Dorka Coffee Plantation, Volcan Poas, La Paz Waterfall Gardens

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The alarm starts beeping at 5:15am to let me know it's time to wake up. I jump in the shower and my body is severely asking for caffeine, too bad I don't drink coffee or tea. 5:50am rolls around and I put my valuables in the safe. It was highly recommended to do that while you are away from the hotel. My tourism bus is about 10 minutes late, but after noticing yesterday's insane traffic I seriously can't blame them. They read off the roll sheet to make sure we have everyone. After all is accounted for we leave and head to Dorka Coffee Plantation to see how coffee is grown and made. I'm the only one on the bus that is by themselves and it's quickly noticed by the other tourists.

We get to Dorka and they have a buffet typical Costa Rican breakfast waiting for us in the restaurant. I'm dying for a pepsi or some water, but I only see coffee and tea. Hello I'm an american, we drink more things than that, LOL. The Germans are happy with their extra strong coffee and the Brits are def going for the tea. I wonder if they realize they are cementing their Countries stereotypes? I leave the restaurant and look at the plant life. I start taking pictures until I find a Banana tree. OMG how I wished they were ripe 😊 Our tour guide ends up being our driver, he does a fabulous day through out the day. He tells us that it takes 5 years for one coffee plant to be mature enough grow beans. He then states that when a plant becomes 25 years old they are burned and new plants come in. I guess coffee really is a pain to do as a start up... who knew? We go to where they separate the high quality beans from the awful quality beans. How do you know the difference? High quality beans sink to the bottom of a chamber of water and the disregarded beans float. Once they are separated they get washed, then they dry out for 3 days to one week depending on the weather. If it's raining they go in a device that acts like a heater that dries them out. What gives the beans their aroma? It all depends on how long they are roasted for, 10-20 mins determines the strength of the coffee. So now when I see someone drink it, I can tell them how that little bean got to them 😊 Our tour guides lets us know that the government requires everyone to make at least 500 dollars a month. It's illegal to make less than that. The tour guide gives us about 15mins to shop in the gift shop. I buy a rather pretty ceramic mug for 13 dollars. It's amazing how so many things are in dollars. We load back onto the bus and he tells us we have about an hour to get to Volcan Poas.



On our way up the volcano we stop to get some water and fresh strawberries. Strawberries are everywhere in the Costa Rican Highlands. I've also noticed while driving up the mountain that the homes are getting larger and more modern. There are still a ton of box like homes, but it's nice to see the little customs of home every once and a while. I'm able to look inside one of the smaller homes and it looks like a studio home. I start to ponder, maybe the reason Ticos are soo happy is because they have perfected the minimalist mentality. It's when we get back on the bus that the PhD British lady gets on and complains about the plastic bags we are all using. I mention that the legislature passed a plastic bag ban and she goes that's great, there's this gyro in the Pacific Ocean .... blah blah blah. I finally job in with the rest of my words and explain that the people of California are trying to overturn it. This starts the GREAT political debate on the tour. She starts going off on the Koch Brothers, Fox News, Rednecks and Conservative of course. I go excuse me, but are you a liberal by american terms? You seem to think you know a lot about the conservative party. She looks at me in a quizzical way. Her partner goes madam why do you ask? I state when someone bases an entire political party based off of what they see in the media, then one truly doesn't know the party. She loudly exclaims that she has a PhD but refuses to tell me what it is. We banter back and forth and I finally say, Ma'am you live in England, you don't live in the United States, therefore you know nothing about my party and our beliefs. You are basing your knowledge off of the Tea Party and that's only a fraction of the membership. Until you vote, and live here full time volunteering your every hour, your PhD is useless on this particular subject. Would you be insulted if I told you how politics is run in England and I got it fully mixed up and wrong? By this time we reach the Volcan Poas National Park and we finally get off the bus. The winds are howling and its still early morning around 10am. I am soooo happy that I brought a long sleeve shirt with me. I take a ten minute stroll to the crater of the volcano. I get to the crater and it's one of those rare days where the sun is shining and there are no low clouds keeping us from seeing the water in the crater. I can smell the sulfur in the air, it's not too strong since the Trade winds are blowing it in the opposite direction. The tour group and I take a ton of photos of the crater and then we embark on a 1hr hike to a lake near the crater. I love hiking, I can do it all day long with one exception, I don't like to be on a time crunch and have to speed walk the entire 1hr. Speed walking at 7,000ft is not fun! Out of breath, the NYU students and I stop and take pictures of the lake. I suddenly realize we can't go down there and I'm like why did I just speed walk here if I can't go down there? My new companions from NYU and I continue down the trail through the rainforest and we are talking about how they are on spring break and their life in New York City. The 5 of us get off the trail long enough to catch the bus.



La Paz is the highlight of the trip because of the gorgeous rainforest waterfalls. We get to La Paz Resort and its absolutely amazing. It's a place I could seriously do a honeymoon at. We go on the concrete path to the aviary and we are able to hold a Toucan! He was soooo adorable. Our next area we head to is the butterfly garden. My first thought was WOW I finally get to experience the butterflies and Alana and Patrick aren't here with me 😞 I spend an awful lot of time with the butterflies because they are absolutely gorgeous. After I leave there, it's monkey time. Thank God they are in cages. One of the spider monkey's looks at me and I swear he's plotting a monkey take over of the planet with monkey ESP. Seriously this is a thing and scientists know this. I reach lunch and its another buffet style. This time the food is actually good and there's stuff I can eat, YAY! I pig out and meet my fellow travelers from Mexico. We attempt to talk to each other, but neither knows the others language very well. Story of my life. I leave lunch early so I can have some extra time at the waterfalls. I follow the concrete trail and it takes me to an Orchid area. HOLY BANANAS!!!! How did they know I was obsessed with orchids? Very few of them were actually blooming, but it was nice to see them in their natural habitat as a parasite on other plants. I skip the snake exhibit because they are evil and creep me out! Finally I get to the first waterfall and it is amazing. I quickly take out my camera and act as if the waterfall was going to dry up asap. Snap ... snap ... snappity ... snap ... snap. Before I know I've already gone through over 30 photos. I continue to the bridge and notice I can walk along the river at my risk. I jump at that opportunity and find a boulder to climb on to get a better view of the river and waterfall. By this time a couple has seen what I am doing and they come on the boulder as well. I leave the rock and continue on the trail to the next waterfall. This one isn't as tall, but it allows you to become personable with it. It allows you to go behind the falls. After another round of snap ... snap ... snappity ... snap I reach my final waterfall, here I start seeing people from my tour. The third falls is a waterfall at the head of the converging of two rivers. It's not as spectacular of the last two, but its still pretty amazing. I leave the final waterfall and realize that I have a million steps I have to go up on. I steady my footwork and yet the steps are killing me. I'm out of breath, I'm sore, and I seriously never want to experience another set of stairs ever again. I get back to the bus and I don't even care that there is a gift shop. I want to fall asleep, I want to sit, yes I know i'm out of shape. It's 4pm and we load up to head back to San Jose.



As we are driving back to San Jose I see circled barbed wire fencing on the roofs and side of homes. Do they have that large of a security problem down here that you need fencing like that? Or are they just being cautious? Finally I'm at the hotel and I'm glad, however I realize that I need some sunscreen and toothpaste for the morning. UGH! I look on my phone to find the closest walmart and its 3 miles away. I go to the front of the hotel and I'm able to catch a cab, however he doesn't speak english. I really wish I had paid more attention to spanish. A gentleman comes over and translate for us, yes I secretly think he's an angel for helping me. I get to Walmart and its MASSIVE! I notice everything is in spanish, there is no english, but my 3 years at wally world are finally useful. They store layout is exactly the same as every store in America. I have to give it to the corporation for keeping this consistent. I go to the cash register and the woman there doesn't know english either. A CSM manager comes over and is able to help out. I stupidly left my ID in the hotel room and they weren't going to accept my credit card without an ID. Again this isn't America, they actually check ID's. I leave Walmart and finally get to the hotel to have dinner. I go into the bar and they have a futbol game on. I guess its futbol season already. The game ends and they start playing 70's and 80's music, mostly focusing on the Bee Gee's and Michael Jackson. I had thought with being born in 1981 that I was lucky to miss the disco era, evidently it's in Costa Rica. Staying alive comes on and I start doing air CPR to the beat. In case none of you know this, if you go along with the Staying Alive beat its the precise correct amount of chest compressions per minute. War's Low Rider music video pops on and I start cracking up. A cowboy hat on a him and he's driving a hydraulics car in the ghetto??? SO much is wrong with all of that, that it made me crack up.

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