Coffee and volcanoes
The New Year is coming soon and summing up the year, I decided to remember and describe our trip to Costa Rica with DSBW tours, which took place in July this year, but it brought a lot of impressions, but first things first (and to make it convenient - in order of the program of our tour, not to miss anything)
Day 1: The flight to San Jose is, of course, very long and tiring. But after meeting at the airport, we already felt much better. As caring parents of small children, representatives of the meeting party took us under the arms and took us to spend the night at the Barcelo Palacio 5 * hotel. The hotel is awesome! Around the hotel there is a huge garden with wild bananas, Eritrea, pandanuses and other exotics, a sports center and a swimming pool (a special delight is to swim in it after the flight, I recommend it). Wi-fi is available, but only in the lobby - the only drawback.
Day 2 began with the cries of parrots sitting on a palm tree near the room, so everyone should take note - be prepared for such alarm clocks) For breakfast, of all the exotics offered, I especially liked fried bananas. Next on the agenda is a visit to the Doka coffee plantation. Although we chose the season and not entirely successful (July, and coffee ripens in January-February), we liked everything very much, the height is tolerated quite well, in this zone you begin to feel it only after 3000 meters. Made an impression of coffee mixed with oranges, lemons and hydrangeas. They showed us the cooking process, gave everything to try and touch. As great lovers, we also tasted all four varieties. And here we saw real hummingbirds for the first time in Costa Rica. The next point on the route of the Volcan Poas National Park is a representative of cloudy tropical forests, it looks like something in between a Jurassic Park and a Baba Yaga forest, it’s good to shoot all sorts of horror films: you walk as if in clouds, and when they dissipate, you wait for someone to appear from behind tree, but nothing large is found here, because of the density of forests, but there are a lot of birds.
On the 3rd day we were waiting for a rise of 3200 meters - the Irazu volcano. Here the height was felt immediately, right up to dizziness. The crater impressed, the slopes are unusually beautiful and everything is in flowers - you can safely say about them “a colorful carpet”. Of the three craters, we looked at 2, including the deepest - the Diego de la Aya crater. Lancaster Gardens - a large collection of orchids and heliconias, bromeliads and ficuses, in general, a nice botanical garden. The Orosi Valley is beautiful, the slopes of the volcanoes that make it up are completely covered with coffee plantations. I don't remember which hotel we stayed in, but it was great.
Day 4 and the most unreal volcano of the whole trip - Turrialba: active, with ash, hydrogen sulfide oozes from cracks in the ground, the soil is warm, we were even shown the village burned by the last eruption. The Arenal Paraiso Resort & Spa is not good at all. There are ants in the room - from tiny to huge, far from the reception and the spa. The spa is not bad, but the thermal pools are small and there are too many people in them.
The next day we went to Arenal, a dormant volcano. There is no lava in it, but there is a magnificent tropical forest. Tabacon Sources - WOW! Natural hot river, with equipped slopes on the banks and other cultural things, buzz! The water is slightly sour, hot and with such a decent flow and bubbles - like a real jacuzzi (I recommend : )).
On the 6th day again a hike and again a volcano (according to the name of the program). Volcano on this day Tenorio. Hiking through the rainforest and a difficult climb (be prepared) you feel like a pioneer and discoverer - you saw and heard toucans, flocks of noses ran through. While wandering through the rainforest, we saw the Ceiba tree - a real prototype of the avatar tree, it really exists and really grows in Costa Rica! The Rio Celeste is actually blue, as if it had been tinted. We also saw stick insects and sloths from living creatures. Hotel Tenorio Lodge - liked it, even would like to return. The houses are cozy, a huge reception with a terrace, and under the window near our house there was a bush, around which hummingbirds constantly circled.
The next volcano on the program of the last days is Rincó n de la Vieja. We didn't really like the hotel, more for students somehow. Comfort -4, service - 2. There are thermal springs in the river, we smeared ourselves with healing mud there. It is acidic and good as a peeling. The valley of the volcano is simply extraordinary, everything breathes and boils, because the volcano is active. It is interesting here to look at mineral paints of all colors.
Well, that's all, on the 9th day we went to San Jose through the dry part of Costa Rica, somewhere along the way we saw Macaw parrots, and our adventures ended, a completely different world began...