Day 28-35 : EARTH University in Costa Rica -- 10/13 to 10/19/15

We had to say goodbye to the DR, but everyone is more than excited to head to Costa Rica for adventures, sustainable farming workshops, and a lot more home stays! 

We are staying at EARTH University for a couple of days learning about sustainability in all respects -- waste management, animal farming, agricultural farming, and energy efficiency. With workshops focused around getting us to work and experience what EARTH students experience, we've learned so much just in a couple of days! 

Here are some pictures from EARTH: 

Beautiful campus! Students at EARTH learn through experience how to create, run, and sustain an organic or self-sustainable farm. We learned about a lot of the systems and processes that go into Eco-friendly farming, limiting waste, and reusing any waste materials. We also talked a lot about space efficiency and energy efficiency with regards to waste management and sustainable agriculture systems. 

These are some pictures from the process of harvesting and processing the cacao plant and the last picture is of the cacao peel that is reused and put into a compost pile to then go back into the soil for fertilizer. It is a good source of nutrients for several plants. 

This is just one example of the processes and systems that we saw at EARTH. It was a great couple days of learning through experience how sustainable farming works!

After a great stay at EARTH, our group split up into 4 groups of 4 to do a homestay at a farm in Pocora, CR. We spent 4 days waking up early to feed the chickens and pigs, harvest yucca roots, build a chicken pen, and to eat great food! A lot of rice and beans, but it never gets old, it just keeps getting better. 

We also made bread, paper, and enjoyed our host families company! I got to practice my Spanish a lot with my host-brother Dennis, who is also a juggler! We both put on a show where I accompanied his routine with some guitar. It was a great homestay, and I can't wait for our next ones! 

Here are some pictures:

Had a room to myself, it was a little weird! 

Somebody was really excited for their breakfast at 7 in the morning! 

This is where our rooms were! 

Some homemade bread, so good! 

Some great pictures of a couple of juggling shows Dennis put on for us! It got intense when he whipped out the torches too. It was firey. 

Headed to a river after a good days work and then to church that night! It was interesting to see the similarities and differences in the traditions of the Catholic Church and this parish we went to! 

Finally after 4 great days of amazing food, good Spanish practice, hard work, and fun nights, we had to say goodby e to our family and part our ways! Hopefully we can stop by sometime in the future! 

We're off to Turrialba, CR to do some rafting and Spanish classes. 

I'll update when I can!