We quickly found out that nothing will dry here----even the paper journals we turn in to my professor were damp feeling when we woke----the paper was very soggy. Drying my hair after a shower is almost impossible--even after showering at night and sleeping on it, my hair is still damp in the morning and never truly dries throughout the day.
After breakfast it was off to the van and to a local Coffee Plantation. The guide, Walter, showed us exactly how coffee is made from the very first step to the end product. The sustainable coffee plantation we went to was about 300 acres in CoopeSarapiqui. I learned that coffee has two different qualities, first and second quality. The first quality (bright red) goes to the U.S., Europe, and Canada and the second quality (“bad coffee’) was made into fertilizer and sold to other companies which mixed it with sugar to sell. Coffee was started in 1800’s, located in the Central Valleys. This became very hard for the exportation of coffee since roads and transportation was very poor. The government use to give money to the farmers who owned acres of coffee producing land. Coffee grown in 600-2000m above sea level produces good coffee. The volcanoes around this specific area and CR bring such rich soil for good coffee production.
The process of production: Producing coffee is a full circle process so locating the first step is a hard task. Walter began with the richest red shelled beans---these are hand-picked from the coffee tree plant. There are two seeds inside of the red shell, which are then planted in small plastic black bags to produce a coffee plant. Then the plants after months of maturing are taken to farmers to produce fields of production. Coffee plantations in the beginning started out relatively small due to a labor restriction-there were many hands needed to take care of coffee production. Small plantations, however, also helped to maintain prices for farmers. Not having an abundance of coffee meant that prices didn’t go too high or too low since supply and demand were close to even.
The next step is once the seeds have been planted, laborers pick the rich, red shelled beans. Wages are earned for picking these red berry-looking things is $3/basket filled. Everyone tries to pick them as fast as they can because they are paid by basket. Once a week the trees were picked at, finding the brightest red berries for harvest. Even kids helped by working during school breaks to earn money for Christmas gifts for example. Walter shared the pest which eats these red berries and that’s the beetle. To get rid of these beetles, the farmers created a three –cup method to trap them and kill them. The top cup contains alcohol which lures the beetle to it. Once inside the beetles become “drunk” and cannot get out of the cup and eventually fall to the third cup which contains water which is where they drown. Walter said, at least they “die happy.”
The next step is weighing and counting the number of baskets collected. Then the red berries are washed, carried, and separated into first and second quality. The first quality ones are heavier than the second which makes me them sink in the water which they are washed. The shells were then removed (used for composting) either by hand or machine to expose two small beans. We got to taste the beans which came out---tasted a lot like sugary hard candy, but nothing like coffee.
The next step is washing the two seeds that came out to get the sugar off. Then its time to dry out the seeds. Sunlight and machines are both used to do this process. The best process is using sunlight, but when too many seeds come in, the machines have to be used. It takes about 4 weeks to dry the seeds out and a humidity of 12%. The seeds have to be mixed and moved around in the drying canopies every 4 hours. With the machines, it takes 5-8 days only at 45-degrees Celsius. However, Walter shared that the sunlight is more environmental friendly and only used 2x/week. The coffee beans we saw drying now would not be sold until June 2012, shared Walter.
Then the seeds were separated again after another outer shell is peeled off. These second shells and the wood from the coffee plants (the better wood from the plants is actually sold, but this is the not-so-perfect wood) are then used as firewood. The seeds are then put into a machine that shakes them to separate the first quality and second quality seeds even further. The good ones fall through the holes and the bad ones (called lazy ones) don’t and are sent back through the machine again to re re-shaken once more. The next step is roasting---the seeds are sent off to get roasted. Walter shared they do not roast on this plantation and showed us the huge bag which they use to transport the seeds for roasting. Interesting fact--The difference he shared between regular roast and dark roasting is only 5 minutes!
After taking us through the whole coffee process, Walter led us to the larger plantation out further on their land. We walked through such beautiful ponds filled with Talapia and lush green plants to get to the plantation. One the way we spotted howler monkeys playing in the trees, beautiful plants, and also bananas!!! I was so excited to see these! Walter shared that the bananas are used as a deterrent for the birds --they would go fro the bananas and not the coffee then. The bananas also helped the coffee plants in the dry season by soaking up water in the wet season and preserving 80% until the dry season and then would release the water which the coffee plants needed to flourish.
Another flower we found was the Angel Trumpet which is a large orange flower which grows upside down-the bulb opens downward (see facebook pictures). These Angel Trumpets we were told give off a small calming affect (much like alcohol) when smelled---some of the students were all over getting a whiff!
Another flower we found was the Angel Trumpet which is a large orange flower which grows upside down-the bulb opens downward (see facebook pictures). These Angel Trumpets we were told give off a small calming affect (much like alcohol) when smelled---some of the students were all over getting a whiff!
Walter also took us to their fertilizer building where they use Red Californian worms. They feed these worms the ultimately bad quality coffee beans and then use the worms waste as an organic fertilizer. The worms just keep hunting for food and leave their waste behind. The waste is then collected and dried out to put back into the plantation. The worms waste contains 15X the Nitrogen, 7X Phosphorus, 5X Potassium, and 2X Calcium amounts.
We continued to walk around the huge plantation---coming across a large waterfall, lots of ants, and a beautiful look-out I have ever seen! Only 5 people were allowed on the look-out to begin with so that made me a bit nervous but what a sight! The only bad thing was there were a lot of little bugs that bit my legs, and arms---they were not mosquitoes, but did draw a little bit of blood and then fly off. They bites did not itch but I soon had about 10 on my legs. I guess I am really sweet huh?
The plantation also raised tilapia, grew oranges and bananas to get extra money. Walter shared a funny story with us: coffee used to be sold in town with an ox and cart (which we saw just yesterday on the side of the road). While guiding the ox into town, they used to drink alcohol and would end up not guiding any longer and sitting in their carts. Since the oxen had no guidance then, they would move all over the road. Now when someone says someone else is drunk, they say he/she is “on top of your cart
After exploring the grounds, Walter took us back for lunch in their restaurant. We were served tilapia (the middle portion and tail of the fish—still with bones in it), huge fried potatoes, rice, beans, salad with tomatoes, and this amazing juice---it was a mix between guava, pineapple, and bananas and it was delicious! At the end of the meal, we were all served coffee which was very rich but smooth. I added some milk and sugar (much like raw sugar and not as fine as normal sugar from the the US) to try it. The taste was very rich but natural; however, I still don’t like coffee.
After lunch it was time to head back to Tirimbina and take a break before the next activity. Most students decided to take a nap, but Karen and I went to explore the trails which Tirimbina owns. We took the Canopy and Ceiba Trails which took us across two suspension bridges. The first bridge was huge and crossed over a rushing waterfall. Looking down made me a bit nervous but being in the middle of the bridge meant there was no turning back. While walking across the bridge, we spotted 3 toucans! What colorful and beautiful beaks (probably the only part I really liked). They didn’t stay around long and with any loud noises they flew off. The second suspension bridge was not as long but much less sturdy. We also came across a fairly large bird but didn’t get a good glimpse of it’s because I was scared half to death when it took off right in front of Karen so I closed my eyes and grabbed my chest since my heart was beating so fast. All we were doing was following the path and I guess the bird (much like a herring we were told) was sitting in the stream and when it heard us it flew frantically off, right in front of Karen. We also saw some butterflies and heard lots of different animal calls. We were gone for about 1.5 hours and then returned to our room.
Next on the agenda was the Indigenous Culture Museum located just next door. We watched a video and looked around the museum, showing the life culture of the people. The museum showed their dress, weapons, dance rituals (Little Devils(Costa Ricans) and Bull (Spain)---they drink Chicha (alcohol) and the Bull beats up the Little Devils and then becomes the other way around, and art. Facts---only 2 % of the Indigenous people are left in CR, which means about 60,000 people.
Carlos (executive director of this lodge) came to meet up and share more Indigenous Culture. He shared the Devil/Bull story, also a story about the Ulu---magic stick which is used over someone who is sick or has a disease and the stick is waved over the person and then burned.
After the museum, I went over to another hotel for my survey and then had some time to get online and go to dinner at 6:15. Dinner tonight was salad, rice, a thing that looked like manicotti—different cheese inside but quite flavorful and delicious, and we got a small piece of a tres leches dessert (3 milk moist cake).
After dinner, Karolina gave us a bat presentation which was very interesting. She shared that there are 5416 species of mammals and 21% are bats and in CR there are 113 species of bats. Bats have 5 fingers and use them very similarly to humans. Bats are colored blind and developed a sound transmitter which used echolocation—bat makes a sound which projects to another animal or person and a sound bounces off and comes back at the bat and the bat can create a mental image of this animal/person (knowing the size, location, how fast it is travelling, whether it wants to eat it).
Interest facts---bats with lines on their faces are all fruit eater bats, however not all fruit-eater bats have lines! Most bats beside frog-eating bats have to be hanging upside down to fly because they need to do down first before they fly. There are many different kinds of bats---nectar, mammals, fruit, fish, and vampire bats----feed on the blood of birds or cows. The benefits of bats consumes 1000 mosquitoes/hr, eats corn earworms and moths which destroy crops for farmers, consumes 60,000 seeds of Cecropia trees-which keep from an over abundance of new plants from showing up, pollinate plants/trees which people use, and also pollinates agave plants which makes tequila!
After learning about the bats, Karalina brought out some bags containing the bats just caught today. The first was a very young baby bat. I was definitely keeping my distance and not getting to close---even though it wasn’t a bird, bats make me a bit uncomfortable as well. But the other students really enjoyed getting close and touching the bat. After releasing that one outside, she pulled another one out which a little bit bigger and showed us its wing span. Then she released that one outside and had one more-even bigger bat. This one was a little too much for me so I decided to stay far away from the group. She released this one as well and then that was it. My roommates and I went back to our room, updating our blogs and answering Dr. Fernandez’s questions and then went to bed!
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