I just pounded a very large ice cream sundae and it's late so my brain
is a little mushy, but I'll try and knock this out before going to bed.
Started the morning off at la FEIMA (Finca Experimental Interdisciplinaria de Modelos Agroecológicos). "Finca" is farm, so I was expecting to roll up to a large...farm...with chickens, and cows, and pigs, and other farm things. We did see cows--bulls, rather--but as this is an "experimental farm", it didn't resemble a 'typical farm' in the slightest. The first thing on our agenda was a tour of the sugar cane processing plant---an open air plant that is responsible for...processing sugar cane...into refined sugar. Our host for the day, Saul, greeted us in the morning with his HUGE machete--it was awesome. He turned us over to the head of the processing plant, who, after fitting us all with hard hats, led the way into the plant. I LOVE raw sugar cane, so I was really excited about being surrounded by it.
The tour itself was mostly pretty cool--we got to see what happens to sugar cane when it is harvested, from start to
finish. With that being
said, there were a few aspects of the tour that made it a little less
awesome. First, it is LOUD--machines are constantly grinding, the floors
are shaking, steam is pouring out of every possible hole in the
wall--it's just a tough environment. I probably missed 85% of the
explanation of the refining process because our guide, who was very soft
spoken, was constantly overpowered by the surrounding machinery.
Secondly, the SMELL was something like syrup mixed with garbage--it was
thick, sweet, and wet, and there was no way to avoid it--you couldn't
breathe through your mouth for fear of swallowing whatever hot nasty
smell was floating around in the air. Third, it was DANGEROUS. The best
way I can describe this set up is that it looked like what should be a
set for the next James Bond and/or Jason Bourne movie. Tons of sharp
rotating knives, rickety platforms, sudden drop offs, gears and cogs all
over the place--at one point on the tour, I had to be physically pushed
out of the way before I ran into a steaming rotary. Granted, I am both
clumsy and unobservant, but I was a little more cautious after that...
After the tour ended, we had a chance to eat some raw sugar cane. That stuff is hard to come by in the US, so when two girls said they didn't like it, I was more than happy to take them off their hands. 3 pieces of cane later, I was AMPED up on some sugar and ready to hiking through the rainforest.
Saul told us that we had to go find un toro que falta (a
missing bull). We each took our Gandalf-esque walking sticks and
started on our trek through the rainforest in search of the bull. While
the experience was breathtaking, my pictures during this portion of the
day are unfortunately not because everything in the rainforest moves
really freakin' fast! I could not take a good picture to save my life.
We saw oropendolas, a toucan, a rubber tree whose sap is used in glue, banana trees, an
anaconda (not really, just checking to see if you're paying attention),
and a bunch of beautiful trees and flowers.
Eventually, we found "the
bull", which was basically a crude mechanical bull that the guides had
erected out of a barrel and some ropes for the students to ride. It was
pretty funny.
The last activity of the day was a PE class on campus. I think this might have been added to the itinerary because the coordinators knew that I worked in the FSU Recreation Department, so I thought that was pretty thoughtful that they incorporated one of my interests into the schedule. The class was super fun. The activity was planned by the students in the course who were seeking a degree in Physical Education. It was kind a mix of a challenge course with physical activities. We were given a map and twelve markers to find on campus. At each marker, we had to complete some sort of physical task. The highlights were dizzy bat, tug of war, and a water balloon relay.
I'd been battling a hip injury before I left for Costa Rica, and I jacked it up big time during tug of war and was sidelined for the last few activities. As a result of today's incident, I'm officially on the DL. No squats, burpees, any sort of jumping, and definitely not the Wobble. Speaking of dances, the UCR students taught the FSU students a bunch of Latin dances after the end of the class, including the cha cha, salsa, and a few others whose names I don't remember. Capped off the evening with a group dinner at the hotel and ice cream with a few of the UCR students. All in all, pretty solid day minus the hip thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment