Day 2 - MVHS Chamber Singers Costa Rica

Quote of the day: “Muy bien amigas, amigos”

Today we went on a tour of a Costa Rican coffee farm, saw a butterfly garden, ate a traditional Costa Rican dinner, and performed at a Catholic church in San Jose.

We had breakfast at the hotel; some of the favorites were rice and beans, chicken, pineapple, and other tropical fruit. After breakfast we drove a little over a hour in our bus to the Doka coffee farm. Along the way our tour guide, Cristian, taught us about the area and its history. One fact we learned was that Costa Rica has a population of five million people, three million of which live in the central valley area (where we are now). As we drove, we were able to see a lot of the surrounding mountains which made for a beautiful view.

Upon arriving at the Doka estate we were given free samples of cold coffee with chocolate and cinnamon that were very good. We then took a tour of the farm in a cart pulled by tractor and learned about the process of coffee production from picking the beans to roasting them. Though Doka is not organic due to using fungicides to prevent a disease that affects the coffee plants (now necessary in the highlands due to hotter temperatures), it uses composted fertilizer and keeps pests away using a method involving fruit trees.

After the coffee tour we had a buffet lunch before going to the butterfly garden. At the butterfly garden we were able to walk around and see some beautiful blue butterflies. We then took the bus back to the hotel and had an hour and a half to do what we wanted before leaving for dinner and our performance. We had dinner at a traditional Costa Rican restaurant and had fun experiences with animals there including a cat, a peacock, and a parrot.

Before leaving for our performance, we sang for those working at the restaurant to thank them for our meal. They kindly gave us a peacock feather to take home! We then performed at the Catholic church which was celebrating the coming together of communities. The performance went well and we drove back to the hotel afterwards for our last night before traveling to Arenal. Overall, we really enjoyed our day and it it was incredible to be able to see an area that is so different from Maine and is so beautiful.

- Nnenaya Bloomstein & Lydia Schofield