During our last two days in Costa Rica, we were able to tour a strawberry farm, enjoy a beautiful waterfall garden, and eat dinner at a restaurant with an amazing view up on top of a mountain. While touring the strawberry farm, we learned about the process of growing strawberries and then picked a basket…

Today, we took a train to San Jose and were able to explore the city. As you walked around, you were able to see the influence that bananas and coffee had on the city. The market we walked through had bananas hanging everywhere and we got to see the National Theater which was financed by…

Today, we were lucky enough to visit both a banana and plantain plantation, and a pineapple plantation. At the banana plantation, we learned how the farms grew other plants besides plantains and bananas to prevent a monoculture. They also used these other plants as food sources growing things like cassava, cherries, and ginger. The plantation…

The day started off with a tour and chocolate tasting at Sibo Chocolates. Our tour began with some complimentary hot chocolate and then we were introduced to the owner Julio Fernandez. Mr. Fernandez was very entertaining as he told us about the story of chocolate. Originally chocolate was used by the Native Americans in Central…

Today, we were lucky enough to be able to hike in the Cloud Forest. It was amazing the amount of wildlife we were able to see in such a short time. We saw Coatis, Toucans, Stick bugs, and many other types of plants and animals. I was also able to go see the continental divide…

Today, we had the opportunity to tour Cafe Britt and learn about the roasting and processing of coffee beans. The coffee sold at Cafe Britt is gourmet, which means it is much more expensive than the average brand and most ticos will not buy it. My host mother confirmed this when she said that she…

Today we visited the coffee plantation and were able to see all the steps that make Costa Rican coffee so great. First, we got to see the plants and learned how they matured from a bean or seed to a full-grown plant. We then were taken through the picking process and learned about the workers….

Today we explored the city of Heredia on foot and were able to visit many different parts of the city. We started in the town center where we were able to see people going to and from church and music was being played outside the church. We then went down and were able to visit…