Orosi Valley & today

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You might have noticed that I'm having problems downloading photos from this trip. Only one downloaded so far. Ever since the connection problems I had here a week and a half ago or so this has been an issue. I'll keep trying as there are some very nice ones of Orosi Valley I have yet to try to download.

Also I forgot to mention that Maria Elena is a retired judge here in Costa Rica. So she is very educated and highly respected as well as a lot of fun! With so many universities in the country and the cost being quite affordable it is accessible to many. Instead of spending money on having an army, since 1948 they have directed more funding on education, their national parks and tourism. Just wanted to mention this again to help provide a better understanding of their culture and society.

Okay...so Maria Elena drove us through Cartago (used to be the capitol of Costa Rica before a bad earthquake) and east to the town of Orosi in the Orosi Valley. We visited the are lookout just before getting into town and took some photos of the very green valley below.

Afterwards we checked into our hotel for the night "Hotel Tapanti Media Lodge". Tapanti is a nearby National Park that we visited the next morning. Here's a link to more info about the park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapant%C3%AD_National_Park.

We did by the way visit the Lankester Botanical Gardens yesterday on our way home yesterday.....as you can imagine I have many photos to share and hope I can download them.

After checking into our hotel and having lunch we drove around the town of Orosi and stopped at the old church and took some photos. I also went through their museum. The church was built in 1743 and is the oldest church in Costa Rica that is still in use. You can just feel the history walking through there which is amplified in the museum which is housed in small building that appears to be of the same vintage. For you history buffs you can just google Orosi Church where you can read more about it.

Orosi is a very small town so it didn't take long to go on a self-guided tour. So we decided to try to head up to Tapanti Nat'l Park. We had been told that it was a mere 15 minute drive there by hotel staff. Well...we had gone a good 25+ minutes and after asking a number of locals on the street we realized it was still a ways away and it would begin to get dark in just an hour or so. So we decided to turn around and tackle that excursion in the morning.

So we went back to our hotel room where I opted to take it easy while Barb & Maria Elena went to the bar for a few hours. Of course the only Tica in our group of three slept well!

I got up around 6am and by 7:30 we were having breakfast. It was cloudy and raining and on the cool side. When we had arrived yesterday it was partly cloudy with comfortable warm temps.

We must have begun the drive to Tapanti around 9am, by then is was raining quite heavily. My friends hiked to the river and took some photos that they have promised to share with me. Due to the weather and the inclines on the hike I stayed back in the car.

Next on our agenda was to hit the Lankester Botanical Gardens on our way back to Maria Elena's home in Heredia. We found the turn off and did a self-guided tour of the gardens in the rain. It was lovely and by then it was warmer so it was comfortable walking outside. We all took many photos...again which I hope to be able to download some of on my blog. They are especially known for their orchids but quite frankly there weren't that many blooming when we were there. I've read that in nature they are most prolific just at the start of their rainy season here which would be May. So maybe we were too early. But the gardens were lovely none-the-less! Here's the link if you want to see more. http://www.1costaricalink.com/costarica/costarica-172.htm

After spending at least 1 1/2 hours at the gardens Maria Elena drove us all back to Heredia. Barb wanted to buy a few things at their Automercado, a huge store where they tend to have more Gringo-type foods and items. I ended up buying some gluten-free snack items like rice crackers as well as Baked Kettle Chips,,,,yumm!

Then to Maria Elena's home to pick up her daughter who was going to keep her mom company on the drive back from Atenas after dropping Barb and I off. We made one more stop at quite a fast food place, called Fiestas del Maiz. We each ordered a little something to eat at home or on the way. I had something that is sort of like a corn pancake. It was pretty good.

I was dropped off first at around 6pm. It was good to get back "home" as I was tired but the trip was both
interesting and enjoyable.

Today I'm doing laundry and beginning to sort through stuff prior to beginning to pack. In just 9 days I'll be leaving Costa Rica and heading to Maryland to spend a week with my sister, her family and our mom. As I'm sure I mentioned before I'm looking forward to seeing family but I will miss terribly the warm weather here, the beautiful scenery, birds, animals and of course the people I've met!

However in these last 9 days I have a few things on my calendar...possible an overnite visit from my Maryland travel companion Margie, a possible visit from my Oregon friend Jack and his Chilean girlfriend Paty and perhaps a day trip to a artisan's market near San Jose.

Ciao,
Barb

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Comments

[sis]

Very interesting. I am going to look at the links you provided.......Hope you figure out why you can't post photos... Frustrating.

[BarbinCostaRica]

I think it has to do with my...
connection not being strong enough or something. It always took a very long time and now the connection is lost before it has time to download. I think I'll just wait and download the rest from your house.