Volcanoes And Coffee
Nini and I spent just one day in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca since it didn't interest either of us very much, and parted ways after one night in San José. I was more keen to use the nearby town of Alajuela as my base to explore the surrounding areas of Costa Rica than a big city.
It turned out a disappointment at first, as I was expecting a town, not a busy place that was more like a suburb of San José. You couldn't tell where either ended or began on the bus ride between. And most places I wanted to visit were as easily, or more easily, arranged from San José anyway!
I found Cortéz Azul Hostel by accident and was glad to have stayed in a quiet homely place like it. Belonging to an artist, it was decorated with his personal work including sculptures, paintings and cute mosaic tiling in the bathroom and kitchen. The kitchen was basic but more than adequate and located in a cute backyard patio, the perfect kind of place I was looking to chill out in.
I had limited time to spend anywhere since Carnaval in Brazil was approaching fast and I had the rest of Central America and Cuba to visit still (I decided to cancel the original Mexico plans due to the time constraint, unfortunately), and I found a tour that involved all the things I wanted to see.
The first stop was the Doka Estate Coffee Farm where we had a typical Costa Rican breakfast and sampled the different coffee brews made there. The European blend was probably my favorite. Development stages of the coffee plant and stages of processes were explained to us while we toured the place, and my favorite part was visiting the roasting house. If you love the smell of coffee in the morning, you will die from the heavenly aroma that is coffee roasting!
We weren't over with food, because on the way to Volcan Poás, we sampled strawberries almost as good as Argentina's Salta, wine, cheese and coffee liquer. Volcan Poás was disappointing due to the fog and light rain; it was impossible to see the lake at the bottom of the crater, but it was a lovely walk through the park at any rate.
The highlight was La Paz Waterfall Gardens. The waterfall itself was pretty, but the rest of the gardens was far more interesting. It housed a large aviary which you could walk through, as well as a butterfly house, reptile zoo, enclosures of monkeys and wild cats, and probably best, a hummingbird garden. The buffet lunch was huge, delicious and included.
Because I had seen all I wanted to see in one full day, I had an extra day before heading to Playa Tamarindo for Christmas. I decided to go back to San José for a night and see another volcano.
From across the street of Gran Hotel San José, I caught the tourist bus to Volcan Irazú for 6USD return. It took about two and a half hours to get there. On the way, it passed through the town of Cartago which I thought would be worth a quick visit on the way back.
The weather was constantly changing on the trip to the volcano. Sunny in San José, overcast in Cartago, sunny on the way up the mountain, then foggy as we drove through a cloud layer, then sunny once we were above it. The trip was great just to see the mountain views and farms, and it was such a lovely country thing when the driver tooted his happy horn and the farming community waved back at him.
At the gate to the park, it was $10 and there was plenty of time to see the crater before the bus returned. Deep, with sparse vegetation clinging onto the rocks, the crater had a green lake at the bottom. It was quite cool up there, though the sun was strong and warm. The land at the top was dry mostly, with volcanic gravel and rocks surrounded on one side by cliffs with dense foliage, and on the other, the crater. In the middle was a small field of yellow grass.
I stopped at Cartago on the way back and visited the Basilica, a large church with attractive domes, and Las Ruinas, which were basically a hollowed out stone church without a roof and plants climbing all over it. It was pretty, with lovely gardens inside and out, but over-run with tourists.
It turned out a disappointment at first, as I was expecting a town, not a busy place that was more like a suburb of San José. You couldn't tell where either ended or began on the bus ride between. And most places I wanted to visit were as easily, or more easily, arranged from San José anyway!
I found Cortéz Azul Hostel by accident and was glad to have stayed in a quiet homely place like it. Belonging to an artist, it was decorated with his personal work including sculptures, paintings and cute mosaic tiling in the bathroom and kitchen. The kitchen was basic but more than adequate and located in a cute backyard patio, the perfect kind of place I was looking to chill out in.
I had limited time to spend anywhere since Carnaval in Brazil was approaching fast and I had the rest of Central America and Cuba to visit still (I decided to cancel the original Mexico plans due to the time constraint, unfortunately), and I found a tour that involved all the things I wanted to see.
The first stop was the Doka Estate Coffee Farm where we had a typical Costa Rican breakfast and sampled the different coffee brews made there. The European blend was probably my favorite. Development stages of the coffee plant and stages of processes were explained to us while we toured the place, and my favorite part was visiting the roasting house. If you love the smell of coffee in the morning, you will die from the heavenly aroma that is coffee roasting!We weren't over with food, because on the way to Volcan Poás, we sampled strawberries almost as good as Argentina's Salta, wine, cheese and coffee liquer. Volcan Poás was disappointing due to the fog and light rain; it was impossible to see the lake at the bottom of the crater, but it was a lovely walk through the park at any rate.
The highlight was La Paz Waterfall Gardens. The waterfall itself was pretty, but the rest of the gardens was far more interesting. It housed a large aviary which you could walk through, as well as a butterfly house, reptile zoo, enclosures of monkeys and wild cats, and probably best, a hummingbird garden. The buffet lunch was huge, delicious and included.Because I had seen all I wanted to see in one full day, I had an extra day before heading to Playa Tamarindo for Christmas. I decided to go back to San José for a night and see another volcano.
Cartago And Volcan Irazú
From across the street of Gran Hotel San José, I caught the tourist bus to Volcan Irazú for 6USD return. It took about two and a half hours to get there. On the way, it passed through the town of Cartago which I thought would be worth a quick visit on the way back.
The weather was constantly changing on the trip to the volcano. Sunny in San José, overcast in Cartago, sunny on the way up the mountain, then foggy as we drove through a cloud layer, then sunny once we were above it. The trip was great just to see the mountain views and farms, and it was such a lovely country thing when the driver tooted his happy horn and the farming community waved back at him.
At the gate to the park, it was $10 and there was plenty of time to see the crater before the bus returned. Deep, with sparse vegetation clinging onto the rocks, the crater had a green lake at the bottom. It was quite cool up there, though the sun was strong and warm. The land at the top was dry mostly, with volcanic gravel and rocks surrounded on one side by cliffs with dense foliage, and on the other, the crater. In the middle was a small field of yellow grass.I stopped at Cartago on the way back and visited the Basilica, a large church with attractive domes, and Las Ruinas, which were basically a hollowed out stone church without a roof and plants climbing all over it. It was pretty, with lovely gardens inside and out, but over-run with tourists.
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