We totally (how SoCal is THAT?) went with the cruise line on this one. It was a long ride but an incredibly educational bus tour up the mountain. Costa Ricans really are an amazing people. They just "get it."
In CR, education is a right, and everybody uses that right - all the way through post graduate work! They have something like a 97% literacy rate. Our tour guide had TWO PhDs! One in ornithology and the other in something like archaeology. He worked as a tour guide for the cruise industry during the dry season and then works with National Geographic Society and Audubon Society as a field guide for research the other half of the year.
The tour for us included a stop after the volcano for lunch at a local restaurant called Jaulares, which specialized in family-style grilled meats. The other stop was in the town of Sarchi which was pleasant enough. I got A LOT of shopping done there!
But nothing will beat the view of that volcano or the gorgeous "cloud forest". There were sooo many butterflies that day..just incredible!
Careful....Costa Rica is the one country I seriously thought about "being stuck in" 
When AllieMan gets home tonight, I plan on creating a few "Cruise Galleries" of that trip. (He currently has all the pictures discs to show his fmaily in Idaho.) I'll get them posted ASAP!!!  |