Sarchí and San José

Our last full day in Costa Rica we headed back to San José, but made a few stops along the way. We passed through a community called Naranjo on our way to Sarchí. Naranjo’s main economic activity is coffee production, and lately they have been competing in coffee competitions. Sarchí is a community of artisans who create authentic Costa Rican crafts, jewelry, and furniture. We stopped and bought souvenirs, had lunch, and went to a presentation on how the traditional Costa Rican ox carts were created. The ox carts were extremely important to the development of the economy in the Central Valley region. Ox cart wheels are made of sixteen wedges angled 22.5 degrees each to achieve the circular wheel. The ox cart machinery is run by a water wheel. And then the designs are free hand painted by the artisans.

                                                

We arrived in San José mid afternoon and took a walking tour. I would like to try to explain San José traffic to you but I don’t have words to adequately describe it. And the pedestrian traffic is just as bad as the automotive traffic. We walk at a brisk pace through the crowded, tangled maze that is the city market. Then we stroll for half an hour through the plaza, spending a little time in the Teatró Nacional where I ran into my zumba friend from home Sandra Thompson!

Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio

Friday morning we set out for Parqué Nacional Manuel Antonio. This area is good for spotting Costa Rica’s monkeys. We saw a family of white faced monkeys pretty early in our walk to the beach. White faced monkeys are omnivores and will eat anything they can prey on. The beach is beautiful and the monkeys are plentiful. They will steal any food that you leave unattended which is why the park rangers don’t want food in the beach area. Some unobservant beach goers lost sandwiches and juice boxes while I was watching.

The Alabama Girls!

White faced monkey

Playa Jaco may not be the most kosher town in Costa Rica, but it is definitely a haven for foodies.  I had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called The Green Room, which was suggested to me by the desk clerk. It had great vegan options.  And I followed that up with Pineapple Basil sorbet at a local gelato place.     

                                                                           

Jungle Fever!

June 13

Today we boarded the bus and headed to the Central Pacific region of Costa Rica. The place we went to, Jacó, is only ten kilometers away from Santa Elena, but because we have to go through and around mountains the trip is actually 40 kilometers and takes two and a half hours.

Our first activity here was a jungle safari boat ride on the Tárcoles River. Five minutes into the tour we saw our first crocodile, nicknamed Osama bin Laden, and his mate, who were stunning themselves on the river bank. According to our riverboat guide the biggest crocodile on this area is 19 feet long and nicknamed Mike Tyson. Gustavo tells us there are about fifty crocodiles per mile in this area. The second croc we saw was nicknamed Fidel Castro. We go practically over the top of this crocodile and drift there for a while. We also see a number of indigenous birds on the tour. One of the birds we see, the bare throated heron, is a predator who feeds on baby crocodiles. All told I saw seven crocodiles, including one as we were coming into the dock that was drifting right in front of us.

                                 

After lunch we went to Rainforest Adventures on an aerial tram tour. Our guide, Eric, explains to us that this is a transitional forest. The forest here transitions from dry forest to rain forest. He then led us on a nature hike that included a herpetarium and a butterfly garden. However by this time it was raining so hard that no butterflies were out.

Jacó is a beach town and a large city by Costa Rican standards, with all of the activities, benefits, and problems one would expect from living in a big city. The streets are extremely busy. And some of the activities aren’t exactly legal. The beach itself is nice, with black volcanic sand and stunning sunset views.

The black sand beaches of Jaco. 

Monteverde

June 12

Yesterday we drove three and a half hours to the Monteverde region of Costa Rica in the Puenta Arenas province. We stopped half way at a cute little German bakery and purchased some pastries. Later that afternoon most of our tour members went to a local farm and had the experience of milking cows and making sugar cane candy. A few of us— myself included— decided to stay back at our hostel and later go walking to explore the closest town, Santa Elena. This part of the country is known as the cloud forest because of the higher elevation. It is cooler here so air conditioning is not necessary. The vegetation here looks like it belongs in a North American forest rather than in a tropical country.

Wednesday we went to Monteverde Extremo Park for our zip lining canopy tour. I wish I had brought my camera case on the lanyard so I could have video taped this experience. I really need to learn how to work my go pro! It would have taken amazing video. Eight zip lines of varying lengths up to 300 ft high. Zip lining was exhilarating — the stairs required to reach the zip lines were exhausting! And the harness can get uncomfortable after a while.

Afterwards we went hiking in the Santa Elena cloud forest, and later we planted trees at the Don Juan coffee plantation. We planted a total of seven avocado, damas, and balsa trees. Giving back to his beautiful country by helping with its reforestation. We finished off the evening with a Latin Dance class-- my favorite part of the night! 
                                       

                   

Dance class with Isabelli!

#thisismonteverde

June 10

We started the morning with a chocolate plantation tour. Our guide, Keilor was a bit too talkative for some of the girls. Mostly because he wasn’t talking about chocolate for the first twenty minutes and some of them were getting bored. We did learn that the Cacao plant can produce 200 fruits per year. It takes six months to grow from a flower to a ripened fruit.

Cacao pods are really thick and have to be broken open to get to the white pulpy covered seeds inside. We all got a chance to suck on some cacao seeds. The pulp is really sweet with a texture somewhat like thick yogurt. Sugar, heat, time, and bacteria are needed for the fermentation process for the seeds. This process is sped along by the presence of fruit flies, who’s feet contain the necessary bacteria for fermentation. Then the seeds spend 15 days in the drying box before the beans are roasted. The beans then have to be ground together with cane sugar in order to become chocolate. Everyone got a chance to help grind the cacao beans before tasting. This is raw, unprocessed chocolate before it is pressed together and milk is added to make the milk chocolate that is so common here.

After the chocolate tour we drove back to Arenal Lake— this time for kayaking. This activity was enjoyed by everyone! After kayaking to a small island in the middle of the lake, we went swimming -- and playing in volcanic mud-- for about thirty minutes before we had to kayak back to continue our day.

In the afternoon we visited a local elementary school. The school has grades K-6. The school is very small— 275 students but only nine classrooms. The students come in shifts. There is a morning group from 7-12 and an afternoon group from 12:30-5. The children were extremely welcoming and eager to interact. We spent time in their classroom then played soccer with them for PE! Our team lost 2-1 but everyone had fun.

Our next adventure was at La Fortuna Catarata (waterfall). We had a blast until a typical Costa Rican rainy season thunderstorm cut our excursion short. The storm did not stop us from going to the hot springs at the Baldi hotel, however. The springs are heated by the Arenal volcano. They were relaxing and fun, and one spring featured a cave that is a natural sauna.

It's Always a Good Time for Coffee!

June 9

Today we went on the Britt plantation coffee tour. Coffee originated in Ethiopia in ancient times. It did not arrive in Costa Rica until 1750. Coffee is grown in the shade of taller trees. Seeds are sown in moist earth and covered with banana leaves. It takes about a month for a seedling to sprout, and three and a half years before the first harvest. But each plant grows coffee at a different rate so one plant may have ripe beans as well as unripened beans. Therefore coffee has to be picked by hand. A machine can’t differentiate between ripened beans and unripened beans.

To process, coffee beans are put in a water tank. Bad coffee beans float, good coffee beans are heavier and will sink. This allows for easier separation. They are further separated by hand to make sure there are no green coffee beans. It’s then fermented to remove the mucilage. The outer shell is removed and coffee is dried in its inner skin —called the parchment. Then it is peeled and roasted. The length of the roast determines the strength of the coffee. Light roast isn’t strong. The longer you roast the coffee the more natural oils are released, accounting for the darker color and stronger flavor. The lighter roast has more caffeine because the longer you roast coffee the more caffeine gets evaporated. The waste parchment is used to make coffee paper. And the outer shell is mixed with chicken manure for fertilizer.

We left the coffee plantation to head up north to La Fortuna. Driving through the cities of the Central Valley region there is a clear distinction between the houses of the “haves” and the “have nots”. There are also fruit trees and coffee plants EVERYWHERE. The farther we get north, the higher our elevation. And the roads are NARROW! As we pass a small community school, Gustavo, our guide informs us that the literacy rate in Costa Rica is 97%.

Two and a half hours after leaving the coffee plantation we arrive in La Fortuna for lunch, then we proceed to Arenal National Park. This tree is host to a number of bromeliads, which are episites as opposed to parasites. One howler monkey and several hundred leaf cutter ants later we arrive at Lake Arenal, a man made lake at the base of the volcano.

I decided to take the optional night hike after dinner. 
We had a very entertaining guide named Daniel.

Our group of nine saw so many of Costa Rica’s little tree frogs that I lost count. The most interesting to me were the translucent glass frog, the poisonous blue jeans frog and the red eyed tree frog. We also saw a couple of snail eater snakes and one deadly fer-de-lance, one of the most venomous and aggressive snakes alive. We steered very clear of that one. My favorite thing that we saw was the Jesus Christ lizard— so named because it walks on water. We also saw the famous sloth, and a kinkajou, which is related to the lemur.

               

Pura Vida!

June 8 saw me returning to Costa Rica after an eight year hiatus. Traveling with EF tours, I and our Spanish teacher Mrs. Short took 3 girls on a nine day excursion.  We arrived in San Jose and were met by our guide Gustavo and bus driver Banano who took us to our hotel where we would later be meeting up with five other small student groups from around the country.  Let the adventure begin! Pura Vida!

Wisconsin

May 30, 2019

I arrived in Madison, Wisconsin last night six hours behind schedule and my sweet friend Pam spent the entire afternoon and evening there waiting for me. Her home in Plover is 90 minutes away and would be where I would be staying for the next three days. So, with Wednesday being a waste due to flight delays, my Wisconsin adventure began on Thursday. Thursday morning included a tour of Stevens Point where she works, lunch at the Wooden Chair restaurant— which had wonderful vegan options, and hiking in the Schmeeckle Reserve. 

That made for a busy morning! Then in the afternoon we went kayaking on the Chain O’ Lakes for two hours, hitting five of the eight lakes in the chain. 

(A test for my surgically repaired shoulder to be sure!) 

Friday was a long and incredible day of hiking at Devil’s Lake State Park. The entire weekend was free admission at all Wisconsin state parks, so the park was super crowded! Pam packed a lunch and we hiked the West Bluff Trail before lunch and the East Bluff Woods Trail after lunch. The girl in the gift shop was suitably impressed, but BOY did we feel our age later! We even managed to run in to someone who had lived in our hometown of Dothan, Alabama for a while when he was stationed at Ft. Rucker. 

 Saturday, my last day, we drove down to the little town of Rudoloh and visited a cheese factory. I mean— what else does a vegan do in Wisconsin? I bought plenty of cheese for the people in my life— some a little odd —like Monterey Jack with green olive for Lindsay, and some perfectly ordinary, like cheddar for my niece Harley. And I got a picture at the famous sign. 

All in all, Wisconsin owes me absolutely NOTHING! And I would do it again in a heartbeat!