February 21–27, 2007, Number 135
(Left, top) Hundreds of people on horses filled the streets in this parade in celebration of Carnival. (Bottom) There are many clubs like this one built on the beach for Carnival.
Carnival and Cafe Britt
Hola! I have so many exciting things to write about this week! A huge celebration called Carnival is being held in Puntarenas right now. Also, I visited a coffee plantation and had a great time.
Carnival is a ten-day celebration that precedes Ash Wednesday. Some of the events that occur include fireworks, dancing, horse parades, concerts, karaoke, and lots of celebrating. My house is located on the main street in Puntarenas so I have a great view of all the parades from my balcony. During one parade, hundreds of people on horses strolled up and down the street for hours. During another parade, a group of talented, local girls, accompanied by a band, danced all around. Many people come to Puntarenas for this celebration. The streets are packed with people, making it very difficult to walk around. Since there aren’t enough hotels to accommodate everyone, a lot of people camp out on the beach. All different sorts of vendors come to the area selling many different things. Markets are set up with handcrafted goods from Nicaragua. There is also an abundance of food options including local treats, cotton candy, Pizza Hut, and much more. Three-story-high dance clubs are even built right on the beach. It is really amazing how much time and effort is put into this celebration.
This picture is of me shopping at the Cafe Britt gift shop. I really enjoyed sampling all the coffee and chocolates!
I recently visited the Cafe Britt coffee plantation in Heredia, Costa Rica. Heredia is located about two hours away from Puntarenas. According to the local people, Britt is the best coffee produced in Costa Rica. Since Costa Rican coffee, in general, is so good, I knew that Britt would be amazing. It was so interesting to see the coffee making process. I learned that a tremendous amount of work goes in to producing coffee. I even got the opportunity to see a shade-grown organic coffee field. In these fields, no artificial fertilizers are used and the coffee is grown alongside banana, mango, and lime trees. Since Costa Rica cannot compete volume-wise with places like Brazil, Costa Rica coffee is more focused on quality rather than quantity. After the tour was done, we were taken to the gift shop where we were able to sample the different types of coffee and candies, like chocolate covered espresso beans. It was all so delicious but I think I ate too many chocolate covered espresso beans because I had a stomachache for the remainder of the day. The Cafe Britt factory is the cheapest place to purchase the coffee so I bought 10 bags! Now my only problem is that I have to figure out how to get all that coffee home.
I am really looking forward to this weekend. I am traveling with a group of students to an active volcano called Arenal. I am very excited, from what I’ve heard it is really amazing. Take care.
- Until next time,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885