We spent some time the second week in Costa Rica visiting coffee, banana and chocolate plantations. Coffee will only grow at an elevation between 700 and 2000 meters. The plantation we spent time at is a coop between smaller, local farmers who work together to keep their businesses going. Our guide showed us how they begin coffee plants, how the beans are processed, dried and then served us some traditionally made coffee.
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| Mi Cafecito Coffee Cooperative |
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| Coffee beans are measured here. |
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| Different stages of growth of the coffee plant. |
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| Drying coffee beans naturally, without assistance. |
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| David, our guide, making us coffee. |
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The banana plants were much larger than I had imaginined. The bananas are wrapped in blue plastic to help keep pests away as well as keeping the bananas from bruising, or getting brown spots.
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| Banana plants..... |
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| Kirby putting a plastic bag on a group of bananas. |
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We spent the last two days finishing up our group research project. The full day at La Selva each team presented their projects. We also spent time hiking during the daytime and at night to catch more wildlife. The biodiversity was astounding! At every turn there was a new species of snake, frog, insect or mammal to see! This opportunity has brought me many experiences to bring home to my classroom.
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| Finishing up our presentations.... |
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| Our cabin "Iguana"...rightly named:) |
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| Sunset at La Selva at 6:05 pm. |
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