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My recent trip to Costa Rica was awesome. It was a multi-learning experience about ecology, agriculture and the world of nature. One day we were immersed in the culture of a pineapple farm in the rain forest near the Atlantic Ocean – in more ways than one. We splashed and bumped along in a drizzle on a muddy road in a tractor-pulled wagon. We stopped for the farmer to uproot a pineapple plant, whip out his machete, dissect the pineapple and teach us its parts and how each functioned. Then he expertly carved the pineapple and passed it around for us to taste. Heavenly. I felt right at home on the farm since my grandfather raised cotton in Alabama and I lived in a farming region in Mississippi as a teenager.

The farmers use only basic tools like the machete, nothing mechanized. No pesticides are used. Cost Rica is the”greenest” country I know. They are very close to using no fossil fuel. The Costa Ricans, or Ticos as they call themselves, live and work with the knowledge of the web of life that is  intertwined  ecologically and agriculturally.

Our guides’ fascination with the plants and animals who live in their country is contagious. After supper  one guide took us out to see the little frogs whose eyes glow red in the dark. On different days we went out on a river in a boat to explore the wild life, including plants, who inhabited the specific area. Our other guide used a green laser to point out birds, butterflies, animals, and plants. I hadn’t realized the complex life of plants. I don’t think my house plants measure up. My favorite sighting was a tree where a dozen howler monkeys “howled.” One was hanging upside-down with his tail curled around a tree limb.

We had been told this was a “beans and rice” country. Not so. I do love beans and rice but we were served much more. The food was delicious, much of it prepared using the various plants we saw growing in the fields. The fish was wonderful. My favorite food was fried plantains. Everywhere we went there was a delightful small dessert – the portion that I can eat guilt free.

The morning we left to fly home I had my own “up close and personal” brush with nature. My hotel room had a separate room for the tub and toilet. The wash basin was just outside its door. While I was brushing my teeth I happened to look down at the floor. Not twelve inches from my foot was a big black creepy crawler at least three inches long who had his tail curled over his back in a double loop and pincher-like front claws. It took my stunned mind a few seconds to register that this was a scorpion. I wanted it to go away. I stomped on the floor, made him move toward the tub and toilet room and shut the door. After I got home I Googled to see if a scorpion’s sting is deadly. It isn’t but I’m glad I didn’t have to learn first hand.