While Amy and I were stationed in Orosi for our first month of Spanish classes, we took a number of notable day trips around the valley. I wanted to make this post just to give a quick mention to some exceptional excursions and to put up some extra pictures.
Here we go.... One of Amy and I's most common uses of our free time is taking walks. One great hike we took was entitled “The Yellow Church” by a printout of instructions we found in the hostel. According to our sources it was a full day excursion, taking upwards of 5 hours, which we found hard to believe as we could see the yellow church situated on one of the steep hillsides of the valley. There was a dirt road that traveled straight up towards it, and could be seen from the from just about anywhere in the valley. At night, this road was the only one lit on the hillside, creating what looked like a vertical landing strip. One Saturday we decided it was time to head up there and we grabbed our bags, and our tour-guide-dog Guapo. First we had to cross the river on the blue foot bridge over the swiftly running river.
Next we hiked along a paved road with the roaring coffee-colored river on one side, and coffee plantations on the other. After getting a bit lost due to poor directions we started up the hill. It was just as steep as it looked, and soon we were breathing heavy, as was Guapo. The view of the valley was quite fantastic and worth the workout!
After about an hour we arrived at the yellow church, and upon closer inspection we discovered that the directions we had been given took us far past this site, so we continued on. We reached the ridge, which was covered in thick vegetation, coffee plantations, and a few nice little cottages.
After this we dropped back down to the river and returned to our hostel as the daily 4:00PM rain started.
Another wonderful excursion was to a coffee factory in town. We walked to the “fabrica” with our teachers from the school, and got to take a short tour. It was one of our first tours in Spanish, and it was very nice because we were able to understand a lot and do a bit of translating for a few other new arrivals that went with us. The purpose of this factory was two fold: 1) to shell, dry, and bag coffee brought in from the local plantations and 2) to separate the good beans from the bad. The guide told us that pretty much everybody had at least a few coffee plants in their backyard in Orosi, so beans were bought in from everywhere and in every quantity. My Spanish teacher, Margorie, told me that most kids in Orosi help pick at least a little coffee every year. She said that she never liked doing it because she was always too scared. I asked her why, and she told me of three hazards involved in collecting coffee: 1) It is believed that the best coffee grows on the steepest hillsides. (At one point during the trip we saw groups of workers literally hanging on to coffee plants as they picked them) 2) There is a certain kind of caterpillar that lives in the fields, that has a very strong poison. (Note that it is not really dangerous, it just causes temporary numbness around the bite, which although painful and making working very difficult has no permanent effects. She also said that some people believed that if you found the one that bit you, killing it and burying would make the pain go away. Bite me once shame on you, but me twice and I must be an idiot going to look for you again!) and 3) Lethally poisonous snakes. That last one caught my attention so I asked her to elaborate. Apparently there is a certain kind of green snake that lives in the coffee plants, and that has a very powerful venom. In the past, injuries and even deaths from them were apparently quite common. Fortunately now most of the workers use gloves that provide adequate protection. “Most?”, I asked. She said that there were still some people, like her father, who did not use gloves because it was harsher on the plant and made it more difficulty to select only the ripe beans.
As the tour continued I started to notice that there were as many machines that prepared the beans, as there were that separated the good from the bad. This surprised me for two reasons: 1) if they went to all this work to extract only the best beans, why was 90% of the coffee we had drank in this country terrible and 2) why would you go to all that effort to separate them? Both questions were answered with the same response: exportation. Nearly all of the first grade coffee was exported, leaving the locals to consume the bad coffee. Our tour guide explained that if the good coffee was sold locally it would not pay for the effort gone to separate the good beans out. In addition we were told that Ticans much prefer weak coffee and light roasts to strong coffee, making the coffee worse in our opinion, but making me feel better about the fact that babies drink it. The tour ended in a very cool coffee vault that we were literally permitted to dive into, as it was several meters deep in dried coffee beans. Don't worry this was no health code violation as the beans were going to be shipped out and cooked before selling, and since I had remembered to put on clean socks that day, or was I wearing sandals......
The last Orosi adventure I want to talk about is a great day we had to the volcano Irazu. We had met a family of Amercians that were taking classes at our school and they asked us if we would be interested in doing a tour with them. Of course we said yes, and made arrangements with Luis, the driver who brought us from the airport, to take us to Irazu and to some ruins in nearby city Cachi. We planned to meet early in the morning an the church in the center of town. Morning was apparently the only good time too see the volcano, is it was the only time in which it was not covered in clouds. So that morning Amy and I awoke late, and ran to the church.
Fortunately, due to what the owner of our school called “tico time” Luis was even later. We all climbed into the his jeep, and were off! It was really good opportunity for us to practice our Spanish, and as Luis was awesome at communicating with gringos we did a lot of it. First he took us to the look-out over Orosi Valley, which was quite stunning as the early day allowed a rare unobstructed view of the city.
Next we took a long winding road up towards the volcano. It was really interesting to me, coming from most if my high elevation experience being from the steep Sierras in California, to see such a slow grade that eventually added up to over 10,000 feet. Not only that but where-as in the Sierras the land becomes barren around 10,000 feet, this land was still bountiful with life. We past many farms on the way which seemed a bit close to the volcano, and Luis informed is that it was some what risky since, although Irazu had not been showing activity in the last 30 years, it was not impossible for it to spontaneously erupt. Apparently the water in the crater had started to rise drastically in the past few weeks, which experts thought could be an indication of on up-coming eruption. The risk was thought to be worth as he informed us that it was some of the most fertile soil in the world. To elaborate he told us that, like coffee, much of the produce was exported as well. He said that many farmers are trying to conform to “organic” food standards, so as to export the food at a higher price. Again international commerce was forcing them to send all the good stuff away. Its sad to see a country which has so many amazing things, that only the rest of the world seems to have the opportunity to enjoy.
Soon we reached the entrance to the national park, and after paying our $7 entrance fee we headed up to the rim of the volcano. We passed a large cluster of very cool plants that were very common in Costa Rica. These plants have leaves that are about 5 feet in diameter which the locals refer to as “poor man's umbrellas”.
After passing this we reached the main crater. It was filled with murky green water surrounded by steep multi-colored walls and tipped off with heavy vegetation at the rim. Only about half an hour after we showed up, the bowl started to fill with clouds. Perfect timing!!
Next we walked around the area, as Amy started to regret weary sandals (oww, hot hot, oww....) as we walked over the original, now dead, crater.
After that we headed back to the jeep, where we had lunch and enjoyed the company of some local wildlife.
Next we headed for the ruins in Cachi. Apparently there was on old church there that had once been a very important religious place, which had been fought over for years until eventually it was abandoned after a sever earthquake damaged the structure.
Before heading home Luis took as to the “Dreamer's House”, which is a beautiful cabin, covered in carvings made by an artist.
Inside the house he had many wonderful carvings as well, made from coffee wood. After admiring his work together, we headed back to the jeep where Luis opened up a cooler full of some of the best fruit I have ever had in my life. Pineapple, guava, guayaba, and banana, all grown on the slopes of the Volcano Irazu.
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