Coffee Cooperative & Making Tortillas
We set out at 6AM to travel from San Jose to La Fortuna. Along the way, we made a stop to tour a G Adventures–supported coffee cooperative called Mi Cafecito in San Miguel de Sarapiqui. That was such a cool experience- we got to meet local farmers, observe shade-grown coffee plants, and see everything that goes into producing a cup of coffee. When I say we say everything, I mean it. We saw it all from harvesting, husking, drying, to roasting the beans. My favorite part was smelling the coffee roast and trying a fresh cup. I always start my day with a cup of coffee, but we are so removed from the actual process and where it comes from, that I felt so much more gratitude for people who work to produce our morning cup of coffee.
The views on the drive were breathtaking! So many lush hills and mountains
Loved those blue skies after experiencing a dreary, cloudy NYC winter
We saw a gorgeous waterfall on the way
We got to do more here than just see the coffee production process. They had cacao trees growing and we got to try cacao fruit! I had never tried the fruit before, and absolutely loved it. It smelled faintly of chocolate, but the taste is super sweet. It reminded me of lychee fruit. We also got to use an old school machine to extract sugar cane juice from sugar cane, and added some spirits to it for a nice cool drink on a warm day. We also got to do a quick hike to an overlook near the coffee cooperative and got some truly incredible views.
Seeing coffee plants grow
Popping it open to find the coffee bean
Drying and husking
Coffee roasting process
Freshly squeezed sugar cane juice
Cacao trees
Our awesome group
So peaceful
Views from the overlook
The first of many delicious “gallo pinto” dishes. This dish had fish, plantain, rice & beans, and a potato salad.
Ended the meal with a delicious cup of fresh coffee. I ended up buying a bag to bring home because I loved it so much!
After the coffee cooperative, we continued to La Fortuna and booked our excursions for the next day before setting into our hotel. While booking my excursion, I got to try a drink with Guanabana which we call Soursop in Guyana. It was so refreshing in the heat.
View from our room at the Hotel Monte Real
After settling into our hotel in La Fortuna, we got ready to visit a local home to learn how to make tortillas. We went to the lovely home of Dona Mara. Our hosts were so welcoming and friendly. I didn’t get any pictures because we were busy getting our hands dirty but it was an incredible experience. We made homemade tortillas from scratch from grinding the corn, mixing the dough into balls, flattening them into circles to cooking them on a wood-burning stove. It reminded me of making Guyanese-style roti. I was so proud that mine came out perfectly round. (Thanks for teaching me to make roti Ma!) After we made our tortillas, we had a traditional Costa Rican meal, “casado”, prepared by Dona Mara- including, rice, chicken, black beans, plantain, and more. You could taste that it was a home cooked meal and it was truly delicious. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the next day’s adventures in La Fortuna!