What a day!

Mon. 8th Sept.
I woke up very early to all the street sounds, Rafa and Grace, his wife, live right on a busy street so you hear very clearly all day and night, cars, buses people walking by within a foot of your window and of course those dang motorbikes! Everyone else was still asleep so I just watched the city wake up around me, people walking to work, etc., at one point up the hill came an army of men and women each with a wheelbarrow, shovel and broom. I guessed and rightfully so they are the street cleaners, they do a great job for the streets are really clean even with all the people and mass chaos. This was also my first look at Alajuela, so everything was super fascinating to me.

Grace made us the usual breakfast of fruit, Watermelon, Mango, Papaya and Banana, buttered breads and juice with hot tea or coffee. Rafa took the day off work to show us around and help us exchange our money into the local currency which is 'Colones' the current exchange rate is 549 Colones to 1 dollar. So let me tell you, you think you are one fat cat when he hands you a wad of bills that have numbers like 1,000 5,000 and 10,000 printed on them, however it gets to be a shock when you first pay for something that costs say $16.00 and your total bill is 9,000 colones! Your mind automatically computes 9,000 dollars and you suddenly feels real sick to your stomach, but you get used to it...so they tell me. Another thing at the bank that struck me was the fact that all the guards are young and carrying Uzis, these guys aren't worn out retired cops with 38's, they mean business!

Our first stop was Volcan Poas, its a semi inactive volcano outside of Alajuela, this was a great drive up into the mountains with lots of interesting things to see that really give the atmosphere I was expecting. We got to Poas and had to walk up a steady incline to the top of the Volcano, but it was worth the hike and we found our selves staring several hundred feet down into the Volcano, it was full of blue/green water that was steaming, and a very strong Sulphur odor...I still think that was Kevin but he swears it wasn't. Rafa said the water is about 140 degrees and the last time it erupted was in 1963 when Pres. Kennedy was there, just as he began his speech it erupted and rained ash down on everyone like snow. The locals tongue-in-cheek blamed Kennedy. After Volcan Poas we hike another 1.5 miles up an even steeper incline to a massive lagoon, this water feeds into the volcano and helps to keep it cool enough it doesn't erupt, much like a radiator in a car.

We then went to an animal park, they have huge walk in living areas for all kinds of native wildlife, anything from Monkeys to small Frogs and Butterflies. We ate a great lunch there that was buffet style of mainly local foods but they also had Hamburgers and Hot dogs for the tourists. We also saw about 6 diff. waterfalls at the same site, we walked down and down and down, all very fantastic views, (again some great photos but I can't get them loaded) but thank God there was a bus waiting for us to take us back up the hill.

Next was a tour of a coffee plantation. Coffee is one of Costa Rica's main export and it is everywhere. We went to the Doaka (i think thats the spelling) plantation which is one of the oldest and largest coffee makers in Costa Rica, they supply the largest amount to Starbucks but sell all over the world too. The tour took and hour and it was just Kevin and I with the guide but it was really interesting and I learned a whole lot about coffee I didn't know...I won't bore you with it all though. And we did all this by 4:30 pm!

On the way up that morning we saw lots of school kids all over every little village and town, all in uniform but I got to noticing they were there all day long, so I asked Rafa about it, he said they go 1/2 days. One group goes in the morning and the other half goes in the afternoon, then every 2 weeks they change. He then pointed out something about every city or village in Costa Rica. He said every town has 4 important things in them and they are, in order of importance
1. Church 2. Soccer field 3. Municipal building 4. School! At least they have school listed in there somewhere.

We got back to Alajuela just in time for rush hour traffic. This was the most amazing and somewhat terrifing thing I have seen, the only thing that could have made it worse is if I had been driving. I can't describe the carnage and won't even try.

Well I could go on and on but I am tired, Kevin and I rented a car today and drove up to another volcano, I'll give its name tomorrow and more details, right now I am looking out the back patio of our room watching hot lave flow down the side, Kevin is up at the pool, so I'm going to go up there, have drink or two at the pool bar, soak in the hot tub and enjoy the view.

talk to you tomorrow,
Don