Don't get too excited, I've only added a handful. It takes ages to upload the photos and we're limited on computer use (12 cranky students, 2 laptops-good times). That's my excuse...
I put a few into the older posts, one under Heredia, and a few under Update from the coast. The rest are in the new posts.
No monkey photos as of yet...or video...but it'll happen.
Enjoy!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Where does your coffee come from?
Have I mentioned Arturo yet?
The man is amazing. He's a little dynamo-he tends to gesture wildly, walks around when making a point, spits a bunch...awesome guy. We met Arturo at the coffee mill near his farm and coffee plantation. Arturo has managed to bring coffee farmers in his area together and has helped many of them to become organic farmers. He took us around both the mill and his own farm, and gave us a crash course in the coffee trade. It's a complex topic, and I definitely won't do it justice. My professor, Susan, recommends the book Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World.
Although I've seen the fair-trade stickers, and had heard about shade-grown coffee, I never knew the details. Here's the scoop: fair-trade means that the coffee farmer gets the profits from the coffee they grow. Not the businessmen and not the middlemen (known as coyotes in Costa Rica). This is a big deal. One coffee farmer is like one coffee bean within a ton of coffee. He's a little guy, and doesn't have a lot of power. Middle men take advantage of the coffee farmer. Coffee is only harvested once a year, and a lot depends on that yearly harvest of the Costa Rican coffee farmer. They get desperate, and if they sell out to a middle man who pays below the worth of the coffee, then the farmer will suffer for the rest of the year. If you buy fair trade, then you know that you are buying directly from the farmer.
Shade-grown coffee takes the efficiency out of coffee farming. *gasp!* What will we do without efficiency?!?!
Shade-grown means that the coffee is not grown as a mono-crop, but that it is grown alongside other plants, such as banana trees. The trees, a natural part of Costa Rica, provide key habitats for birds. Without the trees, you lose the birds. Since I've been here we've driven along many roads that have coffee plantations covering the hills (did you know that the quality of coffee increases with the altitude?), and the hills are barren of any trees. The other problem with the lack of crop diversity is that it taxes the soil. In order to grow that much coffee, year after year, the farmers coat their fields with chemicals.
Organically grown coffee means that it is grown without chemical fertilizers, fungicides or pesticides. Most of the farmers who are growing their coffee organically are also a part of fair-trade and shade-grown coffee. It gets kind of complicated, since the farmers need certifications for each of the three, and the certifications cost a lot of money. The small-time farmers in some areas have formed groups, and pay for the certifications together (it's like buying in bulk, it's cheaper if there is more of them doing it at once).They also do outreach-they educate farmers on what the three different elements mean.
Arturo is a big part of the organic coffee farmer group in his area. He also travels directly to the US to sell his coffee (it actually costs less!). He is trying to figure out a way to get the three certifications condensed to one, mainly so that the farmers will only have to pay for a single certification. If anyone can do it, it'll be Arturo.
He introduced us to a friend of his, a guy named Minor. Minor is also a coffee farmer, his family owns one of the largest privately owned coffee plantations in the area. After learning more about organic farming, he decided to try it out on his own land. Against the wishes (and without the support) of his family, he stopped using chemicals on a part of his family plantation. It's been about 8 years, and he thinks that it will be ready in 4 more years.
The soil was nearly dead when he began, drained of any health by the chemicals his family used in order to keep producing coffee crops year after year. With Arturo's help, he's learned to make organic fertilizers and to grow plants that are helping restore the nutrients in the soil. I was really impressed by Minor, but also reminded of the struggle it would be for those less fortunate than him. He was able to use finances from the other plots in the family plantation while he worked on switching to organic methods. What about farmers without that support system?
Guys like Arturo are important. He's fighting for the little guys, the small-time coffee farmers that are up against the Goliath corporations that buy coffee from everyone else. He's also supporting sustainable methods of farming. Growing plants side by side that complement one another (check out permaculture if you're interested, I basically mean that one plant helps replace the nutrients that another plant uses), using what the land provides instead of forcing it to grow what you want and how you want it and using the land in a way that will ensure future generations that same privilege.
The man is amazing. He's a little dynamo-he tends to gesture wildly, walks around when making a point, spits a bunch...awesome guy. We met Arturo at the coffee mill near his farm and coffee plantation. Arturo has managed to bring coffee farmers in his area together and has helped many of them to become organic farmers. He took us around both the mill and his own farm, and gave us a crash course in the coffee trade. It's a complex topic, and I definitely won't do it justice. My professor, Susan, recommends the book Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World.
Although I've seen the fair-trade stickers, and had heard about shade-grown coffee, I never knew the details. Here's the scoop: fair-trade means that the coffee farmer gets the profits from the coffee they grow. Not the businessmen and not the middlemen (known as coyotes in Costa Rica). This is a big deal. One coffee farmer is like one coffee bean within a ton of coffee. He's a little guy, and doesn't have a lot of power. Middle men take advantage of the coffee farmer. Coffee is only harvested once a year, and a lot depends on that yearly harvest of the Costa Rican coffee farmer. They get desperate, and if they sell out to a middle man who pays below the worth of the coffee, then the farmer will suffer for the rest of the year. If you buy fair trade, then you know that you are buying directly from the farmer.
Shade-grown coffee takes the efficiency out of coffee farming. *gasp!* What will we do without efficiency?!?!
Shade-grown means that the coffee is not grown as a mono-crop, but that it is grown alongside other plants, such as banana trees. The trees, a natural part of Costa Rica, provide key habitats for birds. Without the trees, you lose the birds. Since I've been here we've driven along many roads that have coffee plantations covering the hills (did you know that the quality of coffee increases with the altitude?), and the hills are barren of any trees. The other problem with the lack of crop diversity is that it taxes the soil. In order to grow that much coffee, year after year, the farmers coat their fields with chemicals.
Organically grown coffee means that it is grown without chemical fertilizers, fungicides or pesticides. Most of the farmers who are growing their coffee organically are also a part of fair-trade and shade-grown coffee. It gets kind of complicated, since the farmers need certifications for each of the three, and the certifications cost a lot of money. The small-time farmers in some areas have formed groups, and pay for the certifications together (it's like buying in bulk, it's cheaper if there is more of them doing it at once).They also do outreach-they educate farmers on what the three different elements mean.
Arturo is a big part of the organic coffee farmer group in his area. He also travels directly to the US to sell his coffee (it actually costs less!). He is trying to figure out a way to get the three certifications condensed to one, mainly so that the farmers will only have to pay for a single certification. If anyone can do it, it'll be Arturo.
He introduced us to a friend of his, a guy named Minor. Minor is also a coffee farmer, his family owns one of the largest privately owned coffee plantations in the area. After learning more about organic farming, he decided to try it out on his own land. Against the wishes (and without the support) of his family, he stopped using chemicals on a part of his family plantation. It's been about 8 years, and he thinks that it will be ready in 4 more years.
The soil was nearly dead when he began, drained of any health by the chemicals his family used in order to keep producing coffee crops year after year. With Arturo's help, he's learned to make organic fertilizers and to grow plants that are helping restore the nutrients in the soil. I was really impressed by Minor, but also reminded of the struggle it would be for those less fortunate than him. He was able to use finances from the other plots in the family plantation while he worked on switching to organic methods. What about farmers without that support system?
Guys like Arturo are important. He's fighting for the little guys, the small-time coffee farmers that are up against the Goliath corporations that buy coffee from everyone else. He's also supporting sustainable methods of farming. Growing plants side by side that complement one another (check out permaculture if you're interested, I basically mean that one plant helps replace the nutrients that another plant uses), using what the land provides instead of forcing it to grow what you want and how you want it and using the land in a way that will ensure future generations that same privilege.
The most important thing
Food!
I've gotten a couple of questions on what I'm eating down here, and thought I'd talk a little about one of my favorite topics.
The diet is primarily vegetarian here, but meat is definitely available, especially in the super-americanized areas. Our group normally sticks to casados (fun fact from my Spanish instructor: casado is the word for married, and is also used for this dish b/c it's combinations of things that go very well together). Casados vary, and I can definitely attest to that. No two are the same! Each normally has rice, beans and a veggie. Some have had fried plantains, fried eggs, a lettuce-based salad (the locals put mayonnaise and ketchup on it, sooo wrong, and this is from someone who used to consider ketchup a food group!) or other local specialties. I've only gotten the vegetarian casado, but they also make fish and other meat casados. There is a topping, kind of like ketchup, that is ever-present. It reminds me of Taco Bell hot sauce packets (the mild one), and people put it on everything. It's really good on eggs.
Fresh fruit is readily available, especially pineapple, mango, papaya and passion fruit. At Mastatal they have a type of white pineapple. It's really good, and is less fibrous than the yellow pineapple. I'm not a huge fan of papaya, but the people who like it loooove it here. I am a huge fan of mango, and I've been eating some amazing mangoes. Hurrah! There are other unique fruits that we've been trying along the way, and fresh juices as well. I'm not a huge fan of juice, but I've been trying the juices here. They're very intense, and really good.
The vegetables are amazing as well. Not a lot of dark leafy greens, but plenty of avocados!!
In the cities the food tends to be greasy and they rarely use fresh ingredients. I've definitely appreciated staying at Mastatal and Durika, where everything is fresh and delicious. A couple of the places we stayed used a lot of frozen vegetables and milk or butter based sauces. I think they thought it would be more appreciated by us, but I'm definitely not a fan.
We've made a couple of stops at bakeries, but I haven't bought anything yet. I did try an empenada (spelling on that?) filled with a squash, sugar and spices. It was really good, but very bready. It seems like most of their treats tend to be bready. Since it's so hot, they're not really appealing to me. My favorite treat has been chocolate covered guava beads. They're about the size of a raisin and really good. I've only bought them once (we're tracking all of our waste!) but I'm going to try to bring some home for people to try. I'm usually really into sweets (*ahem* understatement?), but haven't been down here. I feel pretty good about it. I've been trying to eat less sugar, especially uber-processed, and there's no time like the present.
For the coffee drinkers out there (who? what? coffee? never!), it's amazing. I've had coffee twice, which is big because since I've quit drinking coffee it normally takes a really good brew to get me to drink it. The drip coffee is always good here, even at the random places. It makes sense, with all the coffee plantations. The coffee drinkers in the group have been really happy. Gabriel reminded us that we'll be giving up coffee once we get back to Seattle, unless they start growing it locally. Amelia and Jen have decided to start growing once we get back.
I've gotten a couple of questions on what I'm eating down here, and thought I'd talk a little about one of my favorite topics.
The diet is primarily vegetarian here, but meat is definitely available, especially in the super-americanized areas. Our group normally sticks to casados (fun fact from my Spanish instructor: casado is the word for married, and is also used for this dish b/c it's combinations of things that go very well together). Casados vary, and I can definitely attest to that. No two are the same! Each normally has rice, beans and a veggie. Some have had fried plantains, fried eggs, a lettuce-based salad (the locals put mayonnaise and ketchup on it, sooo wrong, and this is from someone who used to consider ketchup a food group!) or other local specialties. I've only gotten the vegetarian casado, but they also make fish and other meat casados. There is a topping, kind of like ketchup, that is ever-present. It reminds me of Taco Bell hot sauce packets (the mild one), and people put it on everything. It's really good on eggs.
Fresh fruit is readily available, especially pineapple, mango, papaya and passion fruit. At Mastatal they have a type of white pineapple. It's really good, and is less fibrous than the yellow pineapple. I'm not a huge fan of papaya, but the people who like it loooove it here. I am a huge fan of mango, and I've been eating some amazing mangoes. Hurrah! There are other unique fruits that we've been trying along the way, and fresh juices as well. I'm not a huge fan of juice, but I've been trying the juices here. They're very intense, and really good.
The vegetables are amazing as well. Not a lot of dark leafy greens, but plenty of avocados!!
In the cities the food tends to be greasy and they rarely use fresh ingredients. I've definitely appreciated staying at Mastatal and Durika, where everything is fresh and delicious. A couple of the places we stayed used a lot of frozen vegetables and milk or butter based sauces. I think they thought it would be more appreciated by us, but I'm definitely not a fan.
We've made a couple of stops at bakeries, but I haven't bought anything yet. I did try an empenada (spelling on that?) filled with a squash, sugar and spices. It was really good, but very bready. It seems like most of their treats tend to be bready. Since it's so hot, they're not really appealing to me. My favorite treat has been chocolate covered guava beads. They're about the size of a raisin and really good. I've only bought them once (we're tracking all of our waste!) but I'm going to try to bring some home for people to try. I'm usually really into sweets (*ahem* understatement?), but haven't been down here. I feel pretty good about it. I've been trying to eat less sugar, especially uber-processed, and there's no time like the present.
For the coffee drinkers out there (who? what? coffee? never!), it's amazing. I've had coffee twice, which is big because since I've quit drinking coffee it normally takes a really good brew to get me to drink it. The drip coffee is always good here, even at the random places. It makes sense, with all the coffee plantations. The coffee drinkers in the group have been really happy. Gabriel reminded us that we'll be giving up coffee once we get back to Seattle, unless they start growing it locally. Amelia and Jen have decided to start growing once we get back.
Sustainability and the little guy
Let's talk about sustainability!
It seems somewhat appropriate, given the name of my class...
During our time in Santa Maria del Dota, we hung out with Arturo-the super passionate organic/shade grown/fair trade coffee farmer. He also brought in a friend to give us a lecture on sustainable living, a guy named Gabriel. We'd already been pretty focused on the big S word, but their input really hit home for me and I thought I'd share.
Speaking of the big S word...Have you checked out your ecological footprint yet? Do you know what that is?
Basically it's a fun Internet quiz that tells you that you are using a ridiculous amount of the earth's resources and at a disgusting rate (unless you live in a mud hut, don't leave your mud hut, share your mud hut with many people with whom you eat a fresh vegan diet from your own small garden-if that's you, then just skip the footprint). For the rest of us, we have a lot of work to do!!
From the beginning of our trip, each student has been keeping track of their ecological footprint.
Here's our list of things to track:
This all ties into Arturo and his buddy Gabriel, I swear.
Gabriel studied sciences in Costa Rica, and now works towards teaching people about sustainable living. He spoke with great passion about changing small facets of your daily life that will add up and help create great changes in the world. If you've ever considered eating a vegetarian diet, changing to more efficient light bulbs or even buying a hybrid car instead of a regular one, then you may have come up against the feeling of futility that I believe many people face. How much change can one person make?
Gabriel encourages people to think of the effects of one small change. Maybe someone will notice that you pack a lunch instead of buying out each day, that you bring your own mug instead of using a disposable cup or that you walk to work instead of taking the bus. Perhaps they'll be inspired. It might only cause them to start a process of thought that will take them closer to making changes in their own lives, but that small change can help create huge changes. Gabriel encouraged us to think of the small changes we could make in our own lives, and to encourage other people in our lives to do the same.
The feeling of making a difference amidst the sea of humanity (seemingly headed in the opposite direction!) has been something I've grappled with before. Listening to Gabriel, one man who is changing the lives of everyone he speaks to (even if they only consider changing something) inspired me to reassess the power I have to make a difference. It's a heady feeling, especially after learning so much about climate change this past year and feeling pretty overwhelmed and powerless in the face of the destruction of the environment and the rapid consumption of the earth's resources.
Something Gabriel encouraged (actually, he demanded, but he did it in a very charming way) us to do when we returned to Seattle, is to eat locally. If everyone ate within 50 miles of their home, it would reduce emissions and waste and would also help out local our economies. It's just one change, and a pretty big one for some of us. (Especially those of us with an on-going Trader Joe's love affair. So much excess packaging!!!) He convinced me, and I'll be eating as local as possible when I get home. I'm pretty lucky right now, eating locally means eating fresh pineapple, mango and passion fruit each day!
So. What are you going to do? No pressure!
It seems somewhat appropriate, given the name of my class...
During our time in Santa Maria del Dota, we hung out with Arturo-the super passionate organic/shade grown/fair trade coffee farmer. He also brought in a friend to give us a lecture on sustainable living, a guy named Gabriel. We'd already been pretty focused on the big S word, but their input really hit home for me and I thought I'd share.
Speaking of the big S word...Have you checked out your ecological footprint yet? Do you know what that is?
Basically it's a fun Internet quiz that tells you that you are using a ridiculous amount of the earth's resources and at a disgusting rate (unless you live in a mud hut, don't leave your mud hut, share your mud hut with many people with whom you eat a fresh vegan diet from your own small garden-if that's you, then just skip the footprint). For the rest of us, we have a lot of work to do!!
From the beginning of our trip, each student has been keeping track of their ecological footprint.
Here's our list of things to track:
- waste-this includes napkins, tp, plastic wrappers, etc.
- food-is it local or did it take gas to get it to your plate? fresh or processed? meat? how was it prepared, cooked?
- energy use-batteries, lights, etc.
- travel-how far did you travel, and how much gas did you use? how many miles per gallon did the vehicle get?
This all ties into Arturo and his buddy Gabriel, I swear.
Gabriel studied sciences in Costa Rica, and now works towards teaching people about sustainable living. He spoke with great passion about changing small facets of your daily life that will add up and help create great changes in the world. If you've ever considered eating a vegetarian diet, changing to more efficient light bulbs or even buying a hybrid car instead of a regular one, then you may have come up against the feeling of futility that I believe many people face. How much change can one person make?
Gabriel encourages people to think of the effects of one small change. Maybe someone will notice that you pack a lunch instead of buying out each day, that you bring your own mug instead of using a disposable cup or that you walk to work instead of taking the bus. Perhaps they'll be inspired. It might only cause them to start a process of thought that will take them closer to making changes in their own lives, but that small change can help create huge changes. Gabriel encouraged us to think of the small changes we could make in our own lives, and to encourage other people in our lives to do the same.
The feeling of making a difference amidst the sea of humanity (seemingly headed in the opposite direction!) has been something I've grappled with before. Listening to Gabriel, one man who is changing the lives of everyone he speaks to (even if they only consider changing something) inspired me to reassess the power I have to make a difference. It's a heady feeling, especially after learning so much about climate change this past year and feeling pretty overwhelmed and powerless in the face of the destruction of the environment and the rapid consumption of the earth's resources.
Something Gabriel encouraged (actually, he demanded, but he did it in a very charming way) us to do when we returned to Seattle, is to eat locally. If everyone ate within 50 miles of their home, it would reduce emissions and waste and would also help out local our economies. It's just one change, and a pretty big one for some of us. (Especially those of us with an on-going Trader Joe's love affair. So much excess packaging!!!) He convinced me, and I'll be eating as local as possible when I get home. I'm pretty lucky right now, eating locally means eating fresh pineapple, mango and passion fruit each day!
So. What are you going to do? No pressure!
Friday, April 13, 2007
Palo Verde Part II
Lizard outside of my room in Palo Verde
The class spent yesterday and today learning more about the Biological Research Station (run by The Organization for Tropical Studies). Some of the information came from our guide, and I'm not so sure that he's the best source so I've included the link to the OTS site. If you're not sure about something, or it sounds very very wrong, then feel free to check it out.
Palo Verde is a biological reserve, named after the Palo Verde (or Green Stick) tree that can be found in the area. The reserve protects a marshland and also tropical dry forest in the Guanacaste Province. It's a fascinating area, filled with unique plants, animals and insects.
They initiated protection of the area because of the marshland, which attracts thousands of migratory birds (the last count was near 35,000!). Ironically, one of the largest financial backers is Ducks Unlimited, a big supporter of the conservation and hunting of waterfowl. Hmmm...
Yesterday the OTS guy took us on a "hike", his name is Marcos. He built up the hike into this big deal, but it ended up being about 1/2 a mile. There were big chunks of limestone along the way and the top was a limestone scramble. Very fun. It's an interesting dry forest, with the rock strewn around. A lot nutrients leach from the rocks, which changes a few things down hill.
Cool tree we saw that does photosynthesis through it's bark
We checked out the marsh from up high. It's not too exciting right now as the rainy season has only just begun. An interesting thing we noticed was that there were cows strewn through out the protected wetland. Weird, right?
They actually have a big typha, or cattail, problem. The marshland wants to move on with it's life-most wetlands fill with plants like cattails at some point, and then graduate to trees like the Palo Verde. It's natural, but since the point of the preserve is to get the wetland and keep it, they're working really hard to get rid of the cattails.
Cattails are pretty hard to keep down, so they use tractors to flatten them (they won't grow if they are submerged in enough water) and cows to chew on them. Are you picturing this? It's a preserved marshland with cows, big old tractors and the most diverse assortment of migratory birds. Very interesting...
It's been fun discussing the management plans for the area, and what we would do if we could. The biggest question is about the 'natural' state. Should it be a wetland? Or should they let it go?
On a side note, the bugs were really horrible on our hike, and it was cut a bit short. I have more bites than I can count, but the mosquitos aren't so bad. The worst bugs are really small, about the size of a very small ant, and they bite HARD. It is very, very wrong, the kind of bugs that keep you from being able to concentrate.
Anyhow. Today we went on a boat ride along the Temisque River. It's a big, muddy river that runs through the tropical dry forest. Coming up on the river is pretty surprising. On our run, Sarah and I ran until the road ended at the river, and saw a sign that said something along the lines of 'beware of the attacking crocodiles'. Very cool.
Although we didn't see any on our run, we made up for it on the boat ride. I'm not sure how many we saw, but it was more than enough. Our driver was kind enough to get close enough to touch the crocodiles even though none of us took him up on the offer. We also saw many interesting birds and a few monkeys.
In the afternoon we learned about my professor's research at Mastatal. Her focus is on streams, and she is attempting to accumulate enough data to figure out how much water is in the surrounding watershed. With the population of Costa Rica growing, it has become increasingly important to figure out how much water will be available to locals. Especially if privatization comes up, as it has in other countries. (Have you seen The Corporation? If not, check it out, it has some good information regarding the privatization of water.)
We head back to Mastatal tomorrow, and I'm looking forwards to it even though it's been wonderful having internet access!! We'll be at Mastatal for two weeks, so no more updates for a while.
I've a few things to say about past adventures, so forgive me for jumping around...
Cool tree we saw that does photosynthesis through it's bark
We checked out the marsh from up high. It's not too exciting right now as the rainy season has only just begun. An interesting thing we noticed was that there were cows strewn through out the protected wetland. Weird, right?
They actually have a big typha, or cattail, problem. The marshland wants to move on with it's life-most wetlands fill with plants like cattails at some point, and then graduate to trees like the Palo Verde. It's natural, but since the point of the preserve is to get the wetland and keep it, they're working really hard to get rid of the cattails.
Cattails are pretty hard to keep down, so they use tractors to flatten them (they won't grow if they are submerged in enough water) and cows to chew on them. Are you picturing this? It's a preserved marshland with cows, big old tractors and the most diverse assortment of migratory birds. Very interesting...
It's been fun discussing the management plans for the area, and what we would do if we could. The biggest question is about the 'natural' state. Should it be a wetland? Or should they let it go?
On a side note, the bugs were really horrible on our hike, and it was cut a bit short. I have more bites than I can count, but the mosquitos aren't so bad. The worst bugs are really small, about the size of a very small ant, and they bite HARD. It is very, very wrong, the kind of bugs that keep you from being able to concentrate.
Anyhow. Today we went on a boat ride along the Temisque River. It's a big, muddy river that runs through the tropical dry forest. Coming up on the river is pretty surprising. On our run, Sarah and I ran until the road ended at the river, and saw a sign that said something along the lines of 'beware of the attacking crocodiles'. Very cool.
Although we didn't see any on our run, we made up for it on the boat ride. I'm not sure how many we saw, but it was more than enough. Our driver was kind enough to get close enough to touch the crocodiles even though none of us took him up on the offer. We also saw many interesting birds and a few monkeys.
In the afternoon we learned about my professor's research at Mastatal. Her focus is on streams, and she is attempting to accumulate enough data to figure out how much water is in the surrounding watershed. With the population of Costa Rica growing, it has become increasingly important to figure out how much water will be available to locals. Especially if privatization comes up, as it has in other countries. (Have you seen The Corporation? If not, check it out, it has some good information regarding the privatization of water.)
We head back to Mastatal tomorrow, and I'm looking forwards to it even though it's been wonderful having internet access!! We'll be at Mastatal for two weeks, so no more updates for a while.
I've a few things to say about past adventures, so forgive me for jumping around...
Bye, bye pigtails!
So this is my hair. Very exciting. The photo is uber flattering (sarcasm intended), except for the fact that I haven't washed my hair in about a week (I'm learing about sustainability, showers were the first to go!)and it looks all uneven because it was windy...Excuses, excuses. I'll be sure to post a couple more pics that aren't so flattering. = )
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Palo Verde
From Curu, we headed to Palo Verde. In Palo Verde we are staying at a tropical research station for a few days. It is located in a tropical dry forest, but the rainy season started yesterday so the weather is pretty similar to Mastatal. The scenery is much drier though. There are fields of yellow and golden hills that remind me of California. The reserve contains a marshland too, which is an interesting contrast of green grasses as compared to the dry forest.
When we arrived there was a huge rain storm, and I went for a run with my TA, Sarah. It was a great run, and an excellent way to celebrate my birthday! We saw turtles and heard howler monkeys. I also sank into about a foot of mud...
The group surprised me with a birthday cake, a card and a bunch of beer. Amelia and Jen bought me some chocolate (they know me so well) and some rum, which I shared with the group. It was a fun night, and I definitely didn't see it coming. Thanks to everyone from far away for the birthday wishes! Here's to being 25! You only get younger, right?
Tomorrow we'll be hiking around the reserve and will get some time to explore. Should be interesting!
Curu
Our group left the relative comfort of Mastatal for the beach! This time we went to Curu, a private reserve located on the coast. The reserve is privately owned and normally gets flooded by tourists, but our group was the only group when we arrived.
We had the entire beach to ourselves! The water was warm, but much cooler than in Dominical, and much more peaceful. Since we arrived in the evening, aka feeding time for the sharks, we weren't able to swim right away.
The bugs were horrible, and the food was pretty wrong too, but it was still a cool place.
We went snorkeling, which was amazing, and played soccer on the beach. It was really hot during the day, but we lucked out with an intense rain storm on our second night. Sleeping was pretty hard, since bugs liked to crawl everywhere and on everything...ugh. Not my favorite part, but I'm a pretty heavy sleeper. It didn't bug me (ha ha) as much as some people.
We also got to see monkeys. The woman who runs the reserve feeds them, which is not exactly ideal, and it was an intense experience. I took some videos, and I'll try to post them tomorrow.
The other cool wildlife sightings were on the beach. In the morning after the storm, the beach was literally coated with crabs. Brown crabs, orange crabs and hermit crabs. I walked down the beach alone, and watched them scurry from my feet. It was amazing. And a little intense, there were so many of them!
The phone at Mastatal
I was feeling pretty down one day, and decided to run to the closest phone. It is only 4 km away, and I figured it would be a great way to start the day, so I ran out the door with a pal and a phone card. Bad, bad idea. The only other times I had run, it had been around 5-530 am. On this particular day, I slept in until 7am, and the sun was out in full force.
The way to the phone is entirely uphill, and by the end I was crawling but I made it to the next intersection after Mastatal, the location of the phone and a poparilla (bar). Since fate has a sick sense of humor, the phone was not working.
Hmph!
You can imagine my distress. I lost my running partner at some point, and made for Rancho Mastatal alone and discouraged. As some of you may know, I don't function very well in the sun. That may be an understatement...It was horrible. A couple of times I laid down in the middle of the road because I couldn't walk. The sun was hot, the air was hot and there wasn't any water.
Anyhow. I made it back. And learned my lesson...
But if you haven't received a call, now you know why!! Ha.
A little about Rancho Mastatal
After another bus adventure, this time with a driver who had a contagious respiratory illness (nice guy though, I was practicing my spanish with him, and he helped me out when I unknowingly made some lewd comments), to our home base-Mastatal.
Mastatal is located near La Cangreja (the crab) National Park. It's located in an area that is thick with diversity, and most of Costa Rica's most dangerous snakes. Our group stumbled in to the small town of Mastatal, which boasts a single intersection, and spent our first evening freaking out over the plethora of scary bugs.
There are a lot of bugs, and they are HUGE! Most look like they were the inspiration for the Alien series, yikes. The first night I felt a bit anxious about sleeping with all of our new neighbors, but I was completely exhausted, and ending up sleeping really well. We also had a couple of geckos and lizards, so I figured that they would even out the odds of a bug ending up in my bed.
I have woken up with cockroaches in my sheets and in my hair, and a couple of spiders. This trip has definitely increased my capacity for handling large bugs!
The rancho is run by a couple of ex-Peace Corps volunteers, Tim and Robin. They bought a bunch of land together about 5 years ago, and then turned it into a protected area. Now they are building (using sustainable building techniques) an entire research compound with the help of a continuous cycle of volunteers. They also do work in the community, building bus stops, meeting areas, working in the school, etc.
Our group is using Rancho Mastatal as a home base. We'll be working with the volunteers once a week, and also doing our own work. Tim will be teaching us a class on sustainability as well.
The first week was relaxing. We helped Susan with her research by doing stream measurements, worked with the volunteers (cooking, building, gardening and more) and relaxed. It's been interesting meshing with the tight-nit group of volunteers.
Robin is big on cleanliness and good vegetarian cooking. We've definitely been eating well!
I spent my day working with the 'builders'. It was hard work! I flattened a log on one side (setting a record at 5 hours), and then dug a bunch...The digging was intense, the dirt here has a lot of clay.
We also had a day of games, honoring a past volunteer. We did relay races, tug of war and the necessary game of soccer. Since we played in the community soccer field, Ticos (Costa Ricans call themselves Ticos) came to cheer us on and join in the festivities. My team lost at everything but the tug of war. We won the last game of soccer, but only because a Tico-Marcos, my Spanish Teacher-carried the rest of the team.
The locals are all fantastic soccer players. There was a 6 year old, teenagers, adults and and a really old man playing, and they all played better than all of the gringos put together. It was a fun day, and it was a great way to relax. Afterwords I jumped into a waterfall that is about .5 mile from the rancho. Amazing!
I haven't seen any snakes yet, but am being really careful. The anti-venom for the most intense snake, the Fer-de-lance, is at a hospital that takes a few hours to get to, so I'm trying not to be put into that situation.
I have seen toucans, monkeys, lizards, spiders and poison dart frogs, so I'm not feeling deprived. I've started taking Spanish lessons with one of the locals, Marcos. It's going well, and my Spanish has already improved. He's an amazing guy, he's only 23 but already has a thriving Spanish school (largely due to the steady flow of English speakers through rancho mastatal) and owns and runs an organic farm. He also learned to speak better English than most people I know in 8 months. He's been very patient so far, and I'm looking forwards to continuing classes with him.
Next Saturday, the town is hosting a dance for a bunch of small communities in the area. It is a big event, and it is the first thing the locals ask when they see you. It's a little intimidating, they all dance so well! But I'm looking forwards to it. We learned to dance some of the local dances in Durika, and I think we'll be able to keep up with the locals. Maybe...
Monday, April 2, 2007
Update from the coast
¡Hola Chicos!
I´m writing from a small beach town, Dominical. It´s crowded with gringos like me, which is a bit overwhelming after spending the past week in remote areas.
First we traveled by bus to the town of Santa Maria del Dota. The bus ride was scary, but the roads were not too dangerous. We stayed in a cabin on a remote biological reserve called Los Santos. It´s up in the mountains, around 6,000 feet, and was absolutely beautiful. We spent our time there hiking around the reserve and getting fed huge meals (rice and beans in various combinations) three times a day. A local organic coffee farmer, and passionate sustainable Costa Rican, showed us the local coffee mill and his own plantation. It was great. We hiked around, drank coffee (I payed for it later) and learned all about the coffee trade.
Listening to the farmer, Arturo, and another speaker, Gabriel, speak about living sustainably was really interesting. They spoke passionately (lots of arms waving around and Spanish exclamations) about living simply and slowing down globalization and the destruction of the forests. It was an amazing experience. When I have more time, I will try to pass on some of the things they said.
After Santa Maria del Dota, we headed to a small community (30 people) who live in an extremely remote area. 15 years ago, they decided to purchase a plot of land and build a community that was `in balance with nature´. There were no roads to the location, so they had to carry in the supplies for their community of their backs. While they built their cabins, they camped out. Crazy! And this is in the tropical rain forest, although it´s a little bit more mellow since it´s at a higher altitude.
At first I was a bit skeptical because it sounded like a hippie commune. It´s still a hippie commune, but the hippies are protecting a lot of land. You can check them out, I'm sure they have a website, the name of the community is Durika. Not only do they have goats, teach yoga, police their biological reserve and teach indigenous people organic agriculture methods, but they also have a holistic health center. It was actually pretty weird walking into a massage room, an acupuncture room and a dentist's office. I'm not exactly sure why they have that stuff, but they made it sound like it was for the tourists.
My favorite moments were spent hiking through their reserve, jumping in a waterfall and doing yoga on a mountaintop. It was beautiful.
Yoga on the mountaintop
I also milked some goats, and it's a lot harder than it sounds!! The goats knew that we were new, and liked to step in the milk buckets (which ruins the milk). This happened to me twice. Also, the whole milking part is a real challenge. I sprayed myself quite a bit, and the 13 year old who taught us (a milking pro) either choked the entire time or was laughing at me...hmmm...
Yoga on the mountaintop
I also milked some goats, and it's a lot harder than it sounds!! The goats knew that we were new, and liked to step in the milk buckets (which ruins the milk). This happened to me twice. Also, the whole milking part is a real challenge. I sprayed myself quite a bit, and the 13 year old who taught us (a milking pro) either choked the entire time or was laughing at me...hmmm...
Amelia and I laughing-I mean taking measurements near Durika
Jen and Amelia working hard
We left Durika for the grungy surfer/pot haven on the coast, Dominical. It's hot, dirty and sunny. Not my idea of a good time. Also, the water is warm!! Most of the class loooooves the water, but I'm not a fan. I'd much rather be back in the mountains, hiking and jumping into waterfalls. *sigh* Luckily I'll only have to suffer through it for a day. We're leaving today at 10am for Mastatal, and our remote rancho.
I'm looking forwards to unpacking, and getting to run regularly. I've been a couple of times, but at high altitude (and with a nasty cold I picked up) it wasn't pretty. It's been pretty hard getting our course work done with all of this traveling, and I'm hoping it will improve once we stop traveling. There are a few volunteers there, and I'm looking forwards to meeting them. At this point, I've gotten a little burnt out on some of my classmates, and think that we all would benefit from a few new people.
At Mastatal, we'll spend the week getting to know the rancho and the village. At the end of the week, we'll be traveling again.
I'll let you know how it goes!!
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