Costa Rica Part 2

Welcome back to my blog. One of the last trips I took on the Zuiderdam was to a farm in Costa Rica called the Tayutic Hacienda. Located in the hills of Turrialba, the farm belongs to the Ortuño family, whose wealth comes from sugar cane, coffee and macadamias.


Above: The view of the valley from the farm's hotel and chapel area.


Above: Sugar cane growing in the fields below us.

On the tour, we learnt about the ancient methods of cultivation and processing sugar cane, where we saw how the extract of the sugar cane is cooked, filled into the moulds and converted into a sweet with macadamia nuts.


Above: The farm still uses oxen to crush the sugar cane and extract the juice.


Above: Oxen helping to crush the sugar cane.


Above: It was a fascinating process to watch how the juice from the sugar cane was beaten and heated.


Above: The finished product!

We also saw the process of cultivating coffee—from the red coffee berry to the roasted coffee bean and learnt how awful instant coffee is (they use all the rejected coffee beans for instant coffee).


Above: The chapel which often hosts weddings for guests staying at the farm.

We also visited the green house, with exotic orchids:





...as well as the macadamia drying and peeling plant:




Above: Macro shot of a Costa Rican till!


Above: The view of the valley with the Reventazon River and its dam in the centre of the shot.

The last blog from the Zuiderdam is on its way - a huge report from Panama including the native Indian village and Panama City.