Saturday March 13th in Costa Rica

Forgot to say that they use Colones currency in Costa Rica, Columbus discovered C.R. in 1502 on his last trip to the Americas.

It takes around 500 colones to make $1 Canadian, so you get lots of them at the ATM, and the conversion isn't very challenging either. Many places are very happy to take US dollars, also. The hotel front desk changes US dollars into colones, but not the reverse.

Went up the Irazu volcano today, it was cloudy, so not distant views, the volcano isn't active at the moment, but has a deep caldera with water in it. At the gift shop we saw a dark brown coati mundi, it has a long snout though our guide compared it to a raccoon, a bit of a stretch. It was begging food from the tourists.

The top of the volcano is over 11,000 feet, so we didn't rush around up there. We have a 90 year old in our group, and a 75 year old man who had a stroke 10 years ago, he has some mobility issues, there is also an elderly woman with her grandson, she's very plucky, but also mobility issues. Dave and Wendy, Lary and I are among the younger members, the group is 20 in all, most people I would put in their mid 70s or so.

Saw an oxen team working the hills with a farmer, the agriculture is right up the slopes, all carefully terraced, every inch of ground being used for agriculture. Much of the country has been preserved into National Parks, quite a high percentage of the land in the country protected by the park system since the 1970s or so. The volcanic soil is very rich and productive, and they rotate their crops for maximum production.

We learned that Costa Rica pretty well grows all its own produce, and can feed itself totally from what it produces, including meats and seafood. They import oil and gas, electro domestics like household appliances big and small, and automobiles and vehicles, very heavily taxed according to our guide. Lovely flowering trees and shrubs everywhere, and a year round growing season. They raise mostly brahma cows, and holstein cows for milk products.

After seeing the volcano we visited the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles in Cartago, it was founded in 1635, a young girl found a rock in the shape of the Virgin. It has some art pieces brought to C.R. by the Spanish conquerors, and also has a spring with holy water behind the church.

We ate lunch in Sanchiri Restaurant, and then went to explore Lankester Gardens, which has many hundreds of types of orchids and tropical plants. It now belongs to the University of C.R., though it was originally developed by Mr. Lankester, our guide Orlando had done some schooling there, so he was very knowledgeable about the orchids, the bromeliad family of plants. Just a few were blooming, but they are so showy. The gardens are very pretty, winding trails with tons of blooming plants. He also talked about epiphytes, the plants that are transmitted through the air, and stick on to trees and grow there high up in the air stuck on tree trunks or branches, without moisture.