Cruise - Puntarenas, Costa Rica (Oct 6th)

Arriving into port is fast becoming one of my favourite things!! It is quite the adventure to wake up in a new country!! Welcome to Punteranas, Costa Rica!!

Doug and I have planned an official excursion (through the ship lines) to a coffee plantation. We are really looking forward to it!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our guide, Jose, who has worked at the plantation since he was 7 years old, with his family.

 

Yummy coffee plants waiting to be harvested. Notice the first row on the left, it is the smallest, then the middle, and then the one on the right is tallest. This is how they are trimmed. The coffee plants go for about 30 years. The harvest will start about November and last through to April. 

 

The hopper where they dump the freshly picked beans and count the bins.

Notice the counter he is showing us, it is like an abacus...

The main building...

 

 

 

Roasting room...

 

 The town surrounding Espiritu Santo Plantation...

 

 

 

 

After the amazing coffee plantation tour, the next stop for us was the small, nearby town of Sarchi. Their claim to fame is the construction of ox carts and they have, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, the world's largest ox cart!! They are also very well known for all the famous wood carvings and wood work pieces that you find from Costa Rica. There are very specific painting patterns in this town. The factory is over 100 years old and still functions with a water wheel as it's primary source of power!! Wow!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out these little adirondack chairs...

 

 

Artists hard at work on platters... 

Foot shot....had to happen eventually!!

 

We arrived back at the boat about 3 pm. We took our coffee purchases back in and then headed back up the dock again for the little town. We were on a mission to find an ice-cream treat that Josh & Kathy had fell in love with when they were in Costa Rica last year called TRITS. It is an ice cream sandwich in a small plastic tub.....

 

 

 Street food vendors!! Reminds us of Mexico!!

Yeah!!! We found them!!

 

Cheers to TRITS!!!

 

We really, really liked Costa Rica. It felt very welcoming and we would definitely like to explore it more another time!! In no time at all, it was time to leave....

 

Cheers friends!!