We are TheFirstTimers and we are filming first time experiences In this series we are traveling from Florida to Costa Rica for a
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Welcome back first timers. We're still in Costa Rica, but this time we headed north and against
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strong suggestions of some people we know, we are going to be chasing waterfalls today
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That's right, we're going to go look at a famous waterfall. All right, we got our life jackets on
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We're getting in the back of a truck. Watch your head. Watch your head
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I know Terry is extremely excited. I wouldn't say that. Nervous. I am very nervous right now. Very outside of my comfort zone. Wish me luck, everyone. Will I survive
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It really doesn't matter if we do or not because we already signed the waivers. So here we go. Oh man, that's a huge drop
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So the drive from Tamarindo out to the waterfall took a little bit longer than anticipated
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Originally, it said about an hour and a half drive. It took us over two hours. There was quite a bit of traffic
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we were driving uh monday morning so there's school traffic regular commute traffic make sure
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you prepare yourself for that because we were running late and now we're we're a little bit
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behind but they were super accommodating they didn't mind that we were late and we're going to
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try and do our best to keep on schedule now so we're at la leona waterfall well we're not there
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yet but you're gonna see it and at the beginning of the trail there's a nice little cafe looks like
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They got snacks, information, trees. What? I was just talking. Terry says I have to stop talking now
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We have our tour guide, Alejandro. Hello, guys. Nice to meet you
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Alejandro. But he's going to be taking us there. It's two kilometers there, two kilometers back
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It's about a two-hour hike. Now, with larger groups, it might take a little bit longer, but because it's just us two, we're pretty quick
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And I think we'll be there, enjoy it, and be back in about two hours. So the hike so far is a pretty nice meandering stroll. It's a little muddy, a little rocky, a little uneven
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But if you have mobility issues, keep that in mind. Also, you need closed-toed shoes
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It doesn't seem like it's an issue right now, but with bugs, I would probably recommend bug spray and sunblock
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But right now, we're not experiencing any bugs. It might be too soon to tell, though
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The first stop on our tour is White River
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it's named after that because of the high mineral content and because of the high mineral content
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no fish no frogs no snakes will grow or live in here so it's completely cold and pristine
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This tree is called the naked indian tree it's a very popular tree out here in Costa Rica
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legend has it if you give it a hug you have good luck so. Just in case they're reading it
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What was that
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It's cool. They got ladders and everything. Oh my God. Oh yeah
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Be careful of the ants. They're out because it just rained and boy do they hurt when they bite
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This is an amazing rock wall. There's caves, all kinds of stuff
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But like I said, watch out for the ants. But those ants, they sure sting. This is the Batman cave
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We're going Indiana Jones style now. We're switching to waterproof mode so you probably can't hear me that well, but we're
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about to get in the water and go see this waterfall. Are you excited, Terry
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It is so cold. It's very cold
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There we go. Okay, you can repeat that now
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That's it, that's it. It's shallow here. Yeah. This hike is so much fun even though it didn't look like I was having fun at some points
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but it's good for all ages too. Little kids, older adults, everybody. Swimming definitely helps but
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it is not required. The life jackets will save you. We totally survived the waterfall. Now we're
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making the trek back. That was absolutely amazing. I know I say that a lot. Oh still trying to walk
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but it was so refreshing so awesome the water was so powerful and man it was just a real special
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experience and terry overcame all her fears or at least faced some of them i didn't know if we
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were gonna make it some of those times but she got there she got back she got wet i couldn't be
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happier i'm so proud of her for doing it i'm glad she came here i'm glad she went on this hike i
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I didn't think she was going to do it. I thought she was going to wait in the car. So thank you, Terry, for coming
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It was a good time, even though I was terrified for 50% of it
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If it wasn't for our guide, big shout out. Alejandro was the man. He made sure we were safe there and back
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There's times where Terry was choking me out and he had to step in and save us both
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If you have any doubts about wanting to go on this trip, put those aside
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go on them even if you can't swim. Terri's terrified of water and she did it
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We'll leave all of their contact information in the description below but
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this is just one more amazing special thing that Costa Rica has to offer
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We outside of Liberia in Costa Rica just near the International Airport We just finished in an exhausting adventure at a waterfall So to give us a little pick we have another one in store for you today We at Tio Leo Coffee Farm and we gonna take a tour drink some coffee
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get some chocolate and some empanadas. They have a huge gift shop at the beginning of the tour. They
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have all kinds of arts and crafts and coffee for sale but I think we're gonna come back here after
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we're done right now it's the tour time and they highly recommend putting on bug spray so we ladder
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on pretty quick and uh hopefully we can avoid tuning mosquitoes we just finished the first
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portion of the tour and it was in-depth and it was exciting we got the history of coffee the
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history of coffee in costa rica about the imports the exports the the processes and then we learned
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about what they do here specifically at this plantation on how it's sustainable and how they
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use the byproducts to fertilize the crops and they're working diligently to find a way to
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grow coffee plants at a lower elevation but in hotter climates to adjust to any potential climate
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change down the road they're doing some really innovative things and we are comparing the smells
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of different coffees like standard coffees here versus what they're producing and i'm telling you
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I got full-blown handmade Costa Rican coffee chills. Ooh! That's exciting! But right now we're going to hold on the coffee because we've already had a cup
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and we're going to start making empanadas. So open this up and press
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Let's make this a little bit more compact
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the empanadas are in the oil now it was a mixture of red beans and coffee that sounds
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really exciting i can't wait to taste it but they're being cooked over here on open fire
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Homemade chili, at the end of you, if you'd like to get your recipe, just take my WhatsApp
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number, and I'll send you the recipe and the ingredients. Red beans. This is an amazing empanada, and the chili sauce, man, that slaps
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that turns it over the edge would recommend it's chocolate time we're going to sit down
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he's going to tell us all about chocolate we're going to learn about the history we're going to
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learn about the culture the fables the therapeutic uses of it and i can't wait originally from
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South America. Discovered growing wild in the Amazon South America by Ecuador almost 4,000 years
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ago. The indigenous people brought it to northern Central America and the first tribe in contact
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with cacao were the Almecs in Mexico. And then the Aztecs but finally the Mayans were the first
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to discover they could make a special beverage out of this. Since first time they prepared this
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drink. It was like a can of a tea with some spices. They called this drink so
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glad. It was that special when they tried that they couldn't believe that that
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was made by themselves. So they thought that that was something really special
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given by God. For that reason, they decided that this was going to be a holy
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drink. Not only the Empire could have it, but only during special ceremonies. Besides
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him, the only human being who tried this drink at the beginning was Hernan Cortes
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the Spaniard who conquers Mexico. We just found out that you're supposed to eat
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a little bit of dark chocolate every morning to replace your serotonin drops from the night before
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and chocolate was used as a currency here in Costa Rica. Teri's going to be shucking some cocoa beans
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Mmm. Mmm. You can eat the whole thing. It's like a brownie. It's like a toasted sunflower seed
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That's pretty good. Yeah. I don't even know why we're shucking them. No
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I could just eat these. Oh, you eat the whole thing? I don't know
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I didn't get the instructions. Oh, I just took the, I took the shell
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Oh, maybe I'm doing it wrong. We got another round of cacao drink
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This one they're calling iguana milk. I don't think that it's actually iguana milk just by the nature of mammals
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Oh, oh, oh, oh. I was looking through the camera. Sorry, my perception was off
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That's so good. So good. That's really good. light and chocolatey big one and grande
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so I'm going to take the nacho oh yeah it's light, aromatic, sweet
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without being overly sweet or creamy, this is nice it's even refreshing for being a hot drink
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when I'm sweating right here we've got the brown cacao underneath the leaf
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But not like super choppy It tastes a lot like chocolate covered almonds chopped up sweet nutty
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delicioso. We're now transitioning to another part of this tour. I think the
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coffee and the sugar and the chocolate's all hitting because I'm getting pretty
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excited right now. We're getting a chocolatey rub down. How's that feel? Nice exfoliating
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Terry opted out of the chocolate facial. Next part of the tour we're going to take a little walk around the property
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check out the plants, the coffee, the cacao. Let's go. This plantation is over three and a half acres
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of farm and trees and fruit and plants the coffee is here but it's sheltered by the different plants
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fruit and it is diverse guava plantains avocado anything you can imagine it's growing right here
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what do you think it's pretty cool a lot of mosquitoes This is a noni plant
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Terry get some of this in your nose. No I'm getting it
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You really should try it. So this is the coffee cherry. It's actually, these ones aren't ripe yet
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They're green rather than red but biting into it. It's still really sweet
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It's juicy. Mmm. Mmm. That's really good. Way better than the Congo chili that Terry didn't film me try because that burned my face off
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The types and varieties of plants out here is amazing. And everything smells great
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We're biting into stuff. They're tasting good. This is an experience you have to do
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We lost some of our group members first to some mosquitoes and then to a Congo pepper
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which kind of wiped the other half out. Terry and I, we're still hanging in. It's starting to dump pretty good
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So I think we're going to head back and go to the next phase of this tour
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Time to try some tamarind juice and fresh plantain. That's really good juice. It almost tastes like tea
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It's very good. Not sweet at all. Very refreshing. Plantain. That's really good
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It's almost like potato, and you guys know I love chips. It's sugar cane pressing time now
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we're about to make sugarcane juice. Two extractive juice, we use an old-fashioned sugarcane press like this
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but usually are made by using oxen, mules, donkeys, horses, cows, or tourists
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Oh wow! Sugarcane
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Sweet and cold, kind of like lemonade. That is sweet, but refreshing
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Very citrusy. We are at the culmination of the tour. It's the roasting time
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I'm here with Tio Leo
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He's the face of the business. He's going to tell you all about it
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All right. We're here. We've been expending the last three hours in here, working out with coffee, chocolate
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cooking class, and sugar cane. finishing just finishing with the coffee roasting process so what we're trying to do it's something
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very small it's a small family business that is focusing in the future trying to
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adapt deficits and plans for the future because as you know climate change is affecting worldwide
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and the scientists are being announced that by 2050 coffee is going to start disappearing if we
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don't do anything to change the global warming. So that's what we're trying to do in here
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trying to adapt seeds and plants that we brought from higher elevation and adapting them to almost
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seed level. And after 15 years, our plants are going in good progress. They are completely
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adapted. So don't worry about it in the future. You're going to have more coffee
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Thank you so much. You had a great time. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you. thank you guys we're gonna check out the souvenir shop terry found the chocolate section there are
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so many beautiful hand-done pieces of art world-class pieces of art right here in this gift
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shop if we had more space in our luggage we would definitely be picking up some of this stuff because
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it is great i think for now we're probably just gonna grab coffee and then maybe a cool mug or
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something. That was so much fun. We learned so much. We got to try plants. We tried coffee
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chocolate, everything. The food, the drinks, the tour, all of it was amazing. If you're out here
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in Costa Rica, especially if you're in Tamarindo or up in Liberia, you got to make a trip out to
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Tio Leos. He's a character. The staff is amazing. We had a great time. But if you like this video
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check out one of these other videos where we had another great time in Costa Rica. Thanks again for
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following along in this episode and join us next time when we try something else new for the first
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time don't forget to like comment and subscribe first timer high five
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