Costa Rica - The Farm, Part 2

The day I had in Angostura to help on the farm began bright and early at 4:30 am. And yes, it came with the whole shebang – rooster and all. We had some breakfast to prep us for the day and then crammed the seven of us into an old, two-door Land Rover and went to just one of the five farms they take care of.


The farm itself is a short drive from the house in the small town of Angostura. The dirt, sometimes muddy and pothole stricken road winds down the side of the hill Angostura sits atop of, into the valley and then over a river. Once we arrived, we got busy right away – well, busy trying to figure out how 5 completely clueless city people could possibly help on a farm in the middle of Costa Rica.

We started by trying our hand at milking a cow. None of us was very successful at all. In fact, the only thing we were successful at was making it nervous enough that it wouldn’t let anyone milk it – even the seasoned veterans.

(photo by Brian Knopp)

Left with an empty milk container, we then walked down one of the small roads that had been overtaken by a stream turned river to get their two horses grazing in one of the hilly fields.

After getting acquainted, we walked them further down the road to feed the cattle. Even with our rubber boots on, we watched as Kelci and Michael worked through their well-practiced routine of feeding the cattle – dry feed with drizzled molasses on top for extra yumminess.

From the very muddy cattle feeding area, we walked past the sugar cane fields to the shelter where they crush the sugarcane into a thick liquid substance (excuse the lack of technical terms here). This sugar product can then be used for a huge variety of things – such as the aguadulce I had with breakfast earlier in the day. Aguadulce, or “sugarwater,” is a drink of hot water mixed with this sugar substance. Very popular in Costa Rica because Ticos and Ticas love sugar and because, well, it’s VERY delicious!

(photo by Sara Pauk, I think...)

Once we got back to the farm, it was time to get down to business or get UP to the very top of the hills surrounding the farm to plant 500 coffee plants. It turns out this particular area we would be planting in can only be reached by foot or by horse. We loaded up both horses with large bundles of coffee plants on their backs and took off to plant!

Fortunately enough for us, there were countless numbers of fruit-bearing trees along the way – oranges, mangoes, avocadoes, soursop, fruit from a cocoa plant, plantains, and bananas. So not only was it an educational hike but a delicious one as well!

Once we wove our way to the top through the maze of trees, brush and other coffee plants we got started. Small holes had already been dug where we would sprinkle in some fertilizer and then drop in a small coffee plant. Each plant was about a foot tall and the roots hanging down nearly doubled that. Then we would go back and pack the holes with dirt. Around the middle of filling these 500 holes, I remember thinking “Oh, it must be about 1:00 which would make it time to head back to go into town.” Ooooh no… The hands of time are cruel sometimes – only 10:00 AM. Amongst all of this strenuous coffee tree planting we did; however, get to watch a very exhausting chase across the coffee fields which lead to the below happenings…

(Photo by Sara Pauk)

After a good portion of the work was completed, we headed back to the farm house for some amazing Costa Rican food for lunch. And then Tanya and I departed for a horseback ride up one of the other surrounding hills. Bella and Quitano (Spanish for gypsy), surely exhausted from two trips of coffee plants took us for a short ride around the area to get a better look at the incredible views. And the word “incredible” really does it no justice at all, nor do the pictures. But I’ll give it a shot anyway…

Having returned from our ride, I un-saddled Bella (for the first time) with help from Michael’s nephew, Memito, who spoke no English. Due to our practicing along the ride, my very terrible Spanish was up to par JUST ENOUGH to barely understand the directions of un-saddling a horse. After what seemed like a very long day on the farm for us and a short day for Kelci and Michael, we departed the farm to head back to the house so I could begin my journey back home.

I have so much appreciation for those who work on farms. It’s very hard work and it’s definitely a job that doesn’t allow for breaks very easily. It was such an incredible experience to see a “day in the life” and I really do treasure every drop of sweat that day (and that’s A LOT!!!).