Friday July 22, 2016

     Today is our 20th wedding anniversary.  It's hard to believe I have been married to this wonderful person for two decades.  At the same time, I cannot remember not having her in my life.  Priorities have changed, children have entered our life, my career has undergone changes, but the feelings I have for my wife have not changed.  We both have grown and have established a relationship of mutual understanding and reliance upon each other to journey through this life together as true partners.  (Yes, this is a little sappy, but my parents had a bottle of wine waiting for us when we arrived back in San Jose, and I'm feeling the effects!)
     It was a long day of travel as we were driven from Quepos to Zarcero.  The winding mountain roads, the up and down nature, and the trucks resulted in a trip of 3-4 hours to only go maybe 100 miles.
     About halfway to Zarcero, we stopped at the crocodile bridge.  An area where the local wildlife management officials drop off crocs that get to close to the population, this river was choc full o' crocs.  Some of these reptiles were true monsters at least 14 feet long.  They congregated in an area where people threw food to them.  I must admit, it was a little nerve racking to imagine a person slipping and falling into the water in that area.

Crocs!!

    Local entrepreneurs had exploited the area with a souvenir shop and a shop selling fruit drinks.  We ordered a few smoothies.  Davis had passion fruit, Lawton had lemonade, and I had sour sop.  Sour sop is a fruit essentially used only for drinks.  It had the flavor of dairy - like butter or mild cheese - but in a sweet sense.  My first sip was almost unpleasant, but after a few sips, I grew to like the drink.  I would have drank the entire drink, but it was rather rich.  The boys managed to talk there mother into buying necklaces adorned with crocodile teeth.  I think Tiffany's is not worried about the competition.
     We arrived in Zarcero and walked the grounds of the church where our nuptials were preformed 20 years ago.  Although the church has been painted again (it is now grey and has been blue and pink during our prior visits), the interior of the church was essentially the same.  Beautiful.  The boys enjoyed seeing the topiaries, but the gravity of the place in which the stood escaped them.  It did not escape Tara and I who were caught kissing on the spot we exchanged vows.

Church In Zarcero

Topiaries

The Family in Zarcero

     We went around the corner and found a soda (a small restaurant) and ordered drinks and a plate of queso palmito.  This cheese which is made only in Zarcero, is a white bland cheese with a stringy texture.  The cheese is called palmito because it layers similar to hearts of palm.  Served with fresh tortillas, it was a nice snack.

Yummy Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate and Tortillas - Classic Combination

Lawton Reflecting on the Meaning of Life

Queso Palmito

     We then went to the Espiritu Santo Coffee Plantation.  This factory had a tour showing the entire process of coffee production.  Our guide Jose was wonderful with the children requiring them to answer questions in spanish.  He first showed the kids the plant and the fruit produced.  Davis then helped by planting a small plant by digging a hole in the volcanic soil.

Davis earning his lunch

Green Thumb

Juan Valdez "wanna be"

A job well done.

     Next we went to a small traditional home of the coffee workers where coffee was made for us.  Even the boys tried the coffee black.  It was definitely smooth coffee with a lot of flavor.

Traditional way of removing the skins.  Lawton provided the muscle power

Traditional brewing method

    Off to the fields where Davis was fitted with a basket and beans were collected.  Harvest isn't until December, but a few berries were reddening.  We brought the beans down to a processing area where the boys used a machine to remove the husk.  Then, we went into the main area where the boys helped empty a sack of beans into the conveyor.  They watched to roasting process and savored the aromas which were heavy in the factory.

A few ripe beans

Our version of migrant workers

New career if school falls through

Beans roasting - smells so good!! 

Modern machine for removing the husk

The boys loading the conveyor

     Off to the gift shop where we purchased coffee and a few trinkets to satisfy the souvenir portion of the day.  Davis got chocolate covered coffee beans and Lawton got a key chain.
     Our driver then took us for a late lunch (it was now 4pm) and we enjoyed local fare.  Davis had some wonderful huge fried shrimp and Tara had a tortilla like soup with pieced of fried cheese.  Pretty good.
    Arriving back in San Jose, we checked into the Herradura Hotel.  This was the hotel we stayed in 20 years ago.  It was hard to recognize.  It has been remodeled, but after walking around for a while, we figured out the layout is almost the same.  We found the room we had our rehearsal dinner in, and the boys had a swim in a very cold pool.
    What a nice surprise it was when there was a knock on the door and two plates of cheese, fine meats, olives, chocolate covered strawberries, grapes, and a nice bottle of Chilean wine was delivered.  The card that accompanied the food and wine confirmed our suspicion that my parents had arranged the gift.
    We are off to bed early tonight as we have an early transport to the Caribbean coast to the town of Tortuguero.  The boys are a little upset we were only one night at the Herradura, but I'm sure they will be excited at our next stop.