I could have woken up early again to bird, but I really needed the sleep. After breakfast, we began our trek to Cartago to meet with the Director of the Department of Social Sciences. Along the way, we drove through Zarcero, a quaint town with a notable main square that is famous for its topiary and home to a successful organic cooperative. The area is dominated by dairy farms, which matches the topographical similarity to the Swiss country-side. Step hillsides make farming difficult, but the plentiful rainfall guarantees high quality forage for livestock.
Moving east from Zarcero, we descended into the Central Valley, which cradles the main cities of Costa Rica: San Jose (the capital), Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago (the former capital). As the temperatures rise, the agriculture switches to coffee and sugar cane. Cartago is a sleepy college town 25km east of San Jose famous for its two churches, Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles and Santiago Apostal. The former is a major pilgrimage site, while the latter are ruins of church destroyed in 1910 by a major earthquake. Both have impressively complex back-stories.
Arriving at 1pm, I got settled in my hotel, Casa Mora, just a block from Nuestra Senora. The building has a lovely interior emphasizing wood craftsmanship. We then headed around the corner for lunch, before driving to ITCR for our meeting.
Again, this was conducted in Spanish. Thank god for Eugenio, though I was significantly better than with Don Juan. The meeting was very productive and I left very encouraged. Among many things we discussed, was the possibility of a capstone project where each team had students from both universities. What an amazing learning experience to work on a project in a foreign country collaborating with locals! I am very excited to see if we can actually pull this off.
After the meeting, Eugenio drove me back to the hotel and we parted ways. He is such an amazing asset for the Soltis Center and Texas A&M. My inchoate ideas would have withered without his assistance, but I think we are on the verge of creating a unique learning experience for the students in my department.
Despite sleeping in, I didn't actually sleep well, so I threw myself into bed for a long nap. I woke up after the sun had set and contemplated just staying under the covers, but thought I should walk around Cartago at night to get a feel for the place. My feel was decided boring. I ate a pizza at Ostero's, a neat joint a few blocks down from Nueva Senora with TV's playing Hollywood movies. Otherwise, the place was quiet. It might not be where I would want to spend a lot of time, but it looked like a town that would minimize the trouble our students could find.
Showing posts with label ITCR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ITCR. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21
I had a long day ahead of me, starting with breakfast at 6:30am. I was out of bed by 5:30 so that I could walk some of the trails at the Center before taking a shower. Only a few hundred meters down the first trail, as I was coming around a corner, a large crested black bird was crossing the path: a male Great Currasow. Soon after, his partner followed. In less than 24 hours, I had seen both a guan and a currasow, two groups of birds (both in family Cracidae) that had alluded me in Latin America.
Our first stop of the day was at the ITCR branch campus to discuss my ideas for the program with an agronomy professor. This was the first time I was able to meet Alberth, Eugenio's assistant and a crack birder. While Eugenio spoke with an acquaintance, Alberth was describing some of the aspects of campus, including a crocodile farm where Boat-billed Heron were nesting just across the road. This has been an annoying blank on my life list, but the tress were full of them in easy view.
Our meeting lasted almost two hours, conducted nearly entirely in Spanish. It must have been the excitement of the curassow, but I think I performed quite well and understood nearly everything that was said. While many things were discussed, I think the most important idea we developed was a capstone project as part of the program. After students learn some economic theory from me and learn about successful operations while in the field, we thought it would be great for them to then meet a group of producers looking to solve a business problem. Based on what they have learned over the program, they then work in teams to propose a solution. Basically, a practicum to finish off the project. I really think this idea has great potential.
After lunch, Eugenio and I headed to Finca Educativa Don Juan. I clearly broke my brain during the last meeting because suddenly I could not finish a sentence in Spanish. Somehow, I could suddenly understand the German being spoken at another table. Go figure. Although I failed miserably in communicating, the stop was well worth it. On two acres, they organically grow enough food to feed nearly 40 people per day! Even the cow manure that is produced during milking is placed in a digester to generate methane that is then used to heat the serving trays.
The economics are surprisingly simple. Don Juan produces basic crops (cassava, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) that do not generate particularly high premia for being organic. Instead, he makes his operation profitable through market power. Instead of bringing his goods to the consumer, the consumers come to his goods. And no one sees a deformed organic tomato on the shelf. Instead, they taste delicious fresh tomatoes that have been chopped and added to a salad.
Visitors have the option of showing up in the morning, working on the farm, harvesting fruits and vegetables, milking cows and then at lunch, the staff prepares food using the ingredients they have collected. A significant contemporary problem is that too many people think that food magically appears in the supermarket. The experience of actually working to produce a meal from it basic starting point I think would be a tremendous educational experience and something like this should definitely be included in the program.
We returned to the Center around 3:30, leaving about an hour to rest and an hour to bird before dinner. I was having a terrible time locating birds and really thought my time on the trails was a giant waste. This was only exacerbated by the horrible light that exists in a dense forest setting. Only afterwards did I discover that I had actually done pretty well. The woodcreeper I spotted was actually a new find: Wedge-billed Woodcreeper. A hummingbird I was unable to identify in the field was also new: Violet-crowned Woodnympth. Finally, a pair of large woodpeckers turned out not to be Lineated. Instead, I had finally gotten Pale-billed Woodpecker. Of course, none of the pictures of these birds are particularly good. Indeed, they are quite bad. But, any picture counts.
And as I had hoped, with an amazingly productive day in terms of developing the program, I was also able to add 5 lifers in less than 2 hours of actual birding time squeezed in around meals.
Our first stop of the day was at the ITCR branch campus to discuss my ideas for the program with an agronomy professor. This was the first time I was able to meet Alberth, Eugenio's assistant and a crack birder. While Eugenio spoke with an acquaintance, Alberth was describing some of the aspects of campus, including a crocodile farm where Boat-billed Heron were nesting just across the road. This has been an annoying blank on my life list, but the tress were full of them in easy view.
 |
| Boat-billed Heron |
After lunch, Eugenio and I headed to Finca Educativa Don Juan. I clearly broke my brain during the last meeting because suddenly I could not finish a sentence in Spanish. Somehow, I could suddenly understand the German being spoken at another table. Go figure. Although I failed miserably in communicating, the stop was well worth it. On two acres, they organically grow enough food to feed nearly 40 people per day! Even the cow manure that is produced during milking is placed in a digester to generate methane that is then used to heat the serving trays.
The economics are surprisingly simple. Don Juan produces basic crops (cassava, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) that do not generate particularly high premia for being organic. Instead, he makes his operation profitable through market power. Instead of bringing his goods to the consumer, the consumers come to his goods. And no one sees a deformed organic tomato on the shelf. Instead, they taste delicious fresh tomatoes that have been chopped and added to a salad.
Visitors have the option of showing up in the morning, working on the farm, harvesting fruits and vegetables, milking cows and then at lunch, the staff prepares food using the ingredients they have collected. A significant contemporary problem is that too many people think that food magically appears in the supermarket. The experience of actually working to produce a meal from it basic starting point I think would be a tremendous educational experience and something like this should definitely be included in the program.
We returned to the Center around 3:30, leaving about an hour to rest and an hour to bird before dinner. I was having a terrible time locating birds and really thought my time on the trails was a giant waste. This was only exacerbated by the horrible light that exists in a dense forest setting. Only afterwards did I discover that I had actually done pretty well. The woodcreeper I spotted was actually a new find: Wedge-billed Woodcreeper. A hummingbird I was unable to identify in the field was also new: Violet-crowned Woodnympth. Finally, a pair of large woodpeckers turned out not to be Lineated. Instead, I had finally gotten Pale-billed Woodpecker. Of course, none of the pictures of these birds are particularly good. Indeed, they are quite bad. But, any picture counts.
And as I had hoped, with an amazingly productive day in terms of developing the program, I was also able to add 5 lifers in less than 2 hours of actual birding time squeezed in around meals.
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