Feliz Navidad!

I hope everyone is having a fun and relaxing Christmas.

It is a quiet snow-free morning here with the exception of a few trilling birds. Yesterday I managed to make it to the countryside. I was accompanied by Martin, a pleasent college teacher from Kentucky originally from Quebec. We started out in down town San Jose trying to find a bus that would take us to Cartago. There are few bus stations in Costa Rica mostly designated stops that are not very well marked which made finding our buses for the rest of the day a little challenging. In Cartago we transfered to Orosi which took us even further south east. Now that we had gotten out of San Jose I was able to get a good view of the landscape. Large hills covered with lush vegetation sloped down into a valley and nestled within was the town of Orosi.

In Orosi we found out about a local coffee farmer, Nino, who lived on the hillside. He loved to give tours so we decided to check it out. The climb up was very steep. We passed banana trees, coffee bushes, bamboo, pines, and lots of other foliage I don't know the name of. It turns out (Nino told us this) that a lot of the plants in Costa Rica are not native but were imported or accidently transported from other countries. My favorite was an apple tree that had beautiful red flowers (I am not sure if this tree was native or not). The tree, Nino said, would bear fruit in the fall. Nino was this wonderful character. Probably in his early fifties he was lean and muscular. He lives by himself in a house he built from a fallen tree. His house was modest but the view from the second story porch was breath taking. It looked out and down across the hills and into the valley (though we could not see the town). He showed us the thirty foot waterfall that ran near his house. It was very pleasant to wade in the warm water and enjoy the cool breeze of the mountain. We drank strong black coffee as Nino also told us about the parks of Costa Rica and showed us a book that pictured most of the volcanos in the area.

Leaving Nino's house we took a trail that wrapped around the hill. Nino showed us his coffee bushes and even let us eat one of the berries. A fresh coffee berry is sweet and moist and the green coffee bean is fun to suck on as it has a thin coating of flesh. Nino picked us some fresh limes to eat as we walked. Refreshing but incredibly sour. The trail led us to a look out that gave us a wonderful view of Orosi. Nino said that on the days when there are no clouds (which are very few) you can actually see both oceans from that look out. Not surprisingly there were clouds but we did manage to spot one of the near by volcanos.

Back in Orosi we stopped at a Sopa to refresh ourselves. It still surprises me a little that the frescas they serve are not made from fresh fruit but poured from a plastic jug. None the less I welcomed a cold drink after the long walk.

Returning to Cartago we had some trouble finding a bus. Our search through the city led us to a small parade of dancers and drummers. And as we continued to ask for directions we stumbled across a beautiful ruin. People attempted to build this church (a couple hundred years ago) but after several earthquakes that ruined the building the project was abandoned but the walls still remain. Inside there were nice flowers and a life size nativity scene. I threw a colon (Costa Rican money) into the pond for good luck even though this trip so far has been filled with good fortune.