First Looks at Costa Rica´s Natural Beauty

Yesterday we indulged in the Poas Volcano, Cataratas Water Falls, Coffee Plantation, Aviary and caged monkey tour. We did see a little bit of a lot of things...and yes, Costa Rica is a very green country! Green ecologically (recycling bins are everywhere) and green with its thick wet verdant jungle.

The coffee export business took a huge leap 15 years ago when Costa Rica began to roast its own coffee. These days everything but decaf is processed, roasted and ground locally. Decaf involves water-filtration equipment that´s very expensive. Here beans can be processed abroad (Holland) and then returned for a variety of roasting options (Italian, French, etc.). A local speciality is peaberry--it´s quite potent...and delicious.

The Poas Volcano was enveloped in clouds when we arrived. Nonetheless some of us (we were in a group of eight travellers), walked out to a lake vista. After shooting a series of photos of the lake, I walked up to another vista and noted a sign which announced a loop trail back to the visitors center\parking lot. I began to walk. Pretty soon I noticed that NO ONE ELSE had taken this option...and that it would be a very long walk. By that time it seemed like it would take even longer to retrace my steps so I continued walking. The jungle was thick...and to calm myself down, I took photos. Yes, I believe some gorgeous ones. I arrived back to a slightly irrate driver (I was 15 minutes late).

Afterwards we were shuttled to a huge complex that houses tropical birds, captive monkeys, butterflies and a huge number of hummingbirds. Yes, we got upclose (and personal) with some gorgeous toucans who pretty-much held their poses for the numerous photo-ops that come their way. The monkeys included playful capuchins and wily spider monkeys. I could have watched them for hours, but we were beckoned to a sumptuous buffet with all of Costa Rica´s best. After gorging on tropical fruit, salad, casado (a tasty marriage of rice and black beans), chicken stew, sweet plantains in a carmel sauce, we retired for a visit to the very impressive Cataratas Waterfalls. These included a hike (which was easy relative to my morning self-guided tour) and a lot of afternoon rain. Within minutes my "waterproof" jacket soaked through and I became one with the tropics. Through the torrents of rain we shot photos. Eventually we were collected and returned to our hostel. I was wet, tired and not at all hungry. I passed on dinner and slept 10 hours.