Today, we drove to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens to enjoy the beautiful views of the falls and see the wildlife we may have missed on the trip so far. This program has enlightened me in many ways and helped me learn about the making process of the supply chain and how it relates to…
Tag: Michael Murphy
Sibö Tasting Tour > Hershey Park Tour
Today we visited Sibö Chocolate and learned about the history of chocolate making, their sustainable practices, and most importantly, tasted some delicious chocolate. What stood out to me today was the tasting tour and the model they use to engage the crowd and persuade them to pay attention and buy chocolate through psychology. Sorry if…
Peeling back the Curtain on Sustainable Banana Farming
Today, we visited various small farms that grow bananas, coconuts, black peppers, and other agricultural products. I was particularly interested in the banana farm run by Francini and its specific practices. I found it interesting that they grew many different plants on the farm, similar to the many coffee plantations we visited. It was interesting…
Peace Among the Piñas
Today, we visited an organic pineapple plantation. Massive fields covered the ground as far as the eye could see. The overall process of growing and farming pineapple plants differs greatly from farming coffee, though there are some similarities. The growth process of pineapples is much less complex than that of coffee. In general, the process…
Going to Massively Miss Monte Verde
Today we visited Life Monteverde. We learned a lot about the life of the farmers on the site and even more about the intricacies of farming coffee. I was happy to learn more about the engineering side of farming and how they have adapted and used biomaterials to benefit their crops. Our tour guide, Evelyn,…
Conservation and Climbing a Mountain
Today brought a beautiful hike through the cloud forest along with complex questions regarding conservation and sustainability. Nacho explained to us that the once dense forests of Costa Rica were thinned out due to deforestation caused by the need for open land to farm for beef and milk. Obviously, this negatively impacted the ecosystem and…
Wheels on the Ground to Head in the Clouds
Today, we had a long bus ride from Heredia to Monte Verde. Throughout the drive, I noticed many things similar to what I had come to know in Heredia, along with new and different sights on the ride up the mountains. In terms of the people, I did not notice any differences between the people…
All this coffee is DRIVING me insane!
Today, we toured Cafe Britt. While some of the information in the tour was similar to the Doka tour, I learned a lot of new information about Britt’s role in the supply chain and their overall role in the coffee business. Our wonderful tour guide explained much of the coffee-making process, which was very similar…
Hail to Coffee or Strawberries?
On our second full day in Costa Rica, our first company visits started with the Doka Coffee Plantation and a strawberry farm. After another breakfast of gallo pinto, we hopped on the early bus to the Doka plantation. It was another beautiful sunny day, and perfect weather for the plantation tour. We learned about the…
Dia Uno, Hola Heredia!
Today was our first full day in Costa Rica. We started the day with breakfast at our homestay, and as expected, we were served gallo pinto. Along with the gallo pinto, we enjoyed coconut and avocado. Next, it was time for the walking tour of Heredia. The weather was beautiful, and it was a perfect…
Opening Up and Heading Down to Costa Rica
My name is Michael Murphy. I am a first year in the Swanson School of Engineering and in the Frederick Honors College. I plan to study Biomedical Engineering at Pitt. Biology has always been my favorite science, and I want to do something good for the world and help people, so I felt as though…