Panama Canal Day 8

Today we arrived in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. I was up bright and early as I had a tour booked, an 8 hour one called “Discover Costa Rica”. We were transported by bus to a town many miles away from port. We visited the town’s square and spotted a sloth way up high in the trees. There was also an iguana watching the tourists going by. Across from the park, we stopped to view the outside and inside of a large church.

Our next stop was at the Doka Coffee Plantation. It is a large property and workers are housed in nearby homes. We had lunch there first, then went to learn about the methods used to grow the coffee, harvest the beans, and process them. I was quite surprised at what goes into the making of coffee. Now I understand the term, ‘fair trade coffee’ and what makes it so expensive.

Our final stop of the tour was at an orchid farm.

They had some colourful parrots on display, as well as a multitude of amazing and wonderful trees, plants and flowers. They had areas of bamboo, my favourite! Their height was incredible, as was the diameter of each shoot. It was not the same type as I had seen in Maui. Rather, it was ‘Giant Bamboo’ from Burma with the capacity to grow 20 centimeters in height per week. Bamboo is actually a giant grass and has the ability to absorb more carbon dioxide and release more oxygen than any other plant on earth.

The weather today was a surprise - overcast and warm but not overly humid. Everywhere in Costa Rica it is lush and green. We went to almost 4500 feet above sea level. Costa Rica has mountains and active volcanoes, and it is also earthquake country with daily tremors (which we did not experience thankfully).

It was a long day and I did not realize how far we would travel. We got back to the dock just in time to buy a few postcards and shoot some wonderful sunset pictures. The beach was dotted with kids and families running in and out of the water and it made for some great photos, composition-wise.

I grabbed a quick supper upstairs and went to the excellent evening entertainment – “The Second City” comedy and improve – a great way to end the day.