Bueno! On Friday we visited a coffee plantation about 20 minutes southwest of here. The man who owns/runs the farm is named Don Roberto. He owns 2.5 hectares (about 6 acres) and produces coffee, bananas, sugar canes, pigs, etc. We got a tour of his entire farm and he explained the coffee making process. It was really neat. We’ve learned a lot about the coffee industry in Costa Rica and worldwide. Many of the practices are unjust, for the workers/farmers and the environment. Don Roberto’s farm in entirely organic and hand-picked coffee. But once he gives his product to the distributor, it is not distinguished as organic from all the other coffee that the distributor receives. Not a great system. Because many typical workers that are available for hire would not understand how to keep up ... read more

Hola Hola Today is my Friday! We have a free day tomorrow so we're all going into town. We have 4 classes today (again) so it will be nice to get a break. It only costs about $4 (american) to take a taxi into town but we'll be able to get rides from our guides here as well. Today it started raining waaaaay earlier than usual - around lunch time. And last night it rained so hard that we couldn't hear our professor lecturing! I guess the roof is pretty thin. Even when it rains it doesn't get that cold, elevation is about 1000-1400m which is about 3300-4600 ft. Getting used to living in Costa Rica I think - no flushing toilet paper, taking luke warm showers, and waking up at 5:30am with the sun. Las ... read more

First full day in Las Cruces. Was sunny, warm, and humid in the morning then the rain came out around 4pm and later stopped around 7pm. Tonight is really foggy. The garden looks really cool in the fog because its highlighted by the lights around the path. In the morning we got an official tour of the garden from Rodolpho. Saw some cool animals like agoutis, birds, and insects. Have yet to see any really large mammals but we're going on a hike tomorrow so we'll see. Then we drove into town in the back of the Land Rover. Bumpy roads. Mailed a postcard today so we can see how long it takes to get to the states. The postage probably took up about 1/4 or more of the postcard. Also bought rainboots in San Vito. ... read more