Finca Java was really big and the scenery was beautiful. The houses
overlooked an enormous lake that sparkled like diamonds when the sun hit it.
The little hotel that we stayed in had 8 rooms, 4 on each side. Each bedroom
had 3 twin beds in it. Above the beds were bug nets, which we found out
later came in handy because at night the bugs swarmed my room. My roommates
made the mistake of leaving the lights on, so I think ever bug in Nicaragua
stayed in our room with us that night.
Needless to say I was tucked away under my net fortress, too afraid to even
go to the bathroom in the middle of the night for the fear of getting
attacked by the army of bugs in the room. When we took showers, the water
was freezing and there was no water pressure at all. It was like trying to
take a shower under a dripping faucet.
On Saturday morning, after an interesting night¹s sleep, we took a walk by
the lake. Kamryn and Mariah investigated an old wooden shack, and we
stumbled upon the bones of a cow. While waiting for breakfast, I decided to
do my first load of laundry for the trip. I filled up the sink with
detergent, scrubbed my clothes clean, rung them out, and hung them up to dry
outside. I must say I like using a machine better.
Later that day we got a tour of how the coffee farm works and the intricate
process of how coffee is made.
Chelsea Kirschman adds: ³Chris Robertson walked us around and showed us all
the steps of how they run their organic coffee farm. He first showed us an
extremely large bucket which people get paid only $1 to fill the entire
bucket with coffee beans the size of a cherry, maybe even smaller. People
have to do this time-consuming work everyday in order to make a living. Then
he showed us a barn with loads of machinery. He explained how they put the
cherry sized beans into a machine which takes off the outside of the bean
and then separates the beans into particular sections in the barn. While
they sit there they soak in water for an uncertain amount of time that the
workers have to estimate. Then he showed us their fertilizer. They had dirt
mixed with the manure of horses and cows from around the farm. They put
millions of worms into the sectioned-off soil and they eat the manure of the
horses and cows only to neutralize the soil again. This process happens many
times which makes the soil very fertile and inexpensive without
preservatives.
We then went to work along the entryway to the farm planting yellow and
green coconut trees. During that time, Nicole attempted to eat a worm, Brian
shrieked like a 4 year-old girl when a frog jumped on him (hence the name
frogman) and Jordan and I made a crap man. Yes, a snowman made out of crap.
Then we all had lunch.
After lunch we took a hike and looked at 50,000 coffee plants. Then we went
to see the tree of life. I kid you not this was one of the biggest trees I
have ever seen in my life. It would probably take 4 people, if not more, to
wrap their arms around the trunk. We all headed back to the house to hang
out before dinner. Some people rode horses while others did laundry or
played baseball with the local children. Rico¹s attempt to ride the horse
failed when he fell off. He claims he "jumped" off. It was hilarious. After
that we had a big spaghetti meal and went off to our rooms to get some
sleep, because we had to wake up at 6:15 for the next days adventure.
|
