

After talking with the owner for a while, we visited another coffee farm to see the Panamanian coffee pickers at work. They were Guami indigenous people who travel up the mountains of Costa Rica during coffee picking season with their entire family in tow. After the coffee has been picked, they go back to Panama and usually grow rice, corn, or beans until the next harvest.

After that we went to one of the pastures owned by the coffee farmer. We had to walk into the pen of the huge bulls in order to climb up the pasture. It was pretty intense. The bulls stared us down the entire time. We were afraid they might be hostile because of their calves. But it ended up being fine. While sitting on the steep slope of the cattle pasture, we learned about soil and land use capacity. Then we took some samples and did some ecology to determine the best land use for the pasture. Afterwards, we had a very large, delicious lunch cooked by the wife of the coffee farmer. We then had a reading discussion on shade grown coffee. Afterwards, we piled back into the cars and drove down the extremely bumpy, windy, and dusty roads (with amazing views of the mountains!) to the roasting place for the coffee. The place where the roaster was located was also a coffee shop. Our professors treated us to a cup of coffee each (made using the coffee grown by the association) and then we saw the roaster. The roaster was quite small since they only roast 5% of their beans. The rest goes to a place in Seattle where they roast it for the US. After that, we had to get home since it was already late. We arrived back at ICADS around 7:00pm.

I had some dinner and watched some football with my family, then took a shower and prepared for the rest of my night. :) It was Joanna’s 21st birthday yesterday, so we had to take her out to celebrate. We went to a place called El Pueblo. It’s really an amazing place! It’s almost like a theme park, really. It’s a bunch of bars, restaurants, and little shops clustered into one area with a gate surrounding it and guards at the entrance. It’s got quaint little streets, nice sitting areas with trees and flowers, and absolutely no cars. It’s very easy to bar hop and see a bunch of different places in a short amount of time. All of us met at this bar called Bongo’s where they had very loud music and absolutely no one there besides us. Once we all arrived, we left to go next door where there were a lot more people. The drink of choice here in Costa Rica (at least for a shot or mixing) is guaro. It’s made by the government so that they can regulate it (which also makes it very cheap). They basically don’t want moonshiners making liquor that can cause serious health problems and even death. It’s similar to vodka in taste and color. Anyway, we spent some time in that bar and then went to a couple more. We met a lot of interesting people throughout the night. All in all, it was a very fun night.

Today we had a lab in the morning where we identitified the bugs we sampled from the streams last week. It was fun learning about the different types of bugs and how they can be used to determine stream health.

More idiosyncrasies of Costa Rica:

- They love karaoke here! There seems to be a karaoke bar on every block.

- Every small bar has either one of two signs with its name on the bottom: a Pilsen sign or an Imperial sign. These are both beers brewed here in CR.

- Many women don’t carry around purses in crowded places. Instead they have fanny packs. :)

That’s all for now. Hasta luego!