Costa Rica Birthday Vacation IV

Today was a travel day.

We were picked up at 7.40am. We drove a short distance to Lake Arenal where we boarded a boat. The 30 minute ride across the lake was relaxing and enjoyable. There were about 12 people on the boat. We saw some interesting birds while on board.

We then got into a minivan to drive to Monteverde. The roads were horrendous. We could only make around 20mph. The scenery, however, was wondeful; rolling hills, green valleys, little towns, small forestsn coffee plantations and cool blue sky. We stopped after 40 minutes of bone jarring, bumpy travel for a bathroom break and some coffee. We also took the opportunity to buy some tours because we were told it would be less expensive there; BS, it was exactly the same! The coffe was made the traditional Costa Rican way through a standing filter. It was delicious.

We endured the next 40 minutes before we arrived in San Elena. We were dropped off at the wrong place. Earle and I had to wander down the hill to find our hotel. It wasn't far.

After settling in, we walked the short distance to the town centre. It is a backpackers' paradise. The Treehouse restaraunt is very pretty, but pretty expensive, so we had a look and left. On the advice of a local, we ate empanadas at a kiosk in the town. The food was amazing. We would never have thought to eat anything there.

We then walked to the small part of town where Lara and Daniel stayed. We decided to come back there for dinner at the Soda Sobar Tipico. We then walked back to our hotel, but stopped at a coffee bar where we saw them roasting the coffee beans. It turns out that the owner is an American expat, married to a Costa Rican. We will return to try the coffee.

We then went to a coffee tour at La Trapiche. I thought it was going to be a rip off and a waste of time. It was fantastic! It is a family owned and run coffe plantation. They showed us the entire process from growing the coffee to processing, grading and roasting the coffee. They also showed us the same detail for sugar cane. They gave us coffee, local foods made from other plants on their farm and juice. It was most informative and enjoyable.

We raced back to our hotel, where we were picked up for a wondrous night tour of the rain forest. In a small group we walked through the forest seeing birds, huge rodents, sloths, frogs, insects and even a baby python, which we got to pick up and handle.

We were dropped off at the Soda Sabor Tipico. We took with two young Americans we met on our adventurous drive that morning. The food was excellent, the service was friendly and the prices were considerably lower than in the main town. The entire meal for five of us with shared starters, a main course each, two beers and three mixed fruit drinks was $40!!

We took a cab back to the hotel and passed out exhausted!