coffee and fiesta

Is this getting boring yet? Because sometimes I think about my day-to-day and think it’s getting boring. This is probably why they structure this program the way they do. Because we really only have three more days of real life class. And then we go to Nicaragua for 10 days. TEN DAYS. In Nicaragua. Nicaragua? Crazy. Then we have a five day vacay, where we have to leave the center. Then we have finals and then we start directed research. Which is basically just a week of research and then a lot of free time during which we have to write an epic paper. So, if you are a little bit bored, like me, don’t fear! Change is near!

This week has been… uneventful. Lots of class. More outreach. More class. Kind of winding down. Last night, we threw a massive party for all our host families. Yes, that means I got to chill with AYLEEN last night. And Maicol. This was really great because I got to introduce her to my friends and she could talk to people who actually speak Spanish and then they would translate and I could actually understand what she was saying. She’s hilarious! It was great. Also, literally everyone got dressed up and looked cute. For me, this was the first time EVER.
We put on a talent show. There were several acts I was a part of: the singing of Wagon Wheel with about 9 other people… it was pretty, harmonies and all; the dance of Thriller with about 12 other people: we all learned the Thriller dance—this was epic, they made us perform it twice; and a Spanish soap opera, the plot was me, Guillermo, marrying my cousin, Angela, and realizing I had a four year old child with Angela’s sister (my other cousin) at our wedding. Hilarious. It was a fun event.
Yesterday we also went on a field trip to an organic coffee farm here in Atenas. It’s small scale—mom and pop style. It’s cool though, to see people here just legitimately utilizing agriculture in a sustainable way for no other reason than they actually believe in it.

\The family has to do ten times more work than huge monocrop plantations, but they believe in ethical environmental practices. Can you believe that? It was refreshing. We got to hike around the land and see all the coffee plants (which are SHADE GROWN. Impressive. And nice for a hike) and learn about their fertilizer (chicken poop) and how they sun dry their beans instead of oven dry (6 days of constant rotation of beds of beans in the blazing hot sun, as opposed to a couple hours where all you have to do is toss them in the dryer)…
It was cool. If you would like to know more about how coffee is harvested, just holler. I’m an expert. NBD.
This is a coffee berry coated in their natural delicious honey. Yum.

Tomorrow we have another FLAB (Field Laboratory) due and then we leave for the weekend. There is really nothing to report. Just doin’ what we do in Costa Rica.
All the girls lookin fly. You know.