Two retirees traveling the world!
Not Photoshopped! Aluminosilicates enter the river from one stream, increased acidity (pH) from the other stream causes the aluminosilicates to aggregate and reflect light differently. Scientific term is Mie scattering.Our Airbnb hosts in Tronadora, Costa Rica, Claudia and Eriberto, offered to take us with them on a day trip to Rio Celeste in Tenorio Volcano National Park.
The first 11 Quaker families first came to Costa Rica in 1951 from Alabama because four Friends had been jailed for refusing to serve in the Korean War and the families were seeking somewhere they could live in peace.
Costa Rica had abolished its army and the government was encouraging foreigners to come and develop the land. The Monteverde area was only accessible by oxcart when they first came.
The families purchased over 3700 acres of land to be divided between the families. The Friends helped each family build a house.
They set up Monteverde Friends School, completing the main school building in 1957. Today it is a bilingual school serving the local community – both Quakers and local Costa Ricans – from pre-school through to high school. There is also at least one foreign exchange student who also lives with our HomeStay family.
The Quakers set up a dairy farm and the Monteverde Cheese Factory, which today produces over a ton of cheese a day. They were also farsighted enough to set aside an area on the mountain slopes as virgin cloud forest – high altitude forest cooled by moist air from the Pacific. The preserved area was the beginning of conservation in the area which now has a number of reserves including the Children’s Eternal Rain Forest (Bosque Eterno de los Niños) which was started by a Swedish child who had visited the area and went back home to raise money to purchase land for a reserve. That has grown to 54,000 acres of land.
Area reserves are
Hummingbird in a nest
Male Quetzal Showing Long Tail Feathers
In addition to these large reserves, there are other commercial businesses that are preserving the area with tours and ziplines, etc.
We have been on two chocolate tours since we arrived in Monteverde. The first at Don Juan’s was interesting and interactive however the second at Cabure Chocolates was fascinating!
The difference is Bob the owner of Cabure (his wife runs a very good Argentinian restaurant at the same location). Bob has a passion for doing things right, a real artesan chocolatier.
First a bit of history and trivia:
OK, now a bit about the process:
When pods are picked, they are cracked open and the seeds removed from the pulp. It is important to do this quickly so that the beans don’t ferment in the pod. The seeds are placed in a box with no oxygen for 2 days, then dumped into a different box with some air holes for 2 days and finally dumped into another box for an additional 2 days. During the time in the boxes, they are not agitated so some seeds are subjected to more oxygen or alkalization than others. After the 6 days, the tannins are reduced and the beans are dried, usually in the sun.
Suffice it to say that it is not an exact science however if you want really good chocolate, you have to be picky about which beans you buy. Bob is very select about his beans.
Once he receives his beans, usually from Africa, he must roast them. Roasting doesn’t take a long time, definitely under an hour. Then the beans are cracked and winnowed so that only the actual beans are used, not the shells.
The beans are then ground. You may have tried some chocolate nubs at a specialty store. Believe me, the ones I tried in Durango were nothing like Bob’s! I hated the ones I had tried previously but his weren’t bad at this stage.
Next the ground beans are centrifuged which causes the oils to be released. At this point, it looks and tastes like chocolate. There are several more steps to get to the final step which is yummy, yummy stuff whether it is a dark chocolate, a milk chocolate, or even “white chocolate” which is actually just cocoa butter, no non-fat cocoa solids in it.
We got to dip marshmallows into the chocolate and let it harden and of course, eat them. They were good, but my favorite is always dark chocolate with sea salt.
Chocolate Covered MarshmallowsAs you probably know by now, Costa Rica is one of 16 countries with no armed forces. It is a significant reason that the Quakers settled in this area.
I LOVE this t-shirt and the only place we saw it for sale was at the Monteverde Reserve.
Look at this map…notice anything odd? While one of my new Australian friends told me that this is not how the maps are down under, it is striking to realize how ego-centered I felt to even think about a map in the Southern Hemisphere being “upside down”. Every time I look at it, it gives me pause.
Thoughts?
Ruby at Age 99
Many of you have heard us talk about our elderly friend, Ruby Billings who had lost most of her hearing to a virus many years ago and also lost most of her vision to macular degeneration in recent years. We found out this week that she had passed away on 3/20.
We were able to see her a couple of times while we were in Austin. By then she was in hospice, but once again defying the odds given her in December that she would only live a few more days. When we saw her the morning we were leaving the USA (March 1) (weak but aware) all 3 of us knew that we would never meet again.
While it is sad to see her go, she has had a good life, all in all. She worked for the state of Texas and married Clayton Billings when she was in her 70’s! That was her only marriage. He passed away in the 1990’s but they were married 10 years or so.
Living to almost 105. We will miss her. Rest in peace, Ruby.
Stick with me on this one because it is a bit convoluted…
Lately I’ve been really drawn to meditation. Let me say that in the past I haven’t liked it because my mind doesn’t slow down and I get bored or think I am not doing it right. The universe is pulling me towards it, even if I am going kicking and screaming.
Lots of information coming at us and too many “coincidences” to not pay attention to it. Still not really happy meditating but giving it more attention to see if that will change. And going to watch for more “coincidences” in our lives.
Costa Rica is a primarily Catholic country and banks and many businesses are closed Thursday-Sunday for Semana Santa and schools are off.
We have been around some of the Quakers (Friends) who settled this area in the early 1950’s and are very comfortable with them. Got up at 4 AM this morning (ugh) and walked in the dark to the school/meeting location which is about a 25 minute walk from where we live. NO cars passed us as we walked and when we arrived there were only about 2-3 people there just before the sun was going to rise about 5. We sat on benches facing the east and while the trees block actually seeing the sun, we sat there as it got light. I was shocked to see that there were at least 45 people there by the time we gathered for a pot luck breakfast about 6.
Very open/loving group and the services are primarily meditation with a few thoughts/comments at the end.
One nice thing about retirement is to wake up and not really know what the day brings. Last Sunday was one of those days. Other than going to the meeting (service) with the Quakers we had no plans.
During the meeting, which is primarily meditation, we learned that there was a pot luck lunch and then a Quaker business meeting after the lunch. We stayed for both and met new folks.
The 2 hour business meeting was very interesting. The primary topic was planned improvements to the school. The school is for Kindergarten-12th grade and limited to about 120 students total. One building needs remodeling or replacement, more technology is needed, etc. It was great to see this core group of about 8-12 hash out basics and have the stated desire to make sure that the changes had minimal impact on the environment, recycled as much as possible, etc. My hat is off to the recording secretary who did a phenomenal job of pulling the thoughts together.
After the meeting, Dan and I met with the co-head of the school (Rick) and discussed ways that the existing building could be modified rather than raised. Rick will discuss the suggestions with the architect.
After that we started to walk to the Monteverde Reserve which is uphill a couple of kilometers. We ended up taking a side road to see a gallery, talking with the artist for a while and then walking a bit further to the view we have here.
View towards San Luis
Stumbled upon Jaguar Studio with a variety of paintings and prints…modern art and realistic.
Lindie along the side of the road looking at a group of guans, large black birds in the turkey family
View towards San Luis
Pasture land along our walk
None of this was planned but we got over 13,000 steps in and spent a wonderful, diverse day!
Pasteur with cows along the walk
While there is some regular under ground drainage in San Jose, many of the street have a dropoff (lower area) on each side of the street, presumably for drainage purposes. This makes the roads narrower and I am sure that they sometimes are a hazard for the vehicles…not to mention the pedestrians. On one of the buses from San Jose to Santa Elena one day we were met by another full sized bus going the opposite direction. The road was so narrow that one bus stopped while the other one very slowly inched (and I mean inched) along until it was sure it could pass the other bus.
Last night while we were walking with friends to go to dinner (the weather was perfect!) Dan started to fall because he didn’t realize that the drainage was there as he stepped off the sidewalk. Fortunately we were holding hands and I was able to counterbalance him enough that he didn’t actually fall. Cheap drainage but not so safe.
There are lots of obstacles as you walk around as well. Sidewalks are in varying states of repair or should I say disrepair. Sometimes something sticking out of the sidewalk or lots of holes. This must not be the litigious society that the United States is or they wouldn’t remain.
Sidewalks are busy with people, vendors, shops and windows to look into so between all of that and the hazards, you really have to pay attention when you walk.
Weather has been cooler in San Jose than I anticipated which is nice. Must be in the 70’s and the humidity isn’t bad. Not a fan of big cities but I am getting more comfortable with San Jose now.