San Jose to Earthwatch Expedition in Los Santos: Part 1

After finding our way back to the hotel with lovely local produce to snack on for lunch, we spotted a young man in an Earthwatch t-shirt and introduced ourselves.  The man turned out to be Dustin, a member of our team who teaches Environmental Science at a charter high school in East LA.  We then met the rest of our team, a grad student at UC-Berklee studying landscape architecture (actually an interesting field of research here at Tarrazu, the coffee coop,) and Michelle from Phoenix, who works with infectious diseases.  Everyone was interesting, friendly and excited.   I wasn’t sure what kind of people, besides those of us who are going for free, would sign up for this expedition.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Next, we found our team leader, Sebastian, who is from Costa Rica but currently getting his PhD from the University of Vermont!  Small world, right?  He is doing research here at Tarrazu and has been for quite a while.  We could see that he was incredibly knowledgeable about just about everything, and passionate about what he does.  We learned that we would be helping him with his research.  At this point, I got really excited because we wouldn't just be following someone around; we would actually be working, learning and doing research, which is what we came here to do.

The drive to San Marcos was so beautiful that I almost (and I do mean almost) forgot to be nervous as our Range Rover climbed higher and higher through narrow winding roads.  Sebastian was a careful driver though and we safely arrived at our unbelievably beautiful home for a week, Cecilia's Cabinas in Santa Maria.  After a short walk into town with our new found friends (and winning the coin toss to get the better room!) we settled in for a great plato tipico dinner of rice, beans and salad.  We discussed our schedule and settled yet another minor (actually major) coffee crisis when Sebastian informed us they would not be serving coffee in the morning!  What?  I gracefully handled the lack of wine, but no coffee?  Really?  We are in the middle, seriously the middle, of coffee land!  Just make a pot of coffee!  Or let me!  Luckily, as I type this morning, I am caffeine semi-satisfied after pouring a cup last night and drinking it luke warm this morning (This was Dr, C's idea, she is the how-not-to-go-without-caffeine genius.)  Hey- it did the trick...for now.  Off to do field work and hike the coffee farms, more on that later.