Kaydee, Grace, David and I left school at 7 am with Victor, the tour guide, to go on our trip. We all fit in Victor's personal SUV, so no bus this time! It only took 2 hours to get to our destination. On the way to Poas volcano, we stopped at a coffee plantation. It was huge! And of course, I got a cup of coffee. Black with milk. Delicious! The coffee plants were about as tall as a full grown corn stalk. I learned that coffee plants can live and produce coffee beans for 15 years! And, the coffee beans are only picked once per year. Once! Victor said it's usually around October. They also have to pick them by hand, there are no machines or tools to help them.
After the plantations, we went to Poas volcano. Poas is an active volcano with the 2nd largest crater in the world (after Japan). We first went to a museum about it. It talked about the 5 different kinds of forests in Costa Rica: rain, dry, cloud, humid, and I can't remember the other one. There's also a Ring of Fire (no Dad, not Johnny Cash!). There volcanoes in the world make a circle.
From the museum, we walked up a path to the crater. Once we got to the top, it smelled so bad. It smelled like rotten eggs! Someone said it was because of the amount of sulfur in the volcano. There was also a ton of smoke pouring out of the crater. It was breathtaking how big it was. It was a weird feeling knowing that there was lava right underneath me!
Next, we walked up a path to go to the Botos Lagoon. It's 400 meters in diameter and 14 meters deep. The water temperature is about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I thought it would be warmer! And the altitude we were at was 2,620 meters above sea level. It was actually harder to breathe because we were up so high. The lagoon is an extinct volcanic crater that is filled with rainwater. It still has traces of acidity so only a few algae and microorganisms can live in it.
Then, we went to La Paz Waterfall Garden. It was about a 40 minute drive to get there from the volcano. First, we ate a huge buffet lunch. It was at a resort that was about $150 per person to stay there. We got it for cheaper since we didn't stay the night there. For lunch, they had french fries, pizza, garlic bread, fresh pineapple!!, watermelon, rice, chicken, tacos, salad, platanos, and rice pudding. It was pretty good!
After lunch, we went to the animal reserve at the resort. It was kind of like a big zoo. We saw butterflies, hummingbirds, snakes (including really poisonous vipers and rattlesnakes!), monkeys, frogs, and parrots. We also saw toucans. The toucan actually sat on my arm! We saw mountain lions/cougars/pumas, too. I had no idea that mountain lions are also called pumas and cougars. It was huge and scary. It's weird to know that we have them in Iowa! We also saw jaguars. We saw baby ones that were about the size of a normal house cat. They were so cute! Then we saw the mom jaguar. She was HUGE. Her nose alone was about the size of my fist.
After the animal reserve, we hiked through the forest on a path and saw 3 waterfalls. We couldn't get near these waterfalls because they were too dangerous, but they were really pretty. It was raining, though, when we went to see the waterfalls. We got soaked even though we had an umbrella and rain jacket. Then, we drove home. When I got home, my mama tica's family was here since it's her birthday. I walked in the front door to the living room and her whole family just stared at me. So of course I said awkwardly "...Hola!" :)
Sara and I just ate dinner. It was so good! We had a rice and chicken casserole, ham and cheese (with cream cheese) sandwiches, salad with mango in it, and chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. Yum!!! Argelis was telling us how she went out and danced with her family. Apparently, there was a really old man there who didn't want to dance because he couldn't even walk. She said that if she would have even touched him, he would have fallen over. She thought it was the funniest thing ever. And tonight she was wearing the bracelet that we got her.
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| Drinking coffee on the plantation! |
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| Poas volcano. |
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| The lagoon. |
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