Lair Davis (Our Man in Costa Rica)

Cafetalera

Things are going so well for me here in Costa Rica I can hardly stand it! On Wednesday night, a group of gringo neighbors threw me a surprise birthday party. A group of ten took me out to dinner at this fancy restaurant. Lots of great Chilean wine and mariscos (seafood). I had a very nice time. Folks are so welcoming here.
 
Expats are an odd lot, but they certainly make other oddballs feel like they belong. One interesting thing is that I have met more single women “of a certain age” here from the United States than I have met men. Most of the gringo men are so busy chasing the young Ticas, who then capture the old coots and take them for every dime they have. Serves them right!
 
The women from the States, on the other hands, are VERY independent and self-confident. My best friend here is a cafetalera, a woman from New Mexico of about 45, I guess, who has a 14-year-old daughter. They live high up in the mountains on a coffee farm. Janet put together a co-op of coffee farmers — poor families who were starving since coffee prices hit the skids — and she organized them to grow ORGANIC coffee (for which they get much better prices). Now, they market it together to fancy “starbucks” type places in the U.S. They are doing quite well (although cash-flow is a problem, she never has a problem with SELLING the stuff) — and Janet also now has her own coffee mill. Quite a lady! Know anyone who might want to invest in an organic coffee cooperative? http://www.tesdelsol.com