8th August 2014
It was a rushed start for room 14 (Amy, Hope, Beci and Becca) this morning as they pressed the off button rather than the snooze on their alarm. Fortunately, Carlos, being the gentleman that he is, gave us a slightly later start of 8am (yes, that is actually a lye in for us).
After breakfast, we did a tour of one of the other trails around the reserve. This one went down into the valley where the ecosystem is surprisingly different from that of the cloud forest. We bid farewell to the stunning Santa Elena Reserve and set off to enjoy our afternoon!
In the afternoon, we were lucky enough to visit a local coffee plantation - Don Juan. Here we had a coffee, cocoa and sugarcane tour given by a tour guide named Junior. Like every single other tour guide we have had in Costa Rica, Junior was extremely enthusiastic to the point where you'd be forgiven for thinking he was slightly crazy. After we were shown around the coffee plantation, we had a cocoa workshop. We were given the chance to make our own 'chocolate' from shredded cocoa beans, vanilla essence, pepper, cinnamon, sugar and, for those who were brave enough, chilli sauce. Then, in addition to our marvellous creations (no, not the Cadbury's ones), Junior offered us a variety of chocolate to sample which, of course, we would never be rude enough to turn down. As if we weren't already buzzing off our sugar hit, Junior showed us how to press sugarcane to make virgin mojitos with the addition of lime juice (hellooo diabetes).
Even the torrential downpour didn't bring us down from our newly increased high as we caught a cow ride back to the gift shop. To our delight, there was FREE coffee (of several different roasts)!
On the way back to the hotel, we were all shaking from a caffeine and sugar overload. The buzz didn't wear off as we all changed into our gladrags in preparation for our night out! Seeing as our hotel didn't supply us with shower caps, some improvisation was needed when it came to Becca. Using a striped shopping bag, Beci fashioned a 'hair cover' which we are sure will soon catch on (so that all of you can be as cool as Becca). In the meantime, please stay tuned for photos of our trendsetter in action.
Sticking with the theme of the trip, we went to a restaurant which proudly advertised itself as one of the "Top 10 most bizarre restaurants in the world". It was called 'The Treehouse' due to the huge ancient fig tree growing through the centre. The food was delicious and company as interesting as always. We enjoyed some live music at the restaurant before returning to our hotel in the party bus (we decided against the dance night in the end).
It's safe to say that we have all loved today and we'll be really sad to leave Monte Verde.
¡Hasta lunes!
Team Costa Coffee xxx
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