coffee addiction

The first thing I woke up to in the morning was my host mother telling me “Wow you are big!” So of course Im thinking, oh great she thinks I‘m fat.  She then replied, “No senorita, alto alto!”  Meaning that she thinks that I am tall.  I forgot to mention that, I am noticeably taller than most of the women and some men in the city of San Jose; everyone is very short here. Today we had a mini orientation at the Universidad de Veritas and they showed us the computer labs, library, and various centers they had available for students.  After the orientation we headed toward the mountains to a coffee plantation called “Cafe Britt”.  Costa Rica is known for its famous coffee plantations.  We began the tour and entered into the coffee fields.  We were greeted by some very energetic tour guides who turned out to be actors which made the tour very entertaining!  In Costa Rica the climate is perfect for making coffee because volcanoes surround them and the weather is not too cool.  

The tour guides began to explain the harvest process, which begins with the coffee cultivators picking the cherry red fruit from the coffee plant.  After the berries are picked they are then sent to the processing plant to remove the pulp from around the beans.  After the pulp is removed from the beans, the beans lay out in the sun with a little bit of water for one week (the workers have to sift through the beans every hour the entire week to ensure the beans are receiving equal amounts of sunlight).  After a week the beans are then moved to the roasting station where they are roasted at an approximate temperature of 465 degrees Farenheit (the beans begin to "pop" when added to the heat and the aroma fills the room). 

 After visiting the plant we headed to the theater where they gave the history of the coffee bean in Costa Rica and performed a silly skit of a wedding.  Who was chosen out of the crowd to be the maid of honor? Yours truly.  I had to give a mini toast in Spanish and we toasted with coffee!  My prize for volunteering was a floppy coffee hat.  After the tour we were privileged to have lunch with the owner and founder of “Café Britt” and were able to ask him questions about his booming franchise in Costa Rica.  Having lunch with the owner resulted in free coffee drinks which kept me going for the remainder of the day.  My Costa Rican coffee addiction is now official!  We had a shorter day today so that we could prepare for our big day tomorrow at our internships and so we were dismissed early to go home.  Sorry to keep talking about everything I eat, but tonight I had tacos and they were not like ordinary tacos, they were Costa Rican tacos.  Carne asada, onions, salsa and peppers are stuffed inside a tortilla and cooked on the stovetop.  The taco pockets are then prepared over a mound of cabbage and topped with mayonnaise and ketchup and guacamole…I definitely passed on the ketchup and mayonnaise.  Tomorrow my internship begins!