On Saturday, I went off to Puntarenas on the Pacific coast about 3.5 hours from Chepe (San Jose to the locals). From there, our group was off by catamaran to a small deserted island in the Nicoya Gulf for a day of beach fun and a fabulous luncheon. It's a great, but long (14 hours), day trip.
Sunday, we were back at it again exploring the interior. First we headed to Itazu, an active volcano. The vocano has been sleepy of late; its last eruption was actually on March 19, 1963, the day that former US Presiden
t John F. Kennedy arrived in Costa Rica. This was my first visit to an active volcano and I wasn't disappointed in what I had to see and learn from our expert bilingual guide. Of course, you move around a bit slowly at 2 miles up, the air is thin and it is cold!
I though the ascent to the crater was some of the most beautiful landscape I had seen until our day excursion continued West to Turrialba about a third of the way to Puerto Limon on the Caribbean. There we looped endlessly through the mountains. Each vista of the valley was better than the next. If someone were to dump you off in the Turrialba Valley, you might first think you were in Swtizerland - but certainly not during ski season.
We went to have lunch and tour the Hacienda Tayutic, where the Ortuna Family has grown coffee for over a century. Informative and enjoyable demonstrations of sugar cane, coffee and
macademia nut processing as done before modern factory methods are very well done. The altitude, climate and rain fall here make it the ideal climate for growing the highest quality coffee.
All in all, the weekend experiences were a great way to put Spanish into action and to see first hand the geography and cutural elements being discussed in classes.
Pura vida!
Sunday, we were back at it again exploring the interior. First we headed to Itazu, an active volcano. The vocano has been sleepy of late; its last eruption was actually on March 19, 1963, the day that former US Presiden
t John F. Kennedy arrived in Costa Rica. This was my first visit to an active volcano and I wasn't disappointed in what I had to see and learn from our expert bilingual guide. Of course, you move around a bit slowly at 2 miles up, the air is thin and it is cold! I though the ascent to the crater was some of the most beautiful landscape I had seen until our day excursion continued West to Turrialba about a third of the way to Puerto Limon on the Caribbean. There we looped endlessly through the mountains. Each vista of the valley was better than the next. If someone were to dump you off in the Turrialba Valley, you might first think you were in Swtizerland - but certainly not during ski season.
We went to have lunch and tour the Hacienda Tayutic, where the Ortuna Family has grown coffee for over a century. Informative and enjoyable demonstrations of sugar cane, coffee and
macademia nut processing as done before modern factory methods are very well done. The altitude, climate and rain fall here make it the ideal climate for growing the highest quality coffee.All in all, the weekend experiences were a great way to put Spanish into action and to see first hand the geography and cutural elements being discussed in classes.
Pura vida!
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