Children and the cheese Factory

Hello again from Turrialba, Costa Rica! This day began with a delicious breakfast of toast with guava jam, scrambled eggs and sausage. At 8:30 we began our climb to San Rafael school, a climb thats become our new normal. Toay was cultural exchange day, which is where we brought a piece of Bay Area culture to Turrialba and they shared their culture with us. The student-led activities included ultimate frisbee, telephone and arts and crafts. We had a blast hanging out and lauging with the kids over 6-7 jokes and games.

The day didn’t end there. After a lunch of arroz con pollo, beans, fried plantains, beet salad and refresing agua fresca, we got a MUCH NEEDED break from the hill and took a bus to Finca la Florita. Carla welcomed us to her cheese farm with an array of grasses taped to a board. Its safe to say we are now grass masters, or “grassters”. Carla turned the day into a rather high stakes competition between team “Fake Chrome” and team “Queso”.

Round one, fight! Elise v. Claire, the “battle of Grassters”. This was a test of knowledge to see if we had actually paid attention to Carlas lesson. After matching grass names to grass samples, Elise came out on top, earning a whopping 5 points for team “Queso”.

Round 2 led us down ANOTHER steep hill to the barn where the magic of making the beautiful cheese takes place. This time Derek and Ronnie faced off on who could milk a cow faster and more efficiently. In the peaceful quiet of the barn, team “Fake Chrome” took another devasting blow, as Derek defeated Ronnie 109 grams to 87 grams of milk.

With team “Queso” in the lead, morale was low. In Round 3, Mielle faced off with Miguel. The task: making Turrialba cheese. We separated the solids, strung out the whey and mixed in the salt. Mielle made a fatal mistake underestimating the amount of salt needed. Carla tasted both samples, team “Fake Chrome” won for texture, but that simply wasn’t enough. Team “Queso” won in porosity and taste and took home 5 points.

In the finale round, all glimpsers gathered for a groovy game of hot potato, or shall we say hot cow. We passed a cow stuffed animal around the circle and the person who was found holding the stuffed animal when the music stopped would have to answer Carla’s question. Her questions were nothing to team “Fake Chrome” as they bulldozed through the rounds. However, team “Queso” blundered with a imprecise throw of the stuffed animal, losing 5 points. Yet, in the end, team “Queso” took the crown and team “Fake Chrome” was left with nothing but false hope and bland cheese.

After a short stop at the Base House to relieve our bladders, we set off again in the luxury of an air conditioned van to somewhere special… Tonight, we would not be dining in the usual setting, we would be dining out at Fratelli’s!!! The food at this charming restaurant was delicious. Pizzas kept coming, and so did the noise complaints. Heated conversations were made over steaming slices of pepperoni, margherita and constroversial Hawaiian pizza. Then, we enjoyed a delectable selection of cheesecake, tiramisu and lemon cake. We stepped out into the cool night air and into an even cooler pulperia. No purchases were made but memories were, however, on the drive back, as we partook in our own personal Indiana Jones adventure ride over the mountainous road.

Despite another insanely busy day, we could not forget about the dog we found yesterday, who followed us all the way back home. Our sweet child Memi who is named Camilla (allegedly), was seperated from us. The bus ride had left Memi torn as she tried to follow us but failed and went onto her own journey back home (allegedly). We are mouring her loss here tonight as we did the unity clap and mentioned her name with much love.

XOXOXO,

Your tired leaders of the day, who had to stay late to do this,

Elise and Mielle.