Pura Vida in Tres Equis

By Marina Blatt

This weekend my family and I went to visit Dona Maricela and Don Johnny, and their kids, Julisa and Jaison in Tres Equis, near Turrialba Volcano. Each year mom went with her students to stay with this family.   We decided to visit them for three days.  During the stay we had an extraordinary experience of being in such a place that felt communal and peaceful. My parents kept saying how "this is real Costa Rica."  There were trees filled with fruit everywhere and cows walking across the street.   

The family helped us get settled and then we had a delicious meal of  beef soup cooked by Maricela.

At night our friends showed us the frogs that live in their school. Don Rafa picked one up to give us a better look at it and it peed all over his arm! 

The next day we woke up early and set off to go meet Johnny's niece.  When we got there, her dad climbed a tree and started picking oranges off of their tree. They peeled them for us and then we took a bite. It was the best oranges that we had ever tried! Then they handed us a cacao fruit which we were told had seeds that you could cook into chocolate. Instantly, after taking a bite, it was my new favorite fruit!

Johnny's cousins showed us their family's cows.  For the first time, I saw a cow nursing from its mother!  

We got to feed the cows the peels from the oranges that we ate.

It was a hot day and ants were attacking our ankles while we petted the cows.

Dad cooked us a Thai meal. 

Mom is looking surprised because this bull just licked her arm!

Maricela's mom and dad; owners of the farm.

After a lot of asking to my family, I finally got the chance to ride a horse on the farm.  After I did it, my family got jealous and decided to ride the horse as well.

Benji is showing off his cowboy moves.

Twin Power Activated!

The day that we arrived, Don Johnny had just come back from his haircut.  We thought it looked nice, and we noticed that Benji had been needing one for a while.  Johnny told us that his aunt had cut it.  The next day, we walked with him to her house, and Benji got a haircut while mom admired the aunt's garden of  beautiful flowers. 

The Cowboy Family