what chocolate comes from

This is a cacao. When you crack it open it is full of little seeds covered in a delicious, sweet, white, pulpy material. Sucking this off the seed is such a treat. Then you're left with a bunch of cacao seeds. These - after much processing - become chocolate. As far as I know, the white puply treat isn't used for anything. So unless someone devours it, it goes to waste. So sad.

a visit to santo domingo

The best part about visiting places where you used to live is seeing old friends. Kathy, an old classmate from UCR, lives in Santo Domingo de Heredia, and I could not wait to see her. Since I've left Costa Rica, Kathy hasn't missed my birthday. Every March 6 I get a call on my cell from an "unknown" number, and I know it's Costa Rica calling. Her thoughtfulness and patience with my Spanish are two of the many reasons why I call her mi mejor amiga tica.



A cup of tea is always better when shared with a friend, ecspecially while speaking Spanglish.

randoms

Sitting in Chile Rojo - my favorite restaurant in Puerto Viejo - you can hear the waves gently hit the sand and rocks that make up the coast in the small, Caribbean town. The Chile Rojo calls itselt "Thai, Vegetarian, Middle Eastern and Fresh Fish." Their peanut skewers and cocnut steamed rice make my mouth water, ecspecially after gallo pinto, gallo pinto, gallo pinto - the unofficial national dish of the country.



We also took the time to take three buses and a pirata - illegal taxi - to get to Doka Estate. It's a working coffee plantation that calls itself "the real coffee tour." They sell beans to Starbucks, lots of them. It was a beautiful place. One thing to note, in Costa Rica they grow coffee in clumps of two as opposed to single plants. This method allows the country to have a higher coffee density and, therefore, grow and sell more coffee.



While waiting for one of the three buses we took up to Doka, these kids noticed my camera and me. They decided to appropriately ham it up. Thanks, guys ;-)

kilometers of fun

One of my favorite parts of my Costa Rican trip was our bike ride down the Caribbean coast. We rode 12 kilometers each way and stopped at a few different beaches. On the way my monkey brother saw fit to pick some bananas. Unfortunately, they were not bananas for eating. Little black seeds packed the inside of the fruit. Not so good for eating. So he was left with his black bean sandwich with no sides.

casa tica

This is my brother's home in Cedros. He can walk to the University in 20 minutes, and he's about a 25 minute bus ride from downtown San José. He is fortunate to live with a wonderful family. They even have a dog named Tiza (Chalk in English). In a strange way, I miss the beautiful gates around the homes in Costa Rica. Anyone who can make security measures pretty deserves props.

dead [crab] meat

Noticed this casualty just east of the Caribbean beach town called Puerto Viejo.

goodbye, costa rica

I said, "Goodbye, goodbye," and then flew up into the sky. After nine days in Costa Rica, I was sad to leave the people and the spirit of the country but comforted to know my bed would be waiting for me at the other end of my journey. I'll do a bunch of posts tomorrow from my brother and my various adventures. Te extraño, Costa Rica. It was lovely to see you once again.

pura vida

I am in the land of pura vida AKA Costa Rica. My brother is studying at the University of Costa Rica, where I studied almost four years ago. The faces of my friends and familia tica are the same. The country has progressed in many ways - good and bad. I have limited internet and Photoshop access, so expect more when I return.

Costa Rican idea of the day: Mango verde, which is unripened mango covered in lime juice and salt.

ode to robert taylor

After reading the book "Gang Leader for a Day," I was inspired to visit the site of the Robert Taylor Homes on Chicago's South Side - an infamous group of about 28 public housing buildings. I remember driving down the Dan Ryan Expressway and seeing the shell of the last building they tore down about a year ago. Seeing it this weekend was unreal. A giant eraser was taken to the entire area. All that remains are a few worn down driveways and the remnants of basketball courts. In the place buildings used to stand, new condos are going in at a rapid pace.

After taking some photographs, I sat at a Starbucks on the corner of 35th and State Street with Chris - who was born and raised in Chicago. It was about eight years ago that his baseball team played for the city title at Comiskey Park, which lies just across the Dan Ryan Expressway from the old site of the Robert Taylor Homes. He told me if someone would have told him he would be sitting at a Starbucks at 35th and State in eight years, he would have laughed in their face. From crack deals, prostitution and general poverty to condos and Starbucks.

I've asked people around the area, "Where did they all go?" I'm asking about the thousands of people who called Robert Taylor home. How and why do you go about displacing a group of people that large? Is it good or bad? For the area? For the people who suddenly found themselves homeless? So many questions, so few good answers.

aspiring doors

These doors are dreamers. Dreaming of a hustle and bustle on the other side of them that isn't there.

quick vid

NPPA Convergence '08 from Elie Gardner on Vimeo.

Put this together after a whirlwind weekend in Louisville at the NPPA conference. I used only the Powershot - for both stills and the video. I was pretty impressed with the video quality. The audio recorded with the Edirol and no mic wasn't so impressive. Do forgive me ;-)