Today we met at escuela for the factory tour. I counted the 100 meters and found it to be a little over 100 steps. It is about 130 of my steps. I did make one wrong turn when walking but still found my way. I just took the scenic route. I took my test and guess what my score was...not good! I only got two questions correct. The rest of the exam asked me to put the verbs in using the correct endings. Ahhhh! I need rules and help for that.
After that we were off. This time the we included Hao, John, and the kids. We rode the bus for about 45 minutes to the factory. It was on the outskirts on town in the mountains. Ha Lien kept saying bonita (beautiful) to everything including the graffiti painted on a truck.
After finding our way, (the driver got lost) we were given a guided tour. The sugar cane is chopped down and hauled in on a truck. Then it is fed into a machine to make a pulp. This particular factory is ecofriendly. It produces no waste! As the sugar can which looks similar to bamboo is turned into pulp the juice is collected. The left over pulp is the fuel for the fire to heat and clean the juice. We got to sample it in the taffy like stage and the liquid stage. It is very sweet. As you can imagine there are tons of bees flying around too. In fact, Hao got stung but played it cool since her daughter was freaking out. After seeing all the parts we were given suagar (looks like super light brown sugar) to bring home and some hard candy. If you want a sample I have plenty. Sugar cane is very important to the economy. It is one of the top three exports. Bananas and coffee are the top two! The Costa Ricans use it to make sugar water and to flavor many things. It is a local delight.
On the ride home we stopped at a river and had a snack of a piece of cake and saltines flavored with ham.
Now I am back at home. I had steak, onions, red pepper and rice for lunch with a side of salad.
Soon Hao´s mama is coming to pick me up so I can go grocery shopping with them. Then I will hang out and play with the 9 kids.
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