Day 4 in Costa Rica. Local Farmer. 

We walked up the road to the local farmer Miguel. He showed us the local fruits and vegetables that he grows on his farm and how he harvests them. 

Pineapple, guava, mango, papaya, banana, Heart of Palm, avocado, bean trees. We tasted his fresh bananas off the tree. We sipped fresh coconut water out of a fresh coconut. We tasted the fresh heart of palm that Miguel hacked off. Miguel dug up a yuca to show us the potato like root. 

We met the local caiman that lives in the local swamp. Our guide Wayne scurried up a tree and dropped some fresh ice cream beans for us to taste. 

We hiked through the rain forest up to the top of the farm where Miguel’s wife cooked up some local snacks for us. Yuca pancakes with guacamole, fried yuca balls with rice and beans filling. Tacos. Horchata. Lemonade. Sweet rice dessert. 

Madeleine and I went down to the beach again for dip. Lauren came too. 

Reforestation Project. After lunch we walked back to the farm and did our Community Service project. Miguel donated space on his farm for the Reforestation Project. He will plant 10% of the trees grown on his local property. The project grows indigenous trees from seeds and plants them around the community. The trees prevent erosion by the beaches and rivers. The trees provide birds and animals new habitats to live. The trees create more oxygen for the planet. Our part was to build boxes in which the seeds cartons are stored. We cut wood. Nailed them together and painted them. The boxes will not only grow the seedlings into trees but also the boxes fit into trucks that can distribute the trees for planting. It was some hard work and then it started to rain. I was dripping from the sweatband the rain. I was mostly hammering the bottom slats of the boxes. Madeleine was mostly painting the boxes. A few hours of that and we were pooped out. We walked back to the hotel and it really started pouring rain. We had dinner and then went to bed early.