All in a day's work

Today, I felt like a "fotoexpressantonio," whatever that means.

I knew it was going to be jam-packed, but I didn't know it would be 1200-images-jam-packed.

We began our day again on the coffee farms. This time we started earlier so we could avoid the rainfall and preserve our sanity.

By the time we arrived at the field, the weather was awesome and the light was beautiful.
Machete man was clearing brush as I started down the hill towards our transect. I'm told they sell these at the grocery store for coffee farmers.

I think I'll have to check that out for sure.
Jason Ambrose, who is a marketing guy at Starbucks in Seattle, is one of our leaders. He is very good at organizing people and tasks and creating a smart work-flow. I'm impressed by his ability to remain calm in the midst of utter chaos.

He's pictured here with our empty data sheets.
We happened upon this frog while just about ankle deep in slippery mud. When we toured INBIO earlier in the week, we were warned about the infamous, poisonous tree frogs the shouldn't be "licked" (who does that?).

I took this image, and resisted the urge to taste the little guy with my tongue.
Today's farm was in a beautiful area surrounded by other small farms. I learned from Sebas yesterday that farmers try to plant distinguishing foliage to help them identify the boundaries between their farms.

I liked the farmer's choice.
We stopped working around 11 a.m., two hours earlier than yesterday, and just in time to see the president of Costa Rica (yes, I said THE president) at an auditorium in San Marcos.

The gathering was for the Chinese ambassador to Costa Rica... ironically the Chinese are interested in Costa Rica's coffee too.

And the Costa Ricans put on quite a show for the Chinese.
Something tells me adolescent-age children aren't interested in traditional dancers.
According to Wikipedia (always a great source, I know) Óscar Rafael de Jesús Arias Sánchez (born 13 September 1940) is the current President of Costa Rica, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in several Central American countries.

I couldn't get over his eyebrows.
Outside the venue, a little boy was feeling as bad about the puddle at his feet as I was about my caffeine headache.

I shouldn't have stressed over that.
While walking back to the lab, I tried my hand at the shooting-from-the-hip technique through San Marcos.

I think I need to practice it. Joe, why aren't you here when I need you?
Our day wasn't over yet. We hopped over to Coope Dota, another coffee farmer's co-op, to tour their facility.

We felt so good about the coffee we were about to have that we decided to jump for joy.
Forty percent of coffee gathered at the co-op is sold to Starbucks. The dried, green beans are bagged in burlap at this warehouse and sent to Starbucks roasting plants around the world.
Here are the beans after they've dried.
At Coope Dota, there is a small roasting operation for the 10 percent of coffee that is not sold elsewhere.

The smell from this roaster was so good. I truly wanted to make this photo a scratch and sniff sticker like I used to have when I was a kid.
The finished product looks something like this.
Yes, I finally had my cup of coffee. It was straight from the roaster at Coope Dota. Frankly - shh, don't tell Jason this - it was the best coffee I'd had in a long time, even better than Starbucks.