Center for academic excellence, technical cooperation and research. It has
dedicated its efforts to improve the standard of living of rural families in the American tropics, while embracing a holistic vision of human activity and its environment. Today, CATIE has become a leading regional center that is both dynamic and committed to rural development. These qualities have allowed it to expand its geographic scope and have earned it regional and international recognition.
Yesterday on a beautiful hot day, Berto didn't have class (and Juan and Tammy worked) so he was my tour guide. I packed ham sandwiches and some kool-aid and we got to borrow Tammy's nice camera. When Berto showed up at the house, Doña, Tammy, and pretty much everyone else said, "Oh! Did you call each other this morning to decide what you were going to wear?" You'll see in pictures...
We walked about 30 minutes to get to the CATIE. There are botanical gardens, a lake, and a park. The walk alone provided many beautiful sights...bright colored flowers, mountains, different kinds of trees and wildlife.
Eating my sandwich...
You can almost hear how peaceful it is...
Wheeeere's the bird?
Chasing a bird...haha
Main building at the CATIE
Lovely tree!
I was walking around a tree through a cob web when I thought I'd rather not break through this one. So I walked around the tree to the other side and almost walked into....THIS. In MN no big deal, I walk through cob webs all the time, but do you see THIS! on them? It was probably as big as both of my hands put together. Ok, I may have screamed and ran away a little.
This plant I am holding is coming off of one stem. Huge! As big as my upper body. I also thought it looked like hair.
Another type of flower. Looks like a honey comb maybe? I believe they are called maracas. They look like those too.
< Same outfit. Documented.
This decoration on the fridge says "God bless my home".
After the walk back, we walked to Berto's house because his mom was making us spaghetti! He asked if I like spaghetti. And I said of course, I'm Italian. This spaghetti though, delicious, made with tomato sauce, smoked tuna, cilantro, mushrooms (?), and queso fresco.
Below, are Berto's mom (Jenny bc it was easiest), dad (Sergio), and grandma. His mom teaches little kids at the church and his dad used to work in the big building at the CATIE as an accountant.
In this picture we are having coffee, which is traditionally offered when you have guests over. Before you even offer water or food you offer coffee. So we also were treated to Pejiballe, a small fruit very dry and strong in flavor. Smaller than my palm. It is bright yellow on the inside. We ate it with either sour cream (natilla) or cream cheese (queso crema). It's really good for you because it has a lot of fiber. And we also had cornbread, bread with either cheese, pineapple marmalade, and biscotela (a kind of cookie). They also cut up some of their sugar cane for me to chew on and try the juice! I was spoiled.
Below, a picture of Berto's parents singing me a song that they used to sing for Berto and his sister when they were younger, it's called Los Pollitos, little baby chicks. I will include a page on the side of my blog for the lyrics and song to Los Pollitos. They printed me a copy of the lyrics, and I think I will use it one day in my classroom!
<Pejiballes
Here is a nighttime view of Turrialba. We drove only about halfway up the hill to see this. Much darker than what I'm used to in the States. There is a lot of empty dark spaces that light doesn't reach, making it seem like some areas are just little candles flickering. The stars were so plentiful some parts of the sky almost looked white.
Cool. We saw some of those same flowers in Hawaii.
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