Wed., 1/8: Day 2

Today has been a big day!  We started out with a great breakfast at our hotel in San José - a buffet of fresh pineapple and watermelon, eggs, pan dulce (“sweet bread” - a favorite of many), delicious fresh squeezed juices, and much more.  From there we loaded the buys and headed for Poás Volcano.  

En route to Poás we stopped at a coffee plantation.  We saw the beans growing on the plants, learned about the process of making Costa Rican coffee, and learned how important coffee is to Costa Rica’s economy.  Very interesting!

Our guide, Rocío, explaining the process of growing, harvesting, and preparing coffee beans.

These coffee beans are almost ready to be picked - they hand pick the red, ripe coffee beans in Costa Rica.

Our lovely ladies posing in front of some lovely hydrangeas! :)

Then we headed to el Volcán Poás, one of seven active volcanoes here in Costa Rica.  What a gorgeous sight!

Then we hiked up to a lagoon very near Poás that is actually the crater of an extinct volcano.  Along the way we saw many tropical plants and trees.

After Poás we ate lunch at “Freddo Fresas”, which was a great restaurant!  We had our choice of different “casado” dishes - we could choose from chicken, beef, or fish.  I had the beef which was delicious.  Poás is in the province of Alajuela, which is very important for its agriculture, and one of its main products (in addition to coffee) is strawberries.  For our drinks at lunch we had our choice of two strawberry drinks, one of which was basically a delicious strawberry smoothie, and the other was basically a strawberry milkshake.  Both were “muy rico” - very delicious!

After lunch we headed to the Sarapiquí area to begin our home stay.  The students were a bit nervous, which is very understandable.  Mrs. Petty and I are staying with Bernarda and Ademán, who are a very nice couple.  They have two children, the youngest of which is Daniela, who is 25 years old and lives at home with them.  Daniela helps out around the house & their farm, milking cows and making cheese, which they sell to other vendors who sell it in a nearby town.  They also have a granddaughter, Natalia, who is 6 years old and is staying with them for a few days right now.  In the past Bernarda and Ademán had a nephew who they basically raised.  He eventually married and they had a child, Natalia.  Now Natalia knows them as her grandparents.  

Meeting our host families

They have many animals - a few pigs, several chickens, nine cows, five chihuahuas, and a pet parrot named Maggie that can roam free outside but always comes back and seems very tame and well-trained.  For supper we ate chicken, rice, black beans and potato - very simple but good food.  We ate it all with a spoon, which was different.  After supper we sat around the dinner table and talked.  This is a very nice family!  At one point this afternoon I walked into what I thought was the bathroom and realized that there was no toilet.  So the father, Ademán, asked me what I needed and I asked him if I could please use the restroom and he said “Sure” (in Spanish, of course) and started walking out the back door.  So, of course I was thinking that we’d get to have some sort of out house experience for using the bathroom.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find the toilet in its own little room off the back porch.  I had heard from someone several years ago that most homes in Costa Rica don’t have the toilet inside the home because it’s not considered sanitary, but had forgotten that piece of info.  Plus, two years ago our family had a toilet in the main bathroom in the home.  I was just glad I didn’t have to walk very far (especially in the dark in the evenings) to go to the bathroom!

Our host family's living room (with Maggie the pet parakeet)

The laundry area and wash sink, also the sink that goes with the bathroom.  You can see the animal enclosure in the background.

The kitchen and dining area, all of which are open-air to the outside

Mrs. Petty's and my bedroom.  We're thankful to have mosquito nets!

The outside of our house.  ¡Qué linda!

Our shower (muy frío, pero refrescante)

When we arrived this afternoon they explained to us that there was a problem with the water today, and the whole town had no water, but it was supposed to be back on by 4:00.  Well, it finally came back on around 7:00, which everyone was very excited about.  It seems like that must happen fairly frequently.

Rocío, our guide, had advised us to make sure to wear bug repellant to bed.  When we arrived here I was glad to see mosquito nets hanging around our beds.  Now, as I’m sitting in bed typing, the bugs are attracted to my computer screen and there’s lots of buzzing going on from the bugs that are trying to get in, so I’m typing fast! :)  Bugs love me, unfortunately.  

Tomorrow we get to go white-water rafting on the Sarapiquí River, which I am really looking forward to.  That was a highlight of the trip two years ago.  I’m looking forward to hearing about the students’ family stay experiences on the bus tomorrow - I’m sure there will be a lot to hear and talk about.