Coffee Coffee Coffee

Hello everybody. I've been in Costa Rica for a little bit now, so I thought I would give you another update.

This week we visited Café Cristina and Café Britt. Café Cristina is a small coffee plantation that is actually owned by two Americans. They have about 30 acres of land and do everything from growing the coffee to processing to roasting to packing. Café Cristina is certified organic and uses shade grown coffee. It was really interesting to see their approach to coffee becuase they really seemed to care about the coffee, it wasn't just a way to make money. They wanted to provide the best product. On Thursday we visited Café Britt, which in other words is Disney Land coffee style. We went on a tour that led to an auditorium where they put on a play about coffee through the years. It was absolutely ridiculous. First of all, it was in English and Spanish. Then they had crazy costumes and overexaggerated every part. But it was really entertaining. They also had a restaurant there, so we got to have another typical Costa Rican meal of rice and beans.

It was very intesting to see the difference between small and large scale coffee production. Café Cristina was really a family business. The owners were husband and wife, and technically they owned different pieces of the production. I think the husband processes all the coffee and then the wife exports it. Café Cristina also had a lot of other plants on their property. There were banana trees spread all over. During the coffee crisis, they earned 25% of their income from selling bananas. Café Britt has 1000 producers that sell to them so they can process and package the goods. All of the coffee they buy is shade grown, but not all of it is organic.

All right, so now that I got that out of the way, I will give you some more interesting tidbits about Costa Rica.
-Costa Rica does not have a sewage system. Yes, gross. I really could have gone without knowing that. But I already knew more about their plumbing than I wanted to because you can't flush toliet paper because the system they do have isn't strong enough for that.
-Ticos can make a juice out of absolutely any fruit. And they have way more fruits here than we have in the States. For breakfast this morning we had banana papaya juice. At one of the restaurants we had guanabana juice. I really have no idea what it is, but it was tasty.
-There are a lot of American college students here. Not all are studying, but they are everywhere. I have met kids that go to school in Montana, Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Missouri.
-The government has a socialist aspect. Education and health care are socialized. Our tour guide went to the University of Costa Rica. And do you know what he paid per semester without any scholarships? SIXTY DOLLARS! You can't even buy books for $60 in the US.
-My host family had been having students for 18 years. Wow. However, I am now confused on why they don't speak better English. Luckily, I have been able to understand most things.

I'm pretty sure there is more I was going to tell you all, but we are headed out for the weekend. Tonight we are going to the Bladie Hot Springs. We're also going to Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna, and Monteverde. We're staying at a hotel the first two nights and the third night we're staying at a research station in the middle of the forest. Woot!