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.

Just pictures

Quetzal and queso

Today, we took a break from the coffee thing. Well, everything coffee related except the drinking part.

Out of our two-week "volunteer-ation," (our new volunteer+vacation term) we have one day to do something non work related. Which basically meant we got to sleep in (huge bonus, but something none of us were actually able to do... stupid internal clocks!)

Around 8 a.m., we set off from our "rustic" hotel - La Cascada - to see some cascadas for real at Quetzal National Park in the mountains.

Of course, as soon as we left San Marcos, the rain decided to pay us a visit in the form of an early morning downpour. We were not going to be dismayed.

We stopped around 10 a.m. for brunch at a buffet where I had an interesting sampling of rice, cheese tortilla, beef, and flan. Despite being a bit heavy for breakfast, the food was actually really good. I've learned that when you have the opportunity to eat, you eat as much as you can.

Once we arrived at Quetzal, the intensity of the rainfall motivated us to stall our plans to hike and instead sip cups of coffee at a wayside hotel.

Finally, we decided we didn't drive all the way for nothing, and continued toward the waterfall.

A short, relatively easy hike along the pristine Savegre river brought us to a 50-foot fall with a cave at it's base.

As usual, I made everyone wait in the shade of a rock while I experimented with various slow shutter speeds and a shaft of light. I think I made what I was looking for, happen. However, I do think waterfalls are overshot, which makes finding a different angle difficult.

We dodged raindrops on our way back as the showers decided to spare us no mercy. I wrapped my camera in my rain coat and plunged onward up the muddy horse trail. By the time we reached the cars, we all were drenched.

I've decided that Costa Rica is just a perpetual state of wetness. Sebas said the slogan for Tarrazu should be: The moist fun you'll ever have. I tend to agree.

After a two-hour ride to the hotel, I'm sitting here in my unmade bed enjoying the warmth of my covers and the sound of other guests talking outside my door.

I can't believe we've been here in Costa Rica for eight days. Its work, work, work from here on out. Tomorrow we've got to knock another two farms off our to-do list. On Sunday, we head home.

My unmade bed.
My luxurious bathroom - trust me on this one.
The common area of our hotel where we wait to be picked up each morning. That's Charlie, left, and Alex laughing about something.
We had to stop for gas today... it is basically the same price here as it is in the U.S. It cost $75 to fill the tank of our four-wheel drive.
My breakfast - I'm drinking my coffee black these days.
Quetzal... often referred to as the "Cloud Park" because the clouds meet the hills.
Log bridge, that's Debbie in the center.
Harmony is more flexible than I thought.



A real-life rain forest.