Today started early, 6 am pick up for the.birding tour with me, Jen and Zoe. We had an excellent guide who took us to Curi cancha preserve. Jen wanted to see a quetzal and we saw a couple in addition to a 3 waddle bellbird, owl, many species of hummingbirds and other birds native to costa rica. The guide showed us the short trail that he and a few other guides had asked permission to create, just for guides, in order to see the quetzal. He showed us the wild avocado trees where they perch, the fruit is what the birds eat and seeds are all over the forest floor. Zoe had a hard time with the early hour but got herself up and at the gate on time. The rains let up and it turned into a decent day.
We ventured to the Monteverde town center. small with a few restaurants and gift shops. Robert, Zoe and I had Costa Rican food, much cheaper than the hotel restaurant. Lots of rice and beans! The rest of them went to the playground. The hills we had to walk up to get back to the hotel on the return trip were killers.
The town is small, and poor, reminding us of the street stalls and shops in China’s small cities over 30 yrs ago.
We made it back in the afternoon for our sugarcane, coffee and chocolate tour which was a huge hit. We learned about sugar processing – after squeezing the canes, the juice is boiled until the hard ball stage and crystallizes when cool. Molasses is extracted first white sugar. I later read that commercial sugarcanes are often sprayed with large amounts of roundup to ripen them. Then the canes and pvc tubing are all burned. In this small farm operation, it is mostly natural and the canes are used as fuel for the stoves in boiling sugar. We learned so much about coffee production- migrant labor picks the beans which are then shelled, processed in one of 3 ways then dried . The beans are sorted, separated, and roasted. The roasting goes from light to dark and acidity decreases as bitterness increases. The different varieties have diff levels of floral and fruitiness which also changes with the type of processing. Coffee is graded similar to wine. It’s a complex process. Coffee production and chocolate making at El fiche, is a family operation. We sampled coffee beans, sugarcane juice, cacao, chocolate and had some treats at the end including fresh coffee. He told us “tourist” packages of coffee are often made using junk beans and people should not to buy them. I Great tour!
Dinner was in town at Taco Taco, delicious food! It was the best fish taco I have ever had.
We had a bit of an adventure getting back. Ray, always super conscious of safety, wasn’t sure we should walk back in the dark since the road is windy. Zoe said her foot hurt so Jen called a cab for her, Nina, Kira and Zoe. Robert took off walking with Ela and Isaac. Ray, Czarek and I followed with Czarek rushing to catch up with Robert- we weren’t sure Ela could make it up the hill. Jen couldn’t get the carseat to buckle in so she ended up walking. Kira and Zoe got a taxi ride. Ela walked up the hill just fine on her own. When the girls told Czarek that Jen was walking up, he went back down to meet her but she just missed him and arrived soon after. We should have all just walked!!!