Costa Rica

THE RAWTREAT

Alex and I initially thought we would spend three weeks, maybe more, at the Rawtreat experimenting with raw vegan living. We quickly found that we are not raw vegans and left after spending less than 24 hours there; however, the food was the least of the problems at the Rawtreat. We arrived to Rio Claro by bus from Panama, and the Rawtreat is located about 4 kilometers outside the town. We opted to take a taxi since we have several large, heavy bags with us and we didn’t want to try to find it in the dark. The taxi took us down a muddy dirt road (since it was raining as we tried to find it) and we pulled up to a house with a “RAWTREAT” sign on the front. As a dog barked at us from the front yard, a barefoot tica (Costa Rican) woman motioned us around the back of the house to the jungle and then spoke fast, unintelligible Spanish and left us. We understood something about the piñas- pineapples- but that was it. We stood in partial darkness contemplating which “path” to follow since neither way in front of us seemed to lead anywhere. So we took the one that seemed to be more of a path. Alex slipped and fell in the mud and we seemed to be going nowhere so we turned back. The tica lady was back at the beginning of the path pointing the opposite direction of the one we chose. That’s when we saw the piña plants and realized we were supposed to follow those up the more tortuous path. Sliding in mud as we struggled along we just hoped that they hadn’t already eaten dinner without us.

Finally we came upon the “rancho” which turned out to be a shack about 15 by 10 feet with three levels. There were bamboo walls for half the rancho and the rest was ineffectively draped with mosquito nets. They may have been more effective but for the holes between each net and the fact that our host kept the door net open most of the time anyway. So we arrive at the rancho and meet Ray, our peculiar and somewhat creepy German host, and Sebastian, a French-Canadian guest who had also arrived that day. Ray clearly does not eat meat since he has none on his bones, and is also missing some teeth since we don’t think he brushes his teeth ever. Things like soap and toothpaste are not allowed at the Rawtreat since they have chemicals in them, so he also had quite a funky body odor going on. We stumbled through some awkward conversation in Spanish while eating our “dinner.” He offered us pipas, which are green coconuts that have sweet coconut water that you first drink out and then hack them in half with a machete to eat the meat out. Along with the pipas we feasted on a few cacao nuts and a some bites of zapote, a sweet fruit that resembles a yam. Then it was off to “bed.” See the accompanying photo- our bed was on the top level and consisted of bags filled with rice husks and covered with a sheet. We brought a mosquito net, which Ray told us we didn’t need, but was most definitely needed since there were bugs swarming around us. Before we went to bed we asked Ray where we should go to the bathroom. He told us that the next day he would show us the composting toilet, but in the dark it was easier to use a nearby hole in the ground. He brought some more of the rice husks for us to throw over the hole when we were finished, and kindly showed us which leaves were best to use as toilet paper. Alex and I each got a nice myriad of bug bites as we tried to go as quickly as possible.

In bed that night we immediately agreed that we were not staying three weeks at the Rawtreat; we knew we could not last another night there. We woke up before 6 the next morning, with the sun, since there weren’t any walls to keep the light out. We had grapefruit and more zapote for breakfast, but it was difficult to eat while Ray squatted in front of us eating topless and wearing very loose-fitting pants that frequently showed his crack. He ate pieces of banana off the large knife he used to slice the banana and often slurped food up or spit pieces out in the compost bucket.

Alex and I figured we would work a few hours to make up for leaving so early. Sebastian, Alex and I followed Ray to his neighbor’s farm where they are building a greenhouse- a greenhouse in the rainforest. Sebastian questioned the necessity of it, but we just went along so we could leave sooner. Ray wanted us to collect foliage from the path to the greenhouse to cover the greenhouse floor. So we spent the morning raking leaves from the rainforest floor. But not with regular rakes for each of us, we only had one head of a rake with out the pole and a wheelbarrow with a hole rusted through the bottom. So Alex bent over raking leaves while I used my foot to rake leaves together for us to lift into the wheelbarrow and hope that they wouldn’t collapse out of the bottom. After two loads we inquired with Sebastian if that was about enough. He said he thought 6 to 10 loads ought to do it.

After our work was over we returned to the rancho and told Ray we wouldn’t be staying. We then settled the bill, since Ray charges people to work for him and live like this. For a stay of less than 2 weeks it is $5 per person per night. After paying we had a 4 kilometer trek into town in the noontime heat to face. The first place we went was a restaurant for some real food- I ordered a hamburger and Alex had a chicken sandwich. We marveled at how delicious they were and how much better we felt having left. After our 16 hours at the Rawtreat we were dirtier and hungrier than either of us can remember being in a long time.

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Alex and I wandered through a few small Costa Rican towns (Rio Claro, Golfito, and San Isidro) before finally making it to our second WWOOF farm, Finca Granadilla Silvestre. It is located about 4 hours south of San Jose (by bus so less without the stops) close to tiny Quizarra. This farm is an amazing improvement over the Rawtreat, so we’re happy albeit tired from all the work we are not accustomed to doing. It is a sustainable coffee farm owned by a Canadian couple, Warren and Elisabeth, who are very nice and dedicated to helping preserve the rainforest here and helping to improve the community of Quizarra.

We arrived here on Friday and met our first roommate and co-WWOOFer Aurora, who is from Santa Barbara, CA. We have our own WWOOFer cabin here, and today we met our other roommates, Abby and Shawn, who were on vacation for the past few days. For our first day of work, Aurora and I raked the leaves in our yard to add to the compost pile- we learned that the leaves are rich in nitrogen and will aid tree growth. Alex cleared brush from recently chopped down trees. Then we all collaborated in painting a new layer on the outside of the WWOOFer cabin.

Today we went coffee picking, which has given me a much greater appreciation for my morning drink and the work it takes to get to my mug. We carried plastic baskets rigged with a strap around our waists and picked each coffee bean one by one. But only the red ones are ripe, so we had to be careful to leave the green beans on the plant to ripen more for picking another day. We worked alongside Rocio, la jefa (the boss) of our farm, and migrant coffee pickers from Nicaragua. For every half basket I could fill with coffee beans, Rocio would fill 2 baskets- and those baskets get heavy when only half full. It was very impressive. Although I’m not used to manual labor like this, it has been a good experience so far and has definitely opened my eyes to a very different way of life than my own.

We plan to stay here for at least a month, which includes 6 hours of work 6 days a week- wish us luck that we survive the Costa Rican country life!