SAT. 11-24 SAN JOSE
Joe and Gina left us early in the morning. Lynda and Penny took a tour of Poas Volcano, and La Paz Waterfall resort. When they returned, Luis took me to pick up Sally. I took too much time getting flowers for her, and missed her coming out of the secure area. I soon found her behind me in the reflection of the glass. We went back to the Hotel and got checked in, had a bottle of Vibrante champagne, and then dinner with Lynda and Penny. Next day everyone from the gang left and Sally and I did a similar route. We did the city tour when we got back as well.
This is a monument in honor of "The Drummer boy" Juan SantaMaria who died a hero in 1856. Although he was a mere drummer in the army, he carried the torch that eventually burned out Col. Walker's "freebooter" invaders. His image has been used over the years galvanize the the strength of the Costa Rican people to band together and keep their freedom. I find it fascinating they can do this instead of having a standing army like we do. This is probably how they can afford to fund education and Nationalize Medicine.
Danny, our new driver pointed out the National theater across the square which was originally built in 1897. While a shadow of it's former glory it apparently houses quite a museum.
Next was a stop for a cup of coffee, Or 10.......
No such thing as a free lunch I guess. We had to work for our coffee.
After harvesting, the beans are shown here entering the washing machine. This is to remove any dirt, but more importantly the hulls.
They eventually end up drying in the sun, where they must be raked frequently, and be covered if the rains come or mildew will occur.
We had a new assistant driver in training today. He came from southern Costa Rica where he actually DID work the coffee fields. His perspective was VASTLY different from that of the tour guide. He told stories of how many baskets he would have to carry to fill the large bags that they would lug up the steep muddy hills. She spoke of how fast the women could pick the beans, but left out that they even brought young children trying to make a few extra colones a day. He also laughed when she spoke of using the hull to make dyes. "Look at her wearing white. She doesn't handle the beans much. You can't get that stuff off your hands. Ours would just be black all the time". It took months before mine were like this again.
These two roasters used to prepare the beans. The funny thing is that ALL the high grade beans are exported, and only the worst are kept in the country. Starbucks is their primary export customer. They get raw beans only as they prefer to "custom roast" it themselves.
Now that we had a good buzz going on we went up to the Poas Volcano.
We definitely chilled out here. OK, it was very cold and drizzly. We weren't dressed for the weather, and neither was our assitant driver. In fact he was shivering, and ended up sick the next day.
The Volcano was spectacular.... I bet. We decided a closer look was not a good idea though.
Once we got below the clouds, the view of the San Jose valley was impressive.
I got my best view of Poas Volcano a couple days later from a different point of view.
From my personal point of view, our final tour in Costa Rica was the most beautiful place in the entire country. It is called The La Paz Waterfall Gardens Every room even has a Jacuzzi and "waterfall shower". I could have spent a week here, but They limit visits to a maximum of 4 days to force you to see the rest of the country. Of course at $300+/night I couldn't have afforded it. Day passes were only $29, so we spent the afternoon running through to see as much as we could. The place was incredible, but we were moving so fast, I took WAY too few pictures.. Lush gardens, animal displays of every type, waterfalls, and good food. What else could you ask for?
As we entered the gigantic aviary, these guys flew over to the platform to "make friends".
These guys were too busy making out to be bothered with mere humans. This playing around continued until we left 20 min. later.
I've already got an Amazon parrot and knew it was smarter to get this one off my shoulder before I lost anything... Like an ear. The guide was surprised that I handled the bird at all he was removing them from the unwary tourists. Sally's earrings were especially tempting to the Macaw!
The Grey was content just to walk around squawking at us. I have no idea what kind of bird this is.
Toucans are just amazing!
This one was VERY friendly. We bonded right away, and he climbed right over to the wire to be scratched.
The diversity of animals here just has to be experienced to be believed.
Every time you think you have seen the strangest thing, there is something else.
Next were the butterflys. Can you see the eye of the "bird's head" on this one?
Who said hummingbirds never sit still?
They had a herpetarium too, but we were running out of time..... and LIGHT! There was so much to see at this place. This particular photo of the blue legged red frog reminded me of two weeks before out at the river with Luis finding this same frog in the wild. It drove home to me that so many thimgs I saw here I'd already seen in the wild during the past two weeks driving around the countryside.
It REALLY struck me when security stepped in to tell me no flash photography, and wouldn't let me get certain angles for photos. I was humbled to so fortunate to have seen so many things in the wild thanks to Luis and company.
Luis gave us the option to take the waterfall trail with the guide who had never been here before. He figured we would be able to make the 1.5 mi. down to where he would pick us up before dark. YEAH RIGHT!
Night closed in about 3/4 way down the trail, and was VERY dark
by the time we made it down to the final falls.
2 of the places I was glad NOT to enter in Costa Rica: Taco Bell, and The American Embassy. EITHER could have spelled trouble.
That's the good old UNITED STATES of AMERICA on the horizon!!!!!
