El Trapiche (Traditional Sugar-Mill Tour)

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On Thursday of last week, we spent the morning learning about how some of the traditional agricultural products of Costa Rica are grown and processed. The Trapiche tour showed not only the old-fashioned way of growing and processing sugar cane and other products, but some of the newer methods as well. The main focus was sugar, but we also learned about coffee, bananas, plantains, tilapia, pineapple, and a variety of other products. It was a hands-on experience -- some volunteers got to ride a traditional oxcart, and others got involved in making candy from the dark sugar syrup after it was squeezed from the sugar cane. After the tour, we were treated to a delicious buffet lunch made primarily from natural products grown in the area. All in all, it was a very interesting introduction to an extremely important part of Costa Rican culture.

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Photos

Fresh Coffee Beans
This is what coffee beans look and smell like before they are roasted.

Roasting the Coffee
The tours don't usually include coffee roasting, but we happened to be there at the time when they needed to do some roasting.

Ready to Eat
Candace is ready to eat the candy.

Patricia
Patricia is also ready to eat the candy she made.

Time Out
The guide put Ryan in "time-out." Just kidding. They were just resting and waiting for the buffet line to get shorter.