Costa Rica Day 2: El Viaje a Turrialba

I went to Mass at the Church in this picture.  "La Iglesia San Miguel Arcangel."  Beautiful church.

After Mass Marti and I boarded a bus for Turrialba.  There we spoke to a teacher named Ania Leon about the students that have already been to her school and some things we might do in the future.  I also got to meet her hubby Marlin and her two lovely kids.  After our meeting we went to their home for "cafe y pan."  Lovely home and a beautiful view of the Turrialba.

Turrialba is some distance from San Jose so on the 2 hour bus ride I got to see a good bit of the country.

Costa Rica is a beautiful country with many many really lovely people.  I'm REALLY enjoying my time here.

Costa Rica day 1

Mi Habitaccion.

My flight was not a joyous one.  Typical flight from MN to Atlanta and then a SIX- HOUR layover in Atlanta airport. The flight to Costa Rica boarded on time but then was delayed because one of the plastic panels on one of the EXIT signs had fallen off and they had to find it before they could take off.  Apparently some kind soul on the previous flight found it on the floor and put in the overhead bin.  Not a real obvious place to look.  But they did find it after about 40 minutes.  By then we were fifth in line for take off.  So we were squeezed into our sardine can for an extra hour or so. 

Going through immigration and customs was quick.  We filled out some paperwork on the plane so we just had a little line to go through, some quick questions and our luggage was scanned.  They talk too fast for me, so I had to do it in English.

The Hotel is GORGEOUS, from what I could tell in the dark.  My room is very comfy. Five days here for $405.00 taxes and fees included.  This room would be $150-175 a NIGHT in USA or about $900-$1000 for the 5 days with taxes and fees.  The clerk at check-in was very nice.  She let me mix up my Spanish and English.

Today we are going to a town called Turialba to pitch the idea of a Student Teaching program at a school there.  I guess Sunday was the only day they were available.

Hasta Manana!!

Thirty-six Hours until I leave for Costa Rica!

Okay, so . . . .
I leave for Costa Rica the day after tomorrow at ZERO DARK THIRTY.  In the meantime I made this gift for our contact person in Costa Rica who has been SO helpful and SO accommodating.

I just finished it this evening, which gives the polyurethane time to dry before I pack it.  I am in the process of trying to get things together and discovered to my utter chagrin that my suitcase will NOT do.  I bought the one I needed for weekend trips to conferences - - so I could carry-on and not deal with checking baggage.  It is just too small and I have to buy a larger one.  Weird problem the day before a trip!!

FIVE DAYS UNTIL I LEAVE FOR COSTA RICA

The time is growing closer.  I had a meeting with my traveling partner.  Heck of a guy and I am thrilled to be sharing the journey with him.  Our contact in Costa Rica is just the nicest person ever!  I emailed her and asked whether it would be a good idea to walk around Escazu and she said it would be perfectly safe.  I also mentioned that I'd be looking for the "Iglesia Catolico mas cercana" -- the catholic church nearest to my hotel.  She sent me a map.  I think I'll be able to follow it pretty well.

The walking route from my hotel to the nearest Catholic church.  

Costa Rica: A Trip Abroad Before this Year's Planting

Hi!  I WILL be blogging about my experiments with square-foot gardening this year, but before that happens I will be visting Costa Rica for the first time ever and want to blog about that.

Having never traveled outside the borders of the US before this, I had to get a pass-port.  That happened without a hitch.  I have been brushing up on my Spanish, but still read and write it better than I can speak and listen.  Getting better at the latter though.

Here's the basic run-down:  I will be arriving in Costa Rica April 13 and staying at the Beacon Hotel in Escazu (a suburb northwest of San Jose).  My job while I'm there will be to visit the student teachers who have been assigned to the school in Escazu to serve as ambassador for MSU and to make sure they are having a good experience.  Also I have been asked to take photos for use in future advertising of the Costa Rica student teaching option.

On Wednesday I will travel by bus to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast to visit student teachers there.  Same deal.  I will be staying a jungle bed and breakfast called the Hotel La Colina.  My traveling partner is Marti Sievek a professor in Secondary Education here at MSU.  He teaches Spanish and speaks it fluently.

Tomorrow I am meeting with Marti to discuss the trip.

I will blog each day with photos and post to facebook so I hope you will join me on my journey.

KARL

November - Thinking About Next Year

WELL!
My first garden was a REAL learning experience.  Luckily I started with a small 10 X 15 ft garden, or I'd have had many more problems.  I learned a lot, with minimal hassle, so that's all good.

I already have plans for a completely different 2013 GARDEN.  My sister suggested SQUARE FOOT GARDENING.  I got a book and read about it and it makes PERFECT SENSE.  The main problems with "Farm Style Gardening" is it wastes water, wastes soil (you need wide paths) and it tends to produce more than you can possibly use and not in a timely fashion. 

That was what I experienced during my first attempt with 2012 GARDEN .  First we got several dozen radishes --  what do you do with a lot of radishes?  A few yes, but  DOZENS???

Next we got BUNCHES of lettuce.  We used what we could but the rest went bad.  Salads and sandwiches don't really go through the lettuce very fast when there is only two of us.  Suddenly we were ALSO up to our earlobes in CUCUMBERS.  Again, not a thing you really need to have a lot of for any reason.

When the tomatoes came, THAT was cool.  Lots of things you can do with tomatoes.  And I did:  Salsa, marinara, chili, stew --  the freezer was FULL and they kept coming!  AAGHH!  ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES.  My sweetie blanched some and we froze them after we ate enough marinara to make room.

HOWEVER . . . 

With SQUARE FOOT GARDENING there is no waste and no over-production.  It's definitely a new way of looking at growing things, but it is exciting to me.  Over the winter I will be building (low talent carpentry, really) three 4X4 foot frames for my 10 X 15 garden.  That will be 48 one square foot planting cells.  THINK of the variety of things that will be possible.  And no wasted water, no fertilizer, no weeding.  

2014 GARDEN will probably be on my PATIO!
I'll check in to let you know how the 4X4 frames are doing after the holidays.

Happy Turkey day. / Merry Christmas./  Happy New Year!

HARVEST

August 10, we got many LARGE cucumbers.  We kept the best looking and composted the rest.  Also harvested some shallots,  little red (early Girl) tomatoes and a couple of NICE yellow tomatoes. Today, August 13th we harvested MORE early girl tomatoes, more yellow tomatoes and a couple of peppers.

I made beef stew and used shallots.  They marinaded a little while and BOY did they make it SPICEY HOT!  Used the tomatoes in (1) Grilled Chili and (2) Grilled jambalaya.

RECIPE:
Grilled Chilled Chili:
You need:

• 3 pounds of tomatoes.
• a large yellow onion
• 1 jalapeno
• 2 pounds of meat (1 of ground beef and 1 of ground pork works well.)
• 1 bottle of Ale
• 1 can of beef broth
• 3 cans of pinto beans (I like Bush's southwestern grillin' beans)
• salt pepper and chili powder.

Do this:

• Core the tomatoes, spray with PAM and grill, 10 minutes - turn them after 5 minutes.
• Spray the jalapeno and grill with the tomatoes.
• Slice the onion into 1/2" slices and grill.
• Form the ground meat into 1/2" patties.  Sprinkle some salt, pepper and chili powder on the patties.
• Grill them, about 5 minutes per side.
• Puree the tomatoes and pour into a stew pot.
• Chop the jalapeno and onion and add to the tomato puree.
• Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes and add to the pot.
• Add the Ale, broth and season as you wish.
• Bring to boil stirring constantly then reduce to simmer and stir occasionally.  
• Simmer 1 hour then add the beans and continue to simmer for 15 more minutes.
• It's good, but if let it marinate in the frig overnight it is even better the next day.

Great late autumn recipe and FABULOUS when made with garden fresh, charcoal roasted tomatoes and onions!