Monteverde is a beautiful small town with old world charm
and a modern life style with lots of shops and tourist adventures like zip lining, rock climbing, and hiking the nine hanging bridges. We opted to take the morning off and just walk around town.
We went in and out of the many souvenir shops and looked at the unique items.
There is a lot of beautiful hand crafted wood furniture available in this area and they will make to order if you know what you want.
Suzi loved these hand carved mango wood vases.
In the afternoon we joined our other tour mates for a tour of the Don Juan Coffee plantation.
We saw the coffee plants
and Cacao trees growing and learned about harvest techniques,
drying, grading,
roasting and finally
drinking and eating.
We also got to see the process used to turn sugar cane
into brown and white sugar,
molasses and Costa Rican moonshine known as “Guaro”.
One final treat was a ride in a true Ox cart.
Who knew ox carts have no suspension?
Our last day on the tour was a travel day back to San Jose, Costa Rica. We checked out of our hotel in Monteverde and boarded our bus back to the big city.
Along the way, we saw beautiful vistas,
and even some wild life just hanging out in the trees.
Up next, we head north again to Nicaragua…
I have to agree with you Suzi, that those mango wood vases are beautiful and I’d be tempted by the gorgeous table tops as well. Your photos of the landscapes and, especially the great close-ups of the howler monkeys make me want to return to Costa Rica again to experience its unique beauty! Anita
I know, huh? So many places, so little time. When I read blogs my “to visit” list always grows. I almost bought one of those vases but fought the temptation and stayed true to our minimalist lifestyle.
Suzi