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| Crater at Poas Volcano |
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| Poseidon Expeditions Team to Costa Rica, June 2016 From L to R: Gilda Rojas, Maria Porras, Cecilia Porras, Clara Dackermann, Josue Avendano, Mario Olmos, Adam Yoshinaga
We are back from spending an exciting time in the beautiful jungles of Costa Rica. This was a trip of a lifetime for me and my students. The beauty of the country brought out the best in each of us. In just seven short days we were able to experience waterfalls, tropical fish, volcanoes and more. In this excerpt of the "Captain's Wheel House" I would like to take you through a short tour of some of the highlights of our trip.
Day 1 - We flew to Costa Rica and stayed at the Quality Hotel Real in San Jose. The hotel was clean, modern with great food and wonderful service. It was here that we got a short orientation by our "Tico" course leader, Joel. We also paired up with our partner school from Georgia, Lafayette high school.
Day 2 - After having a nice breakfast at the hotel we got into our private van and our driver, took us to the town of Alajuela.
Alajuela is the hometown of Costa Rica's hero, Juan Santamaria who died in Costa Rica's only battle in 1856. We drove through town and passed the central plaza which was surrounded by Mango trees. After a short history lesson and passing the statue of Juan Santamaria we headed to Poas Volcano. We hiked to the rim of the volcano on a paved walkway and along the way we got to know some of the local plants and insects. The weather was clear and sunny. We got lucky because many times the weather is cloudy at that altitude and the crater of the volcano is not visible. However, the sky was clear and the view of the Poas cinder crater was astonishing.
After taking pictures at the rim of the crater we headed to the visitors center along the montane trail and got to see some of the archaeological artifacts on display there. Especially interesting were the gold figurines that were excavated from the surrounding area. The indians of Costa Rica created gold replicas of the animals in nature. There were birds, dolphins, mammals and monkeys. After we left the visitors center our driver took us to the Central Pacific Area of Costa Rica. We stopped at a restaurant that had a huge open air seating area. Here we were taken to the kitchen where we learned how to make a typical Costa Rican dish called "Picadillo." Picadillo is a simple dish of chopped onion, bell pepper, garlic and potatoes sauteed in butter. Just add your favorite meat and you have a delicious, country style meal.
After lunch we went to an observation area where we saw scarlet macaws, butterflies, birds and off in the distance, a crocodile on the banks of a river. In Costa Rica nature abounds. You only need to walk a few paces and you will see astounding beauty. Everything was green, lush, and full of life. We then moved on to our afternoon adventure which was to take a rainforest canopy tour using the best zip line I have ever been on. It had 12 platforms and the rides were long and fast. Sometimes, too fast. One of our students went zipping in so fast that she almost knocked the guide off the platform. They called that "Coming in Hot!!"
That's all for now. I will share more in my subsequent posts. Thanks for reading.
As they say in Costa Rica "Pura Vida"
The Captain
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