#durika

We have always said that generosity was a good quality to have. Now my ability to give Christmas gifts proved to be quite helpful. Precisely, it's my ability to pack properly my gifts. My family always laugh at me for decoratiquating the paper instead of ripping it off.

One of my future plans career: wrapping soaps.

For the beautiful (that smells good) soap, here are the few steps to the perfect wrapping:

1. Roll up in diagonal the waxed paper

2. Tie in a ribbon color

3. Make it a node

4. Put a label

For steps 1 and 2, my experience has been very beneficial. Proof, I've done a lot of soaps while some person who prefers to remain anonymous made only four.

The community introduced step 4 only recently, because some tourists who had received a demo of chocolate soap ate them. I really need to say more?

I'm in the middle of nowhere on a mountain in Costa Rica. I was expecting to have  my value system completely shaken. I thought I'd be completely immersed in a world of Spanish.

I was, you understand, very disappointed when I saw arrived by truck a number of French. It was not just one or two, but six French who arrived, and in addition two other Quebecer. This is not mixing. Except John of Toronto, everyone speaks French among the visitors. Big scenery, one of the only things that I learned is that Quebecers are singing when talking compare to French. Ah. Bon. Thank you for the information.

At least they are nice. I still wish everything to go back to normal, when we'll talk more Spanish than French in Costa Rica.

One of the good things France did was the documentary "Traveling otherwise"about Durika on TV5 with Bruno Blanchette.

A group of tourists arrived today. Ontarians. Oh yeah. I hope you notice my sarcasm. But no, there is no generalization. These young people, who are yet in a class of Christian Leadership, did dishonor their province. Swearing and talking loudly throughout the community, they managed to make the community reconsider welcoming large groups, that is more than ten people.

Height of hilarity, they were all really scared of bugs. There was one who saw a dragonfly and started screaming! It's true that here, insects are particularly large. For example, last night, a fly who I'm convinced is on steroids amused itself by fooling me. It was noisy as it isn't possible! And when I came to kill it, armed with a headlamp and toilet paper, it instantly stopped moving. But, I am sure, despite my poor talent at catching bugs, dragonflies are harmless.

By cons, there are Ontarians who showed some wisdom, who said and I quote: ''Quebecers are weirdos, but at least they're funny, compared to Ontario!'' So it's better to be strange and original than too common (and annoying I should say)

Oh, and some spitted on the ground!

We got our hands dirty. We peeled coffee's seeds. The fruits of the coffee plant are very similar to cranberries. Almost everyone has heard of fair trade coffee and why it's important for small producers. But most do not really realize its importance. Producing a cup of coffee is very difficult. It takes approximately 30 coffee beans. Plants from different coffee species take three years to grow, but produce beans  only once a year.

1st step: The harvest of fruits. Everything is done by hand since the fruit doesn't rip at the same speed. You only take red fruits. Then, you left them in water for a period of at least 24 hours.

2nd step: Dissection of the fruit. You put a considerable amount of fruits on a table in the form of a set of Mississippi. With a pestle, you lightly crush the fruit to then remove the flesh and the seed of coffee. Any fruit flesh goes is in the compost to feed the worms, while we put the coffee beans in water for again 24 hours to remove the protective layer of the seed. It's a meticulous work that is very long, and that left you with orange hands.

3rd step: Drying the seeds. You extend all the seeds in the sun to dry and harden. When they are almost impossible to break, they are ready for the next step.

4th and last step to reach the coffee that we know: Roasting the seeds. In a saucepan, the beans are roasted for about 30 minutes. It's also hard work, because you have to turn them quickly during the half-hour. After that, there is only to grind and drink.

The work of coffee is long and arduous. In addition, he leaves a trail of orange hands for three days because of the juice of the coffee's flesh.

It was a cold night in a mountain of a country normally very hot. Two girls were carried by the wind in the world of Wizard of Oz.

In the middle of the night, or 9pm, we awakened the shattering noise of the wind. It lasted for hours without stopping. From the inside, it looked the Zephyr would snatch our little cabin. My first thought was: Shit, my clothes are on the clothesline outside!

Finally, the wind was strong, but as strong as the tornado we imagined. But still,  the tin roofs and the tree who tapped every gust of wind didn't  help.

Another sound that kept us awake was the floor that creak like crazy. As soon as we set foot on the ground, we heard a big CRACK. There is no way to be subtle in this cabin. If we'd like to make a surprise party, the celebrated would hear us before we even open the door.

The advantage of these cabins is that in case of a earthquake only a small part would crumble and not the whole house. I still hope to put them to the test.