Day 9 - Poas Volcano and Doka Coffee Plantation

After a lot of confusion about which bus we needed to be on, we finally left for Poas Volcano just after 8am calling for the 2 ladies, who are in the upgraded hotel, en route.  There are a lot of "accidents waiting to happen" on the pavements and roads in San Jose.  There is either a deep and wide gully between the kerb and the road or there is a drop from the kerb down about 9" and then the road tarmac slopes up to the roadside.  I suppose it stops cars from trying to park on the pavements.

 

 
Mind the Gap

The traffic was horrendous and we arrived 35 minutes after our check in time.  We then had to wait in a queue of cars and tour buses to get into the Poas National Park.  We had a safety briefing and were given hard hats and then  walked the 800m up to the volcano viewing area.  I had expected to be able to walk around the crater a little bit but it was just a smallish area but plenty of space for everyone to see.  The volcano eruptions are in the form of geysers shooting steam into the air.  The crater is 290m in diameter.  When we arrived it was emitting a lot of steam high into the air and our guide said it was not always possible to see this.  There was a very small azur green lake in the crater.  Apparently the lake is much larger during the rainy season.

 
Poas Volcano Crater

 
Poas Volcano Crater

 
Poas Volcano Crater

 
Poas Volcano Crater

 
 
Video of the volcano eruptions

We then drove to the Doka Coffee Plantation where we first had lunch in their restaurant and then had a tour of the coffee production process from the initial planting of a coffee bean to grow a new plant to the final roasting of the harvested coffee beans.  It was extremely hot.  After the tour we went to the visitors centre to try some coffee and also sample some chocolate covered coffee beans and coffee liqueurs.

 
Plant with trumpet flowers - very poisonous apparently

 
Young coffee plants

 
Our guide with a mature coffee bush

 
Varieties of Arabica Coffee Plants

 
Painted carts used to move sacks of coffee around

 
All paths in the grounds had coffee bean patterns 
in the concrete

 
The grounds of the Coffee Plantation

 
Cart with sacks of coffee

To avoid the traffic we were taken back to the hotel early.  After a coffee in the hotel room I went for a run and did my weekly 5km on a treadmill and then had a swim and went in the jacuzzi.  We then went to a local Pizzeria for dinner before an early night as we have a 6am start tomorrow for our long drive to Tortuguero which is on the Caribbean Coast.

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