Peet's Especial Coffee from Costa Rica

Costa Rica is know for its premium coffee.  It is sometimes called the "Golden Bean."  Farmers can earn a living on a smaller plot of land growing coffee than other crops.  Costa Rica has historically had a lot more small family farms than other Latin American countries because of its coffee crops.

In earlier times, coffee farmers would load up their production in large burlap sacks, load the sacks into ox carts, and then travel several days to a Pacific port, such as Puntarenas, to sell their coffee for export.

Today's photo is an example of Costa Rican coffee marketed in the USA.

This week we are showing photos from Tanzania on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site, featuring photos of elephants and giraffes, including some teenage elephants fighting.

Rodeo grounds in Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa is a village about 5 miles (8 km) inland from Tamarindo.  It has what in the USA would be called a rodeo grounds.  There is an arena with a grand stand for viewers, and holding areas for cattle and horses.

Northwest Costa Rica, which is the province of Guanacaste, has a long and proud cattle ranching tradition.  Although tourism has replaced cattle and agriculture as the main industry, people still enjoy their rural traditions.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing some photos of Paris, featuring several of its museums.

Farm kitchen tea pot

This little scene from a farm kitchen is like a rural still life, although I do not know if it is proper to call something a still life if there is not anything alive in the photo or painting.

I guess that the wooden caddy is used like a trivet to place the teapot on to protect whatever is underneath.  This farm kitchen had only a small wood fire for cooking, so there would be no room to leave the teapot on the grill when other meals were being prepared..

This week we have photos of the ancient Khmer temples around Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia,  on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Little girl on the beach

This little girl seems to have found a sandy spot of the beach amidst a large area of volcanic rock that is exposed and forms tide pools at low tide, such as when this photo was taken, but is covered by the wavs breaking during high tide.

This week we are showing photos of Papua New Guinea on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  We returned about one week ago.  It was a wonderful mix of native cultures, South Pacific scenery, a total solar eclipse, a volcano erupting at night, and colorful coral reefs.

Power washing

I noticed this worker doing a power wash on the parking lot of some shops across the street from our Langosta condo.

This may be leaping to a conclusion, but I think power washing parking lots is a sign that Costa Rica is advancing beyond what people would consider to be a typical developing country.  I have travelled in a lot in what people consider to be the "third world."  I don't think I have seen other people in developing countries power washing a parking lot.

This week we are showing photos of the ancient Khmer temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, beginning with one of my favorite photos, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Cowboys driving cattle through town

This photo shows the cowboys who were ushering the cattle through town. I don't know what the official rules are, but I am sure that as a practical matter the cattle have the right of way.

This week we are showing photos of the ancient Khmer temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, beginning with one of my favorite photos, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Cattle drive through the village

It is not unusual to see a cattle drive right through town in Costa Rican villages.  Northwest Costa Rica, which is Guanacaste province, has cattle ranches dating back to Spanish colonial land grant days.

Ranchers often live in villages and take their cattle out to pasture in the morning and bring them back in the evening.

The man in this photo is not the rancher.  He is a villager who was riding a bicycle faster than the cattle were walking down the street.

This week we are showing photos of the ancient Khmer temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, beginning with one of my favorite photos, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Typical Costa Rican Village Scene

This is a typical Sunday afternoon scene in a typical rural Costa Rican village.  There are children who have ridden their bicycles down to the corner convenience store.  They are looking down towards the football (soccer) field in the town square.

This village is about a half hour east or inland from Tamarindo.  Tomorrow I will show a photo of something that happens in small towns in our area that is a scene that I doubt that many people in North Amreica or Europe see.

This week we are showing photos of the ancient Khmer temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, beginning with one of my favorite photos, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Commuter bus

This photo shows workers heading for a commuter bus that travels between Tamarindo and Santa Cruz, which is the nearest large town, about 30 minutes away.

The houses and other photos that I have been showing during the last couple of weeks are typical of the scenes along the unpaved road that is the most direct route between Tamarindo and Santa Cruz.  I think it is excellent that they have frequent, comfortable bus service from the nearest major town, with stops in the rural villages along the way.

People want and need jobs in the tourism sector of the economy, and hotels, restaurants and shops need workers.  Like many tourist resort areas, the prices of condos and houses in Tamarindo are too expensive for local service workers. The buses are a good solution.

This week we have photos of Bhutan, featuring Buddhist festivals, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.
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Car passing bicyclists

After the boys rode their bicycle past me, a car drove past, and carefully moved towards the center of the road to give room to the boys on the bicycle.  The driver of the car presumably is considerate for bicyclists, as the car was carrying a bicycle as well.

I have never ridden a bicycle in Costa Rica, but I am very cautious when riding a bicycle near our home in Scottsdale, Arizona, as people driving cars at times do not notice bicyclists.  At least on country roads in Costa Rica the bicyclists are more visible because there is less traffic.

We have photos of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Children enjoying their bike ride

The two boys in yesterday's photo broke out into a big smile as they rode their bicycle past me.  I took another photo.  I apologize for the substandard quality of this photo, but I loved their expression of the joy of youth so much I posted this photo anyway.

I take all of my photos setting the camera's exposure manually, except for when I am taking quick photos of animals.  When these boys rode their bike past me, I did not have time to change the camera's setting and I overexposed the photo.  I salvaged it in iPhoto, but adjusting the exposure on the computer degraded the quality of the image.

We have photos of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Kids riding a biclycle

I mentioned yesterday that I do not drive fast in Costa Rica.  This photo shows why.  There are children playing or riding bicycles, dogs, and pedestrians using the country roads.

Small size SUVs are popular vehicles because of their higher clearance than sedans for use on unpaved roads.

We have photos of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Village soccer

The boys in this photo were playing football (soccer) in a field in a small, rural village, using a homemade, makeshift goal.  Most villages and small towns in Costa Rica have a soccer field in the middle of town.

In contrast to these humble surroundings, in the capitol of San Jose, the only big city in Costa Rica, there is a new national football stadium.  It was built by the Chinese and was finished about a year or so ago.  It is also the site of major international concerts.

This week we are showing photos of the animals and people of Tanzania on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Machete

In my photo of the cowboy a few days ago I mentioned his machete, which is very typical of those who work the land in Costa Rica.  Here is a close photo of the weathered, heavily used sheath of a machete.  This was not the cowboy's machete, but was around the belt of Pablo, the gardener for our Langosta condo.  

I have shown Pablo in the past, and he took us to visit the ranch that I showed extensively on this site a few months ago.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos of Egypt, including some of the people, the tourist police, and some of the experiences of a tour of this magnificent, ancient country.

Cleaning the bus

Yesterday several people left comments about how the bus bringing workers to Tamarindo was clean, and someone commented about the dust stirred up behind the bus. I therefore thought I would post this photo today that shows how the buses stay clean. Here is a bus driver cleaning the bus in Langosta before making the return trip to Liberia.

I took this photo several years ago but never posted it because I thought it was not really of much interest, but after yesterday's comments about the buses, I decided to post it. Liberia is the main city in in Northwest Costa Rica. It has a population of about 45,000, and an international airport with about 50 non-stop flights to the USA each week. These buses are for workers, rather than tourists, as most tourists take van service to the airport.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing a few more photos of Julie's recent trip to Nova Scotia, including a quaint country church and lobsters.

Bus bringing workers to Tamarindo

This is a photo of one of the buses that bring workers from Santa Cruz to Tamarindo for jobs at the condos, restaurants and hotels in our area. When I showed my recent series of photos from the ranch, I mentioned that buses regularly travel down the rural unpaved road that runs by the ranch because most workers in Tamarindo live in the surrounding area and take the public buses to work.

Condos and houses in resort areas such as Tamarindo are built and priced to sell to people from the USA and Canada, and are too expensive for most local workers. This is common in many resort areas, including those in the USA, but the problem is amplified in areas of the developing world when the resort housing market caters for foreigners.

I think it is wonderful that there is good bus service for workers, even in a rural area such as the part of Costa Rica where Tamarindo. It enables people in a wider area to share int he benefits for the local economy from the tourist industry. This bus is on the road at the entrance to the Langosta section of Tamarindo.

We have photos of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week. It is an amazing, colorful, barren landscape.

Horses, corral and ranch house

This is a nice view of two of the ranch horses in the corral, with the ranch house in the background. You can see the porch that I showed in photos earlier in this series.

This ranch had a couple of tractors parked under a roof. I did not think until after we left that we took photos of the horses, cows and other animals, but neglected to take any photos of the tractors. Sorry, but I much prefer animals to machines.

We have photos of the Villa Balbianello on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. Iy is a delightful Villa that straddles the tip of a peninsula in Lake Como, Italy.

Coming in from the pasture

It is near the end of the afternoon, so I guess it is time to gather some of the animals from the pasture and herd them into the corral, as this rancher is doing.

This week we have photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Theme Day: Fences

Today's world-wide Dailly Photo Theme is "fences." I am posting this photo of a rancher fixing his fence as a tribute to all of the people who have built and maintained fences. It can be hard work that the rest of us take for granted.

I liked the expression on his face. Ticos, as Costa Ricans are called, are friendly by nature. Costa Rica has recently been rated as the happiest country on earth.

Ticos are courteous and helpful to tourists. Everyone knows that tourism is the number one industry in the country and very important to the economy and standard of living.

This week we have photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

To see how other City Daily Photo bloggers have interpreted the theme of "fences," Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Kitchen metate

There is a metate in use in this ranch kitchen. Metates, of course, are the traditional method of grinding grain into flour, dating to pre-Columbian time. Costa Rican metates can differ from Mexican metates because often they do not have a rim on the edges.

Despite the facts that the indigenous people of Costa Rica were nearly wiped out in Spanish colonial times, and Costa Rica is the most prosperous country in Central America, with literacy and health care comparable to the USA, and with an average income triple that of Nicaragua, our northern neighbor, this ranch family makes bread using some of the same methods that have been used for 1,000 or more years. I love these traditions.

This week we have photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.