Semana Santa Vacation

Semana Santa (Holy Week, Saint's Week) is a holiday throughout much of Latin America which is celebrated the week leading up to Easter. Everyone gets the week off, heads to the beach, and the bars close for two nights.

For the vacation I went to playa Santa Teresa, near Mal Pais, with Lauren, Luke, Paolo, Orlando, Bob, Pilla, and Riley. We camped on beach-front property owned by the family of an EARTH student. About 2.5 kilometers outside of town, our spot was very chill, but just close enough to the grocery store. Spent the time relaxing, cooking spaghetti (with extra chile by popular demand), catching some sick waves ("olas enfermas"), and, with help from Luke, introduced new frases to the Spanish language. Went to a party on the beach and danced to trance music around a fire that was easily 15' tall as hermit crabs scurried away from moving feet. Got taken as locals by visiting gringos while chillin outside the grocery store with Luke. Spent the last night in a local bar trying to kill time while waiting for our 4:30am bus (which was full, meaning we had to wait 2 hours for the next ride). Listened to Ranchero music, made cowboy noises, played pool, and ended up sleeping on the pavement outside the bus stop. Had freshly fallen mangos for breakfast and made up a ridiculous rap song on the ferry to Puntarenas. The Ticos thought we were nuts by the end of the weekend. They were probably on to something.

Check out Lauren's pictures.

Puerto Límon

Some friends from the 4° year invited me to their class field trip to Puerto Límon (the port in the city of the same name). First we tried going to Puerto Moín where we had initially arranged a visit, but for security reasons we weren't allowed in; funny that they thought a bus full of agriculture students was so suspicious. When we got to Puerto Límon, we were given a talk and a tour despite our visit being unarranged. After visiting the port, we stop at the grocery store to pick up some Imperial then headed to the beach to catch some sun and cool off in the waves.

As the Corn Grows...

Almost ready to harvest my parcel of corn.

Here, insects are collecting pollen for their hives. This is of no help to the wind-pollinated corn. Perhaps the wasps and bees reduce the presence of other, more harmful pests? Either way, the corn is producing.

Some stigmas happy to have met the pollen of another lucky plant:

As Edlin works her parcel of Frijol (beans) in the foreground, check out my Maíz in the background. Notice the gradation of growth, which is due to the multiple levels of fertilizer I have used as part of my experiment.