For our final weekend excursion in Costa Rica, we decided to stay a bit closer to home and get to know the other side of the General River valley, the side that goes up towards Cerro Chirrpó. Chirripó is the tallest mountain in Costa Rica at nearly 12,500 feet! At its foot is the small town of San Gerardo de Rivas, which is a central spot for agriculture, ecotourism, and Chirripó-bound mountaineers.
On Friday, we visited the local hot springs with Sarah’s host brother Steven. There were two different temperature pools (both quite warm) and very clear water.
Our Saturday adventure started with a tour of a family-operated cheese farm called Quesos Canaán. Wilbert was the name of the man who gave us the tour and workshop. First, he taught us a bit about the history of the farm and its recent movement towards sustainable practices. For instance, the manure from the dairy cows is turned into vermicompost with the help of thousands of worms. It also provides a methane gas system that provides power for their home.
We also each had a turn milking Panchita, one of their younger dairy cows.
On our way back to the cheesery, Wilbert stopped to show us a rock believe to be left on their property by the Chirriquí Indians. He pointed out a number of remarkable engravings in the rock – a dinosaur, a seahorse, and a woman’s face, among others.
When we got back inside, we began the extensive process of preparing Swiss cheese. Uniformed in jackets and hair nets, we were put to work stirring and separating the curds and whey while Wilbert continued with his stories. At the end we put the new cheese in molds and toured the family cheese cellar, sampling wheels of different sizes. The cheese was delicious!
After hiking into town for lunch, we checked out the Secret Gardens nearby for an afternoon stroll and reflection activity. The tranquility of the gardens made for the proper environment to think a bit deeper about our development over the course of the program and reassess our goals for the last two weeks in San Antonio.
Our home on Saturday night was Casa Mariposa, almost right at the entrance to Chirripo National Park. We made friends with some of the other guests there, played games and music, and cooked a coconut curry dinner.
In the morning, we walked over the Cloudbridge Nature Reserve, a gorgeous reforestation project and nature center located high up in the cloud forest. We wandered along the waterfall trail, which granted us views of three different cascades of the river Chirripo Pacífico.
The group headed back to San Antonio in the early afternoon to catch Brenda’s (Mariah’s host sister’s) third birthday party. Two weeks from today we’ll be saying goodbye to our friends and family in San Antonio….it’s still hard to wrap our heads around and there’s a lot of time to be enjoyed between now and then!
Pura vida,
Alison, Mariah, Sarah, and Jonah
