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| Leaving the Central Valley behind! |
We began our first full day in Costa Rica with an open-air
breakfast in the Alajuela hotel, followed by a drive across the Central Valley through the old capital city of Cartago,
and up into the highlands to the Tarrazú coffee growing region. In the town of
Santa Maria de Dota, surrounded by hillsides covered with coffee fields, we had
lunch at the home of a local coffee farmer. In the afternoon we had a tour of
the CoopeDota coffee mill and roaster in town (which included lessons in coffee tasting - and the chance to buy coffee directly from the cooperative) followed by a terrific barbecue
dinner this evening. Spirits were high as everyone retired early in anticipation of
a long day tomorrow - we’ll get up for
an early breakfast before heading out to explore some more coffee farms en
route to the rainforest.
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| Checking out Dota coffee varieties |
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| The group checking out the sun-dried coffee process |
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| Coffee tasting at Dota |
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| Visiting a coffee farm |
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| Lunch in Santa Maria de Dota |
The Expedition Fellows group, consisting of freshmen and
sophomores from UW Tacoma, along with Peer Advisor Gloria Shin, had a chance tonight
to meet a UWT graduate who is living in Costa Rica with his family for the next
few years conducting research for his Ph.D. Levi Keesecker, who was an
Environmental Science major, is now a graduate student at the University of
Idaho in an interdisciplinary program that culminates in a two-year fieldwork
stint in Costa Rica in conjunction with CATIE, a university in Turrialba that
focuses on applied ecology & sustainable agriculture. The students had a
chance to hear about Levi’s pathway to graduate school (including international
experiences doing research in Costa Rica and Yucatan while an undergraduate at
UWT) while enjoying tonight’s barbecue dinner – hopefully an inspiration for
some as they learn more about opportunities available to them!
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| On the bus! |
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