[Above: Todd Borgie learns the art of bean-picking at a Costa Rican coffee plantation.]

Journal by Todd Borgie

We have just spent the last couple of days in Manuel Antonio. It was nice to get a break from driving, but there was still much work to do. I faced a computer nearly everyday, but I feel a bit more caught up but still feel kind of ragged.

The wake up call was early, but we had coffee on hand to make the transition to wakefulness much easier. We were all occupying the same suite therefore we were all competing for the one bathroom that was available.

Without to much delay we packed our stuff and were on our way through the windy sloped roads that led to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. The drive was nice, with bananas to our right and left. However, due a late start we were unable to stop for breakfast, so we had to satisfy ourselves with little scraps of crackers and other snacks that we had squirreled away.

We arrived in San Jose a little after 11:00am and pulled into the Best Western. David Homa and Mary Hill, our support team in Los Gatos, had rounded up a box of stuff that we needed and sent it here -- or so we thought. We soon found that we were at the wrong Best Western and that the box had indeed arrived, but was stuck in customs. A company offered to help spring the package in a timely fashion for the modest fee of $300, but we had faith that our friends at Land Rover might be able to help us.

Since we were pressed for time, the team ducked into Denny’s for lunch, as Nick and I were tracking down hotel details and contacting the Land Rover officials we were supposed to meet 30 minutes prior. We contacted Rudolfo, who was heading up Land Rover’s newly founded coffee business, and he was our guide for the day. He decided he would come and meet us where we were, because it was on the way for him to go to our afternoon activity, a Costa Rican coffee farm.

His friend and fellow coffee colleague, Benecio, led the way to the coffee collective in the Naranja province of San Jose (named for all the orange trees in the area. It is interesting to note that the oranges here are green, as are the other citrus varieties, because it does not get cool enough for them to change to their final color).

We arrived at the finca (farm) and immediately went to work. The workers put a basket on Chanda, and we tried to fill what we could with coffee beans. Although an average worker fills a basket within 40-45 minutes, and gets paid less than a dollar for it, 5 five us couldn’t come anywhere near this rate of one worker. They showed us all the steps of coffee harvesting and milling which is described in the educational section of this web site.

After driving through the coffee fields with the old and new Land Rovers, we ended up at the coffee mill, where we dropped off our super-caffeinated payload. Nick was in heaven as he drove a 1959 Series II Land Rover, pulling a load of coffee beans to the mill. Costa Rica is really Land Rover heaven. In fact they used to make them in Costa Rica, and Land Rover sold many of them to the coffee farmers here. Their mulit-purpose slender design made them perfect for working in the fields.

When we arrived at the mill with our beans we saw at least 5 other Land Rover Series 88’s. In fact there is an annual Land Rover parade in this area. After touring the mill, I was allowed to drive the '59 Diesel back to our coffee-tasting venue. I jumped into the driver seat and Royas (our coffee farm guide) was at my side. I started the vehicle, and was ready to back up. However, before I was ready, Royas took off the emergency break and the car rolled forward. Unfortunately, the roll forward put us over the edge of an embankment. What was left of the edge of the pavement collapsed, putting me in further jeopardy. I was able to stop the car with the weak brakes, but the e-brake was certainly not strong enough to hold the car. Adam was immediately in my face with a camera to cover the drama. So with one foot on the clutch, a toe on the break, and a heel on the accelerator I was able to back up out of this threatening position. After driving to safety, I learned that this vehicle was the family’s beloved vehicle, which they had bought new in '59. Whew, that could have been disastrous!

After negotiating the traffic at the mill, the Land Rover train made its way to our tasting venue. Benicio and Roya's mother Marta put out a spread for us. She opened her house to us and sat us down in her kitchen, serving coffee, tortillas, sweet bread and regular bread. Colin sat down next to me and asked me for the sugar. Much to his dismay, I passed him the salt dish, which looked like sugar to me. Colin was a bit perplexed when he took a sip, but we soon figured out the mistake as laughter spread across the table.

One of the best things about traveling is the people you meet. We had never met these folks before, yet they invited 8 strangers into their house and served us with warm hospitality and coffee. It doesn’t get much better than that.

After about an hour we packed up and headed back into San Jose, and to our hotel -- Rudolfo guiding us the whole way -- through the rainy traffic-tied areas. We have a date with Land Rover tomorrow. Who knows what exciting things will be in store for us then!

Logbook for November 10th
Start: Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Finish: San Jose, Costa Rica
N: 9* 56.308
W: 84* 04.904
Mileage: 263
Breakfast: Coffee
Lunch: Denny’s bacon cheeseburger
Dinner: Coffee, sweet bread and quesadillas

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.