Today had a lot to offer, although we made one stop, there was a lot we could learn about this country here. Not only this, they had many cool things to share. Let's just start at the beginning...
This morning breakfast was better, my food remained on the table the whole time. I'm just joking. Similar foods as the morning before, so not much to share. However, I will say that American orange juice WILL NEVER compare to Costa Rican orange juice. Ahhh muy Bein. Much better than what you find in the grocery store back home.
Following this we made our 2 hour travel to CATIE Research Center. There goal is to connect science, education, and research together in sustainable practices. We visited two of their facilities on site: the dairy operation and what they call the botanical garden. We began at the dairy operation.
Looking at the cattle on site we could definitely see that they were mixed breeds. Many of the cattle on site were Holstein and Brahma crosses. This is to allow for high milk production (Holstein) and heat tolerance (Brahma). On their operation there were approximately 130 head. They cycled about 40 cattle at a time for milking. Each day, after two rounds of milking, they would receive anywhere between 1,000 to 1,200 kg of milk, this converts to 2,204 to 2,645 lbs of milk per day from the cattle. With the milk that is gathered from the cattle, they produce their own cheese onsite. On the pasture they continue to grow grasses, coffee, and sugar cane with the cattle. Raising cattle in CR is pricy because CR does not produce corn, they require imports of corn from other countries to help with the growth of their castle. Not only this, CR has a 6 months period of wet to 6 months of dry, which is unsuitable for hay production, meaning they have to import that for their cattle to enjoy as well.
We even got to see baby moos, which is always the highlight of anyone's day.
This lead us right into lunch, where I had some of the best ice cream in my life, very light and delicious with pineapple and strawberry syrups.
After lunch we moved toward the botanical garden. As we drove our bus toward the garden we passed many plants including bamboo and the cola tree. The cola tree was harvested during the beginning ages of Coca-cola recipe, which was neat to think this beverage that so many enjoy uses ingredients from a tree.
From here we made our first stop unexpectedly. With a sudden stop and putting the bus in reverse, we were shocked to hear that there was a sloth roaming the tree ahead. Quickly we rushed off the bus to see this beautiful creature in the wild, rather than the zoo. Surprisingly, sloths are quite quick. It's moments like these I recognize God's presence with me as he answered my prayer to see a sloth while on this trip. The sloth eventually ventured out of site causing us to reboard the bus and go to our original first stop, which was to the coffee sector of the gardens. Here we learned all about coffee: it's history, production, and varieties. There are three varieties grown at CATIE. The first is Caturra. This bean is a large bean that lacks flavor and much caffeine. There is the Robusta which is smaller in size, is mediocre on flavor, but has 3 times the caffeine content Caturra variety has. Finally, the fan favorite is the Arabica variety. This one has enough caffeine to keep you going and has a beautiful flavor. In the words of our guide, "Coffee is best with the right price, right smell, and right person sitting next to you." Traditionally, Robusta and Arabica beans are mixed to make a cheaper coffee. Another cool thing is that oh about 34% of the coffee bean is used to make coffee, the rest is a biproduct that is used in other things such as teas, wine, and fertilizer.
We also learned that to make a fluid cup of coffee, it takes approximately 32 café berries. It is expected that each berry will contain 2 seeds, as 64 total seeds are needed to make a cup. There are threeayers of a café berry: the skin, the 'meat', and the seed. The seed is found in the center of the berry. They gather these seeds and then roast them, grind them, and package them to enjoy the coffee we have at home.
It was also cool to hear the origin story behind the coffee. Legend has it that a shepard named Kaldi saw his goats bursting with energy after consuming the berries from a café tree. After seeing the energy the berry gave his goats, the man tried the berry for himself and could not fall asleep for 2 days. This served as the most traditional way to keep someone awake before coffee was created. When the Arabians conquered Northern Africa, the house wives wanted a way to enjoy time with their military husbands when they did come home. While the husbands were tired, the wives wanted to spend time with their husbands. Through the leaves of the café tree, the wives discovered they could make a tea that gave the husbands energy to stay awake. On the café tree, there are leaves that are red and some that are green. Leaves that are small and red have more caffeine content than the larger green leaves. During the era of coffee discovery, the rich people kept the leaves for themselves to make teas while leaving the scraps for the poor. Our guide tells us, these scraps had caught on fire one time, and through the delightful aroma that filled the air, the fire died down and the poor could only assume the aroma was from the roasted berries. Using the same technique that the house wives made tea from the leaves of the café tree, the poor used the berries in place of the leaves and soon the discovery of coffee was established. There is approximately 150 berries on a branch of the tree and about 10 to 15 branches per tree. This results in about 46 to 70 cups of coffee being made from a single café tree. The farmer only receives about $0.18 of every $4.00 we spend on coffee products in the US. Despite all of this, coffee has been a blessing for the CR economy.
Board the bus again and travel to the next stop within the botanical garden. Here there is a variety of many species of plants and trees. I am simply going to write down the different plants and their significance and something I thought was cool about them. First we see a coconut tree that has many coconuts growing from the tree. Next we see a banana tree and learn that banana and plantain are in fact different, despite their similar appreance. Bananas are treated and eated like a fruit, where plantains are treated and cooked like a vegetable. We also learned about the achiote tree, the seeds harvested from this tree are actually the red coloring used to give Cheetos and Doritos their red color and leave the "dust" on your fingers. We learned about bromeliads which are grown in the roots, crevices, branches, etc of tree and other species. There are over 200 species of the bromeliads which includes the pineapple, which is the only bromeliad that grows directly into the ground. Next we learned about the different varieties of bamboo. The bamboo the sloth was climbing on is good for construction, where the bamboo in the garden is much more decorative and lacks much function. There was a balsamic tree on site as well. Historically, the balsam from this tree was used in mummification of historical people, which is an interesting fact. Our guide said we must try the mangosteen fruit as he believes no other fruit could ever compare to the flavor and texture of this fruit. A guanacaste tree sits in the middle of the garden. The guide calls this tree the "lost tree" as the primary habitat for this tree is on the pacific coast of the country, and San Jose is not on the coast. But this is the national tree of CR so it was cool to have it's presence in the garden. There is this plant they call the mother-in-law's tounge and that is because the plant grows very quickly during a specific time of the year, it fruits, and then vanishes gain until the next year. There is this tree called the canon ba tree which was cool because they just had these massive fruits on them that serve absolutely no purpose as they are not to be eaten by
humans. In the states, all of our lemons are tart and sour, however, here in CR, they have something called a sweet lemon, which I am interested in trying out. The ceiba tree is known as the holy tree. This tree is said to connect the three worlds together. The underworld, the present world I which we exist currently, and the heavens. They would often hold rituals here upon the death of a loved one to help guide them to the next world. One of my favorite lines today came from our tour guide, he said, "everything good comes from above, everything that holds you down comes from the ground," this can be applied both religiously and physically with the roots and fruits of the trees. The final tree we stopped at was the ciplar tree. This tree produces fruits that are only found in these warmer climates, unless genetic modifications adapt this fruit, we Americans will never to be able to experience the fruit outside of it's origin. This is because the fruits' development is very quick. Upon first notice of the fruit to harvest is merely a few weeks. Once ripened, the fruit will only last 2 or 3 days before it spoils and cannot be consumed. There are 2 fruits that look a lot alike. One fruit is high in iron is a usable form that will help people with anemia meet their requirements and the other is called borojó which provides you enough energy that it's a Red Bull on steroids. Finally, in got to eat an edible flower which was a unique experience.
I concluded the night with a dinner, that would have to be my least favorite so far, texting people, a video chat with my family, and our nightly debrief. I am ready for more exploration tomorrow!
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