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!

Snorkeling in Cozumel

September 16

Today was my true epic fail! We took a ferry to Cozumel for the day to do some shopping and go snorkeling. Cozumel is a well know tourist area with tons of resorts and exclusive shops. There are also copious local shops where you can watch artisans working on the crafts they sell. 

Our snorkeling tour was late morning. Our tour group consisted of a group of older Argentines and the two of us. Unfortunately I did not master snorkeling. I couldn't get my mask situated and kept taking in water. So snorkeling for me consisted of holding on the the life ring and looking underwater. Lindsay however, really enjoyed her snorkeling adventure. We both want to do this again. 

We arrive back in Playa del Carmen just in time to see the end of a performance by some costumed Mayan dancers.  And with that we say Adios to Mexico.

Chichen Itza and Ek- Balam

September 15, 2017

Today we toured the Mayan ruins at Chíchen Itza and Ek- Balam and went swimming in Hibuku cenoté. The Mayan civilization was located on the Yucatán Peninsula. About 5 million Mayan descendants still live on the peninsula. Our guide, Pablo, was fantastic. He is a Mayan descendant and was able to give us a lot of the history of the area. The Mayans invented astronomy, and they had their own writing system, numerical system, and of course-- calendar. The Mayan calendar was based on a 52 year cycle. The Mayan writing system is one of the earliest known in human civilization, following Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Sanskrit. Pablo said that scholars believe that the Mayan language was based in Mandarin. Given that the earliest known civilizations existed in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, that makes sense. 

Chíchen Itza is a religious structure. Its architecture reflects a lot of religious symbolism. In the Mayan religion there were 22 Gods, nine gods of the underworld and thirteen gods of the heavens. The nine platforms of the temple pyramid were related to the nine gods of the underworld. There are fifty two rectangular panels, related to the fifty two years of the Mayan calendar. Each side of the pyramid has 91 steps. 91x4=364 + 1 upper platform makes 365. Makes you think about how much  the Mayans knew about the world we live in, doesn't it? Mayans could time the equinoxes and solstices by the position of the pyramid relative to the sun. That is how they knew the seasons. Twice during the year the sun hits the pyramid so that the shadows form the body of a serpent. The head of the serpent is on the ground. 

The architects who designed the pyramid were not only interested in shadows-- they also played around with echoes. If you clap your hands in a certain way the echo off the stones of the pyramid are that of a bird called a quetzal.  The quetzal, the jaguar, and serpents were important animals to the Maya. Archaeologists have recently discovered that Chíchen Itza is a pyramid inside of a pyramid inside of a pyramid. The original pyramid was built over a cenoté. 

Ek- Balam was an administrative palace that contained over 70 rooms. The Mayan empire was divided into fifty city states. Ek- Balam was the capital Talol, of one of the wealthiest and strongest city states. The city's original name was Casablanca. Ek- Balam was a fortress with a double wall. It was so large that there were secret tunnels that ran between chamber and even some that went outside of the city. 

Hubiku cenoté is one of many on the Yucatán peninsula. Cenotés were very important in that area because of a lack of freshwater lakes and rivers. Cenotés are in underground caverns that are formed by fresh rainwater that seeps through the porous ground. Ancient Mayans saw cenotés as an entrance to the underworld. This is also represented by the fish detail that can be found on the temple at Ek- Balam. 

Dans la playa

Dans la Playa

Today was our day to relax since we know we have busy days full of adventure ahead of us. Found a great little restaurant for breakfast that actually had vegan options!

 

We spent the day on the beach at Mamita's beach club which was very nice. Umbrella rental was inexpensive and the beach side service by our waiter was A+.

The water was crystal clear and who doesn't like sand between their toes? Our midday massage was fantastic but after that you kind of don't want to get back in the water anymore. We chose something familiar for lunch even though-- thanks to the language barrier-- I still managed to order wrong. 

Bienvenidos a Playa del Carmen

(Take 2)
My first attempt at a post disappeared as soon as I tried to add photos so the photos may be added later to avoid that happening again.

We finally made it to Playa del Carmen about three hours later than planned thanks to a near two hour airport delay and a very long line at immigration.

It also didn't help that our driver couldn't find our hotel right away, having never been there before. So rather than heading to the beach as originally planned, we instead spent the evening wandering around the area of town that will be our home for the next four days. The juxtaposition between local Playa del Carmen and tourist Playa del Carmen is hard to miss. It's particularly evident on 5th Avenue where you have high end shops next to tourist attractions and local artisans. We had dinner at a Mayan restaurant and managed to get in a little shopping.

Our hotel is serviceable but the rooms are very basic. The outside area is quite nice though. The hotel is at the center of everything-- both near the beach and near the shops. And it's always easy to find our way back! Until tomorrow-- adios!