Thursday, March 14

Brrr! It was cold when I woke up this morning. There’s no heat in Costa Rican homes (at least not in the ones we’ve stayed in), but there are times when heat would come in handy. It was 57 degrees at 5:30am this morning, but will warm up to a beautiful 75 degrees in the mountains this afternoon.

Aden woke up with even more bug bites on his face, hands, neck, and arms this morning. Poor kid, I feel so bad for him. He looks miserable, but hasn’t said to much about the bites itching. Tory woke up with red bumps on her face, neck, arms and hands this morning, too. I can’t tell what is causing them, but my best guess is mosquito bites. Andi and I are unaffected, but we did hear more mosquitos buzzing around our room during the night.

Today is our last full day in Turrialba and we planned to visit some archeological ruins this morning and then go on a coffee tour this afternoon. Guayabo Monument features some of the most significant archeological ruins in Costa Rica, and it’s about 20 minutes from our rented airbnb so we figured we’d try to go (even though neither Andi or I are very interested in the history of it). I read about the ruins online, and it sounds similar to most Costa Rican national parks in that it’s worth a visit, but there’s no educational information to go along with what we’re seeing. I find that disappointing. There are guided tours of Guayabo Monument you can pay for, but honestly we’re not sure that will hold Tory and Aden’s attention for long.

Andi made the kids breakfast and I did my workout on the outdoor patio. Then, we all bummed around the house working on our computers and playing on iPads until before we knew it, we ran out of time to visit the Guayabo Monument this morning. Oh well.

We ate an early lunch at our airbnb and then left for the coffee tour near Turriabla. Andi booked us a private tour of Aquiares Coffee Estate, the largest Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee farm in Costa Rica. Cecelia was our tour guide, and she warmly greeted our family upon our arrival. Aquiares is not just a coffee farm. It’s a town that thrives because of this coffee company. At the beginning of our tour, Cecelia said she would show us how coffee is made — from bean to cup.

We started our tour at the town’s church. This iconic building is on Costa Rica’s list of protected national landmarks.

Next, the five us hiked up the hillside to a viewpoint above the town. Cecelia pointed out coffee trees along the way, and asked Tory and Aden to find an immature green coffee bean on the bush. Next, we found a red coffee bean and learned the difference between the two. Aquiares’s coffee picking season is August - February, so there weren’t many red cherries left on the branches.

Inside the mature red cherry are two coffee beans and three layers of skin called pulp, muchlage, and parchment. We broke one open so we could see and feel the layers ourselves.

After our walk through the coffee plants, we visited the Aquiares factory. It was pretty quiet inside since their production ended in February. Cecelia showed us the process by which beans collected in the fields make it into the factory, how they are washed, dried, and stored. Aquiares Coffee employs hundreds of seasonal workers during the picking season, including labor from Nicaragua. The average picker makes $2 per basket collected, most workers totaling $10 per day.

Cecelia showed us the silos where coffee beans are stored. Then she said to Tory and Aden, “Do you want to get in and go swimming?” I thought she was joking, but she lifting Tory and then Aden inside the silo! We all laughed as they jumped and played in the massive pile of coffee beans. It reminded me of the corn pits at pumpkin patches in Minnesota and Wisconsin during fall harvest.

When they crawled out, there were coffee beans stuck in Tory and Aden’s hair, in their pants, and even in their shoes!

Most of Aquiares’s arabica coffee beans are exported, but they keep 5% of the beans for themselves to make their own small batches. The three methods they use to dry their coffee are fully washed, natural, and honey. Each of the different flavors are derived from the outer layers of the bean. We toured the small greenhouses where Aquiares dries their beans in this process.

Our last stop inside the factory was to see where the coffee beans are bagged for customers. Each bag costs approximately $150, or more, depending on the flavor. Cecelia said to the kids again, “Do you want to climb on them?” and encouraged Tory and Aden to monkey their way all over the big, heavy coffee bags. I stood back thinking “Are you sure you want them to do that?!” We had just learned that there’s a lot of time and money spent in producing these precious coffee beans, and I didn’t want our kids to spill them all over the warehouse.

Many of the big coffee brands in the world buy their beans from Aquiares. The beans are sold to the roaster, and then roaster applies their brand to them which is why we typically don’t see Aquiares Coffee sold in stores. We see Starbucks, etc.

Finally, it was time to taste the coffee. We walked inside the office building where a roaster and grinder were located. Cecelia had three different bowls of beans secretly marked. She wanted us to do a blind taste test to see if we could identify differences between the three coffee flavors.

She let Aden and then Tory take a turn grinding the beans. Then, she poured boiling water over the grounds and let them steep for 4 minutes. During that time, we sniffed the beans and tried to identify different flavor notes with our noses. Tory was very good at this part saying things like, “This one smells chocolatey” or “this one smells like the Earth.”

Cecelia skimmed the cream off the top using two spoons, and then showed us how to sip (or rather, slurp) the coffee to property taste it. Aden was really into this part — never mind the fact that our five-year-old was drinking coffee! He slurped the coffee with his spoon over and over. Tory refused to try any.

In the end, Andi liked the fully washed dark roast the best. I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but I chose the natural coffee because it tasted fruity and had the most complex flavor.

We thanked Cecelia for an excellent tour, and walked over to the gift shop so we could buy some Aquiares Coffee to take home with us. I would have never expected this tour to be as engaging and educational as it was for our entire family. Cecelia did a fantastic job involving the kids in the tour.

After the coffee farm, we drove into Turrialba for ice cream. Good ol’ POPS! When we spot one, we almost always stop for a treat.

While we were downtown, we walked by a pharmacy and Andi said he wanted to stop in and have Aden’s bug bites checked out. I felt confident they were mosquito bites, but Andi wasn’t so sure. The pharmacist didn’t speak the clearest English, but gave Andi some Calamine lotion to dry out the bites and some antibiotic drops. We weren’t sure what the drops were for exactly, so we walked across the street to the Turrialba town square and Googled the drug name. The drops were an anti-parasite medication. I wasn’t sure Aden needed that, so we decided to hold off on giving it to him for now. The bites don’t seem to bother him at all, but they are really red and pronounced.

As we walked back to our car we noticed a parking ticket on the front windshield. Shoot! There was a Costa Rican parking attendant in the street that told us he’d watch our car as we parked it (this is common here; I find it to be so strange) but apparently having someone “watch” your car doesn't mean the police won’t still write you a ticket! Fortunately, the fee was only 3,600 colones, about $6.

We made the 30 minute drive back to our airbnb. I was seriously dreading going back to that house and sleeping there one more night given my kids were covered in bug bites. When we got back, I went on a bug killing spree, lifting up all the blinds and scouring the ceilings for mosquitoes. I killed 6 of them in Tory and Aden’s room and 3 in Andi and I’s room. Ugh. Those were the ones I could find; who knows if there were more!

Meanwhile, Andi made a nice roast for dinner with carrots and mashed potatoes. We have an oven in this house which is a rare find in Costa Rica. Then, we all stood outside on the backyard deck and sprayed ourselves with bug spray which is a RIDICULOUS thing to have to do before going to bed inside a house. Here’s hoping it works, and the kids don’t wake up with even more bug bites tomorrow.

Friday, March 15

Andi woke up with bug bites on his back and arms this morning. We took one look at each other and said, “Let’s get out of here.” I quickly did my workout while Andi made the kids breakfast, and then we packed up our things. The neighbor, who was also our airbnb point-of-contact for this house, came over to do a quick walk-through of the property before we left. We mentioned the bug bites Tory and Aden got while they slept here, and she said they don’t usually have mosquitos but they have been more prevalent lately.

Today, our journey takes us to San Isidro de El General which is located in the southern part of the providence of San Jose. It’s a 4-hour drive from Santa Cruz to San Isidro. There’s no particular reason we picked to stay in the San Isidro area other than it’s on the way to the southern pacific coast, and Andi found a cool farm airbnb there that came highly recommended.

Our drive was pretty uneventful except for the cement truck that got stuck in the middle of the highway when it tried to do a U-turn. We sat on the road and waited for 20 minutes or so until the driver was able to pull the truck out of the ditch and get back on the road. See! Homeschooling opportunities everywhere. This was a unexpected opportunity for Andi to teach the kids about 4-wheel drive and how the axels of a truck work. What do you know? I learned something in that conversation, too.

In San Isidro de El General, we stopped for lunch and groceries. There was a McDonalds right across the street from the grocery store, so Andi decided to treat the kids. Tory was in heaven with her beloved cheeseburger. She said it tasted “almost” as good as an American cheeseburger. The entire McDonalds restaurant was packed! This location even had an Ice cream cone stand on the outside, and there was a long line there as well. I saw a sign for a McChurchill shake, instead of a Shamrock shake. I wondered what it tasted like, but I didn’t order one to find out.

I get a little car sick, especially with all the twists and turns of the roadways through the mountains, so I didn’t particularly want to eat McDonalds for lunch. Andi and I bought some crackers, deli salami, a carrot, and a mini container of hummus at the grocery store afterward McDonalds, and made ourselves a “snack” lunch in the car on the drive to our airbnb. Luckily we travel with a knife! We made a healthier option work in a pinch. This grocery store had a bunch of American foods that I haven’t had since we’ve been traveling in Costa Rica. La Croix was one! It tasted delicious having something to drink other than water and wine.

Our new “home” for the next 4 days is about 30 minutes outside San Isidro up in the mountains. As soon as Andi, Tory, Aden and I walked into this house, we loved it. Tory said it reminded her of our cabin. It really did. There was something about the house that gave me a feeling of comfort, which was welcomed after having a yucky experience at the last place.

There’s a master bedroom, an upstairs loft with two beds for the kids, one bathroom, and a wrap-around porch. I loved the small touches like a well-loved stuffed animal waiting for each of the kids on their beds and a secret cubby with comfy pillows underneath the wrap-around staircase. The best part though, is the garden just steps outside our front door. Brad and Nikki, the owners of this airbnb, stopped by the house to introduce themselves after we got settled. They live on this property as well, and also rent another house on their land as well.

We walked over to the garden with Brad and Nikki, and they passionately showed us all the veggies, herbs, and potatoes. Nikki said to come here and pick whatever we liked, whenever we liked. I hope she knows what she’s asking! All the heart eyes for this beautiful bounty of lettuces, kale, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, fresh herbs and citrus.

We followed Brad and Nikki over to the chicken coop, and they showed us what to do with our compost. Any leftover food we have (except for meat and bones), they asked us to feed to the chickens and ducks. Next, we walked inside the coop to the spot where the chickens lay their eggs. Nikki handed us a basket to collect a few for breakfast tomorrow, and invited us to come here whenever we like to get more.

After walking all around the property, all four of us were dripping in sweat! I wasn’t expecting it to be so hot in the mountains. Andi, Tory, Aden, and I put on her swimming suits and took a dip in the very refreshing (cold!) mountain spring-fed dipping pool outside our airbnb.

Afterward, the kids wanted to go back to the chicken coop to feed the chickens more food, and Andi also took them into the garden to pick some salad greens for dinner. He roasted chicken breasts and sweet potatoes in the oven for dinner, but the star of the table was the fresh salad greens — they were so delicious! I think we’ll be eating lots of salads while we’re here.