Afterthoughts

I've been home for two days now and I can't stop thinking about Costa Rica.

The images on this blog are helping me begin to digest my experience there. I can hardly believe the two weeks have come and gone.

Today I'm back in the real world.... the corporate one, that is, shooting the Verizon FiOS launch in Lynnwood, Wash. The scene here is such a stark contrast to the one I left on Sunday.

Somehow, I wish I was back counting nodes and berries and sipping on an Imperial.

Johnny Walker Red

Ever since I spent all night hanging onto the throne in a Florence, Italy youth hostel, I've never liked whiskey.

Perhaps bad connotations create forbidden items, or maybe they just leave a scar on the memory.

Today, I decided to write wrong my actions in Italy and renew a relationship with "whiskey." Mainly because Nati insisted we bring a bottle, and mainly because I was so glad our farm-working stint was complete.

It was definitely a day to celebrate.

Tomorrow, I fly home to my old life. To my lonesome husband. And to a renewed vision for the future.

Thank you Costa Rica - for making me happy again.

Odds and ends

Eliecer Naranjo.
Michael Naranjo.
A few ripe coffee cherries.
Nati.
Dr. Dirt - a.k.a. - Lewis Rice.
Alex couldn't resist the puddle.
Our fruit break... we're all exhausted!
Sebas models his Earthwatch shirt. He notes the final checked item is basically corny.
A real-life bearded woman.
Workers leave the coffee fields.
Jose, left to right, Michael, and Jorjito.

Adios!
All the farmers we've worked with came over for dinner.
Nati's father, left, and Kimball.
The farmers.

Nati in the back of the car.

A Coope Tarrazu cupping

Ever since I became a Starbucks Coffee Master, I've wanted to experience a professional cupping.

So needless to say, I became very excited when I noticed the "coffee tasting activity at Coope Tarrazu" on the two week schedule that came out at the beginning of the trip.

When I worked for Starbucks, I learned how to find - and more importantly - describe coffee flavor profiles. They used to have us taste every single coffee in the store and note our thoughts in a "Coffee Passport." It was that activity that planted in me the desire to go straight to coffee's source in origin countries.

Countries like Ethiopia, Brazil, and Costa Rica.

The cupping activity reminded me of many wine tasting tours in the Yakima Valley: First, you aerate the coffee with a spoon, then smell it, swish it around, slurp (rather noisily), and spit it - with authority - into a spittoon. You then back away from the cups and ponder what you've just experienced.

We tasted several coffees from Coope Tarrazu, followed by three from Starbucks. My favorite was the Ethiopia Sidamo - it's citrusy notes beg for a lemon loaf chaser.

I made some photos of the event, and wish I could include the taste and smells that accompanied them.

Enjoy.

Gold chains and a little white ball

Another day has passed. Just three more until we return to our homes.

I'm pretty sure I can say we will all miss 5 a.m. wake up calls followed by drives on rough roads surrounded by lush landscape and the smell of diesel engines. At least I know I will.

Today's farmer, Ernesto Chacon, had been working the land for 35 years. He started as a cattle rancher, and now operates one of the finer fields here in Tarazzu.

His smile intrigued me.

As I was waiting for Sebas to use the GPS to find our first transect, I stumbled upon the cowboys... is there a name for the Costa Rican rancher?

They were young. So young, in fact, that chest hair had only recently filled in their half-buttoned shirts.

They laughed at the sight of me. I can only imagine what was going through their heads as I quickly made images of the scene and then moved in closer to capture the details.

I feel I can truly see things when the camera is pressed to my eye. That is when I most certainly find the confidence to interpret the world around me. To tell another's story.

On this trip I feel there are many stories upon which I could focus. Each farmer has one, each team member has one, and I have one. Yet how do I tell the story? That is the question on my mind as I make the images that freeze a moment in time.

The journey excites me.

Enjoy.