Friday, Feb 17
I woke up super early because I had booked another bird guide for 5:30am. Val declined, she had had enough bird tours for one town. But he never showed up. So, at 6 I gave up and went back to bed. Val woke me up at 8 so I could get in on free breakfast that comes with our room. Good breaky.
Since we had the bulk of the day to kill, we decided to walk to a gift shop we had seen when we drove back from our Night Walk the previous evening. It had been dark and the driver was a maniac who drove manically so we weren't quite sure where it was but since there is only one road, we figured we could find it. We headed out around 10am.
We walked and walked, the paved road ended and still we walked the dusty highway of life/Monteverde. We walked for over an hour (with a toucan break or two). We finally found it, Rosewood Souvenirs. We walked in and it was full of wood bowls. Wood is a big product here. There are lots of beautiful coloured woods, reds, yellows, purple, green, tan, brown. So, the wood products are especially gorgeous. I had not particularly planned on buying any bowls but I had to admit they were very pretty.
The woman working there greeted us and saw our sweaty red faces. She couldn't believe we had walked and then we had come all that way just to find her little shop based on a drive by sighting. She called in her husband. He had an orchid garden in the back and she asked of if we would like him to take us on a tour. Uh, yea! It was like a little forest in their back garden. We say toucanets and motmots. And so many orchids. But not the big gaudy kind you can buy in Canada. Some were so tiny you could barely see them. I have a million pictures of flowers so I will pre-apologize again for the inundation.
Then he asked if we would like to see his wood shop where he makes all of the bowls. Uh, yea! Super cool. Would we like to try making a bowl? Uh, yea!
Would we like to try some sugar cane? Uh, yea!. A carrot from his garden (which he washed in mud basically)? Uh, yea!
We finally let him go back to work and headed into the shop where, now that we saw how the bowls made and met the man who made them, we wanted to buy some. And take pictures. But then, before I could let my pile of bowls get too big, he waved me over, there was a cool bird at the feeder (a hollowed out log). Did I want to see? Uh, yea! That feeder was crazy with birds. Euphorias, a tanager, an oriole, a pair of Hoffman's woodpeckers. More pictures.
I bought five bowls before we left. Val bought two bowls and some jewelry made by the wife. And I may have bought a little bag but don't tell Lea. We were running out of time before out next tour at 2:45 if we wanted to get lunch first, so the owners called us a cab. But not before we got to meet their daughter and new grandbaby. I think we may be the godparents.
We took the cab back into town to the Beer House, which had noticed serves craft beer. We decided that was a good reason to go there for lunch. I had mango beer and Val had chilli beer. I had Orange soup (carrot, pumpkin, ginger, tumeric with a whole wheat pita) and Val had Shakshuka (a yummy combo of tomato, eggs, cheese). Expensive but worth the splurge. I also bought a bracelet which I am wearing right now.
Since we were clearly in a splurge mentality, we also sent our laundry out. Out as in when we got back, my feety pajamas were hanging in the driveway, but I am vacation Joanne, who had no shame.
Our next event of the day was a 3 in 1 tour - coffee, sugar cane and chocolate on the El Trapiche plantation. I now know more about coffee than I ever cared to know. For my particularly coffee obsessed friends who feed me on a regular basis, I am bringing some home. Not just any coffee but the stuff that they claim cannot be bought outside of Costa Rica.
Here is what I learned. There are three methods for drying the coffee beans (arabica in CR). 1. peel the shell off the berry and wash the bean of the sweet jelly that surrounds it. this is called the full wash method. this is the one they import because it only takes one week to dry. 2. Peel the berry but don't wash the sweet stuff off. this is called the honey method. It makes the bean sweeter and tastier. It takes two weeks to dry and they don't export this, they only sell it in their shop. 3. Dry the bean still in the shell. This takes three weeks and is called the Natural drying method. Then remove the shell before roasting. Again, not for sale outside of their shop. I also learned about the size and weight of the dried bean. Peaberry is best.
We also finally found out what all the oxcart paraphernalia is about. We see mini oxcarts for sale everywhere, murals of oxcarts, postcards, statues. Well, apparently the oxcart was how they used to get the coffee to the coast to export. Ok. We met some oxen pulling their cart but declined to ride in the cart. The ox were also used to turn the sugar cane crushing machine to extract the juice. We then used some boiled juice to make sugar candy. We have a brown lump of it in a baggie in our room, just begging for an ant infestation. Plus, we saw the various stages of the cocoa bean getting turned into a chocolate bar. I ate a lot of cocoa beans, coffee beans and sugarcane all in various states of processing. Plus drank some sugar alcohol that probably should have blinded me.
Home again. We ate some left over bread from our previous day's walk to the bakery. And early to bed. With all of our early mornings, we are usually in bed by 8 and asleep by 9. Val and I declared this one of the best days of our trip. We love an unexpected treat like our orchid/wood/bird tour. But the five bowls and the four bags of coffee are seriously going to make packing a challenge. The cube system can only do so much.
Saturday, Feb 18
We had a late start, an 8am pick up for the shuttle to the Selvatura National Park. We arrived. We walked the trails. We crossed the 8 suspended bridges. We id'd two birds, one of which was the sooty thrush, the other escapes me at the moment. No bird pictures, no animal sightings. So lots of photos of plants. I will call this series, 'the textures of the jungle'. or a bunch of leaves and flowers, and a berry or two (not as catchy but more accurate).
We finished there around noon when it was getting hot and overcrowded with the 11am arrivals. Back to the Beer House. This time I had Pineapple beer and Val had chili again. Then we bought out bus tickets for tomorrow to Puntarenas where we will transfer to a bus to Jaco. Then a low key afternoon. I had a nap, Val talked to the Minnesotans. This is the couple we met on the boat to Tortuguero who I mentioned earlier. They were the ones who took the public transit from Cahuita. Anyway, they are coincidentally staying in the same hotel as us here in Monteverde. Pro-tip for travellers in Costa Rica. Be polite to everyone because you are going to see them again. We keep running into the same people, from city to city, certainly from tour to tour.
Then a quick coffee at Don Juan's down the hill a bit. And now we are trying to cram our new purchases into our old packs. I can still do it, just.
I woke up super early because I had booked another bird guide for 5:30am. Val declined, she had had enough bird tours for one town. But he never showed up. So, at 6 I gave up and went back to bed. Val woke me up at 8 so I could get in on free breakfast that comes with our room. Good breaky.
Since we had the bulk of the day to kill, we decided to walk to a gift shop we had seen when we drove back from our Night Walk the previous evening. It had been dark and the driver was a maniac who drove manically so we weren't quite sure where it was but since there is only one road, we figured we could find it. We headed out around 10am.
We walked and walked, the paved road ended and still we walked the dusty highway of life/Monteverde. We walked for over an hour (with a toucan break or two). We finally found it, Rosewood Souvenirs. We walked in and it was full of wood bowls. Wood is a big product here. There are lots of beautiful coloured woods, reds, yellows, purple, green, tan, brown. So, the wood products are especially gorgeous. I had not particularly planned on buying any bowls but I had to admit they were very pretty.
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| So many wooden bowls |
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| Spoons |
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| Candles |
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| Rocks. |
The woman working there greeted us and saw our sweaty red faces. She couldn't believe we had walked and then we had come all that way just to find her little shop based on a drive by sighting. She called in her husband. He had an orchid garden in the back and she asked of if we would like him to take us on a tour. Uh, yea! It was like a little forest in their back garden. We say toucanets and motmots. And so many orchids. But not the big gaudy kind you can buy in Canada. Some were so tiny you could barely see them. I have a million pictures of flowers so I will pre-apologize again for the inundation.
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| Motmor in the garden |
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| The tiniest orchid |
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| Very proud of his garden |
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Then he asked if we would like to see his wood shop where he makes all of the bowls. Uh, yea! Super cool. Would we like to try making a bowl? Uh, yea!
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| Adding beeswax |
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| bowl w |
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| pile of wood, ready for bowl making |
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| Finished bowls, waiting for wax |
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| just a picture I like |
Would we like to try some sugar cane? Uh, yea!. A carrot from his garden (which he washed in mud basically)? Uh, yea!
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| Cutting the sugar cane |
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| yum |
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| I'm not sure why I am holding a machete |
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| Our companion on our garden walk |
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| Emerald Toucanet in the garden |
We finally let him go back to work and headed into the shop where, now that we saw how the bowls made and met the man who made them, we wanted to buy some. And take pictures. But then, before I could let my pile of bowls get too big, he waved me over, there was a cool bird at the feeder (a hollowed out log). Did I want to see? Uh, yea! That feeder was crazy with birds. Euphorias, a tanager, an oriole, a pair of Hoffman's woodpeckers. More pictures.
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I bought five bowls before we left. Val bought two bowls and some jewelry made by the wife. And I may have bought a little bag but don't tell Lea. We were running out of time before out next tour at 2:45 if we wanted to get lunch first, so the owners called us a cab. But not before we got to meet their daughter and new grandbaby. I think we may be the godparents.
We took the cab back into town to the Beer House, which had noticed serves craft beer. We decided that was a good reason to go there for lunch. I had mango beer and Val had chilli beer. I had Orange soup (carrot, pumpkin, ginger, tumeric with a whole wheat pita) and Val had Shakshuka (a yummy combo of tomato, eggs, cheese). Expensive but worth the splurge. I also bought a bracelet which I am wearing right now.
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| Add caption |
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| Add caption |
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| cat in the cafe |
Since we were clearly in a splurge mentality, we also sent our laundry out. Out as in when we got back, my feety pajamas were hanging in the driveway, but I am vacation Joanne, who had no shame.
Our next event of the day was a 3 in 1 tour - coffee, sugar cane and chocolate on the El Trapiche plantation. I now know more about coffee than I ever cared to know. For my particularly coffee obsessed friends who feed me on a regular basis, I am bringing some home. Not just any coffee but the stuff that they claim cannot be bought outside of Costa Rica.
Here is what I learned. There are three methods for drying the coffee beans (arabica in CR). 1. peel the shell off the berry and wash the bean of the sweet jelly that surrounds it. this is called the full wash method. this is the one they import because it only takes one week to dry. 2. Peel the berry but don't wash the sweet stuff off. this is called the honey method. It makes the bean sweeter and tastier. It takes two weeks to dry and they don't export this, they only sell it in their shop. 3. Dry the bean still in the shell. This takes three weeks and is called the Natural drying method. Then remove the shell before roasting. Again, not for sale outside of their shop. I also learned about the size and weight of the dried bean. Peaberry is best.
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| Drying racks. full berry top left, honey, top right, full wash on the bottom |
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| the view from the coffee field |
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| Coffee tree/bush |
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| Oxcart |
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| Sugarcane |
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| oxen powering the sugar press |
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| making candy |
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| Random cat |
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| this stuff should no be legal |
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| Chocolate making paraphernalia |
Home again. We ate some left over bread from our previous day's walk to the bakery. And early to bed. With all of our early mornings, we are usually in bed by 8 and asleep by 9. Val and I declared this one of the best days of our trip. We love an unexpected treat like our orchid/wood/bird tour. But the five bowls and the four bags of coffee are seriously going to make packing a challenge. The cube system can only do so much.
Saturday, Feb 18
We had a late start, an 8am pick up for the shuttle to the Selvatura National Park. We arrived. We walked the trails. We crossed the 8 suspended bridges. We id'd two birds, one of which was the sooty thrush, the other escapes me at the moment. No bird pictures, no animal sightings. So lots of photos of plants. I will call this series, 'the textures of the jungle'. or a bunch of leaves and flowers, and a berry or two (not as catchy but more accurate).
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| under the bridge |
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We finished there around noon when it was getting hot and overcrowded with the 11am arrivals. Back to the Beer House. This time I had Pineapple beer and Val had chili again. Then we bought out bus tickets for tomorrow to Puntarenas where we will transfer to a bus to Jaco. Then a low key afternoon. I had a nap, Val talked to the Minnesotans. This is the couple we met on the boat to Tortuguero who I mentioned earlier. They were the ones who took the public transit from Cahuita. Anyway, they are coincidentally staying in the same hotel as us here in Monteverde. Pro-tip for travellers in Costa Rica. Be polite to everyone because you are going to see them again. We keep running into the same people, from city to city, certainly from tour to tour.
Then a quick coffee at Don Juan's down the hill a bit. And now we are trying to cram our new purchases into our old packs. I can still do it, just.
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| Sunset over Monteverde |
How do I get on your Christmas gift list?
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