Day 6 of our venture started in Monteverde and ended back in Heredia. We had a similar buffet style breakfast as yesterday. After, we went on what I think was the best part of this trip so far, a service project where we painted a fence at a local school. It was amazing to see how excited the kids got to hang out with us and to see the before and after of the fence that we all painted together. Afterwards we had lunch and then had a tour of the coffee farm at Monteverde. Then finally, we returned back to our homestay’s on a long bus ride.

The tour on the farm introduced us to the lifestyle of the farmers on the coffee farm. On the farm, the farmers grow more than just coffee. They grow and plant fruits and vegetables as well. The only thing that they sell is the coffee and everything else that they grow is for just themselves. Most to everything that they eat comes from that farm. The group that I was in also had a chance to speak with a Nicaraguan worker also. He gave us great insights about the future and his goal for wanting the world to last longer. He also had most of his family at the farm as well. He enjoys working at the farm for these reasons. One challenge that they have to deal with is the challenge of climate change causing inconsistent weather. For example, in Monteverde, it used to be that the sun was out only about 20 days in a year, but now it’s over 1/3 of the year. Using technologies to help conserve the crops in the future would do a great bit for farms.

If I were a Tico farmer’s child, I would want to follow the footsteps of my parents and carry on the farms legacy as my own. Having a background in it at such a young age will help me for the future. Being part of a community matters a ton because it can show care towards one an other and you can have their backs for each other. Especially in a farm, no one person can do the job on their own, they need others to back them up.