Mission ‘Casi’ (almost) Impossible and a million Rodriguez'

March 5, 2007
Today let the real excitement begin! I have officially started my project today! ...except have I? Friday I was able to escape (reality) to the internet café for a couple of hours, and then Sunday was the bustle of the Organic ‘Feria’ or market at my host family’s house. Whereas I thought a bunch of farmers came to peddle their wares, it was only my host family. But they sold a lot let me tell you! Radishes, turnips, tomatoes, cilantro, lettuce, berries (from someone else’s bushes), “matas” (flowers in the pot), compost, horseback rides, music, and a kitchen simply bubbling over with delicious smells of gallo pinto, casados, tacos, arroz con pollo, empanadas, and much more. Everyone was really tired by the end of the day, and after watching Los Picapiedras (the Flintstones in Spanish) with my host mother I hit the sack.

This morning I walked to the coffee field that I thought belonged to one farmer, but it turns out as I followed the road that weaves thru the coffee, the one field is actually three fields belonging to three farmers. I ended up at someone’s house, and asked the man for some direction. He pointed me one way, taking me thru one of his fields to get to the one that I was looking for, which turned out to be a different field that I was also using, but not the original one I was looking for. I explained my project to the man, and explained that I was staying with Eliécer Rodriguez and his eyes flashed with sudden recognition and he said oh, that’s my cousin. I told him that if he wanted I could do my project on his farm as well since he had a great diversity of trees and such, and he agreed that that would be fine. I thanked the man and now in the next field, tried to fight my way upward toward the sky, bushwhacking my way thru coffee plants as tall as and taller than myself, mumbling all along…. What IS this? It seemed to take ages to get back to the top, when on the road with a whole lot of dilly dallying and observing it took me like 15 minutes to get down. Coffee is thick and bushy. Note to self, take camera for tomorrow. But glancing down at my watch, I noted that it was only 9:15. Wait, like 15 minutes into class at CC? After eating breakfast at 6:15, 9AM seemed like a long way away, and time for lunch unfortunately! I looked behind me and noted that the slope at some points in this coffee field was somewhere around 80%. I took a deep breath and told myself that I just kept going up I would eventually get SOMEWHERE. As my head peaked over the horizon, I was met with ferocious barking of 2 small dogs and a locked pointy fence. Pretty much in someone’s locked yard. Lovely. So bungling my way back down into the coffee field I was able to escape thru a neighboring field who didn’t believe so religiously in the use of fences.

In fact that is the whole problem with the advancement of my project. There are no fences! There are lines of trees that supposedly divide the fields, but when you are underneath them (or you are an American and don’t know any better) it is almost impossible to tell which field is which. Luckily my advisor is coming this afternoon and she can help me figure out what I’m doing. Times like these (except for the current torrential wind) make me wish I was a hang glider and I could get a bird’s eye view of this area. When I told my host mother about the situation, she said something to the effect of well why didn’t you ask the owner where the margins are? And I replied that I simply didn’t know the owner (after all I had seen no one besides the man that I talked to). My host mother seemed to be laughing at me, seeming like, silly girl you just ask somebody and they’ll tell you. Oye, what a headache. Hey look at the bright side! At least I’m doing something besides being sick!

Aqui is a flagging device that I rigged--also know as Costa Rica's weapon of mass destruction!!!