We have just returned from a trip to the coffee farms of colorful Costa Rica! As our airplane landed at the international airport outside of San Jose, it was dark already. Our flight was late out of Miami, but we were still excited to finally get to Costa Rica. Then reality hit us! We needed to get to the Siempreverde (meaning 'always green') Bed and Breakfast on our own, ruling out our initial plans of renting a car.

As we negotiated for a cab, many of them were not sure where to go. Finally, one cab driver came forward and said, "I know where to go." As we were walking toward his cab, we spied a hand-made sign with our names on it! Two wonderful people from the DOKA Plantation stayed up late and came to pick us up, to take us to our B. and B. The Siempreverde Bed & Breakfast is affiliated with the DOKA Plantation. They had been waiting for several hours for our plane. We thought "how considerate of them," and as we soon discovered, there would have been no way for us to find our own way there in the dark. As we started to drive up the mountain, we couldn't believe how dark it was, and the road seemed to go on forever. As we arrived at Siempreverde, we met Jesus the groundskeeper, who had a big smile on his face at 2:00 a.m. In Spanish, he gave us a warm welcome, which we somehow understood, even with our very limited grasp of the language. We then settled into a short night's sleep, as we knew breakfast would be at 7:30 the next morning.

The next morning we were up early and we went downstairs to look around. What a site for our eyes to see! It was a beautiful bright green landscape with the mountains in the background. As a coffee trainer, Don always thought that coffee trees all had canopy trees above and over them, in order to protect them from the heat, but that is not the case in this part of Costa Rica. Most of the year, there is a cloud cover and the temperature is about 68F to 88F year-round. By the cloud cover, these trees have natural shade from the sun. Each morning we had a typical Costa Rican breakfast of scrambled eggs, "gallo pinto," which is a rice and black bean dish, fresh papaya, pineapple, toast, and of course, some of that wonderful Costa Rican coffee!

That first morning, the DOKA Plantation sent a car to take us to our meeting, which was our reason for coming to Costa Rica. As we drove even further up the mountain, the scenery was incredible! When we arrived, they led us into an open-air pavilion, gave us a cup of their famous coffee, and we waited to meet Alexandra. She was fluent in both Spanish and English, which was a big help. The topic of our meeting was "How we can partner together to educate people about quality coffees?" The pavilion would be an ideal open-air classroom that could seat up to 150 people. As you look out, you can see thousands of acres of coffee trees, with banana trees planted in between them, to help break the wind.

In the afternoon, the plantation driver took us back to the B. and B., because we did not have our own car as yet. It was looking like there would be no dinner for us that night! However, our luck changed when we met a delightful couple from Belgium, also staying at the inn. Their names were Dirk and Els, and they were in Costa Rica, looking to migrate from Belgium. After sitting, talking, and getting to know them for awhile, they invited us to go out to dinner with them. They had found a nice restaurant that overlooked the city of San Jose. How could we resist? What a stunning view it was, with all the bright city lights! The dinner was also very good similar to Mexican food, yet different. We had some wine with dinner, and our conversation flowed for hours. What was shaping up to be a sad, hungry night by ourselves, turned out to be full of fun, food, and fellowship!

The next morning we rented a car and explored a little bit on our own. We wanted to see where the people live and what they do each day. Beverly loves the ocean, so that morning we were on our way to the closest beach, which was Playa Tarcoles on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica. It was a long 3-hour drive, but it was worth it. The winding drive reminded us a little of the road to Hana, Maui in Hawaii. As we neared the coast, we saw many people looking down from a high bridge. Curiosity made us stop, and what a surprise we found real live crocodiles were living beneath the bridge in the Tarcoles River! When we arrived at the beach, we stopped to have dinner, and enjoyed a spectacular sunset. As we headed back, we stopped at roadside vendors that sell everything from fresh fruit to handcrafted items. What we found on our first day's venture is that Costa Rica is still wild and untamed in many respects, from its natural beauty to its wildlife.

We were in Costa Rica for only a week, and now we realize that one week was not enough time, to truly see all that this lovely country has to offer. Besides two oceans (the Pacific Ocean on the west coast and the Caribbean Sea on the east coast), there are the rainforest reserves with canopy tours, the coffee plantations, the waterfalls and lagoons, the tropical flora and fauna, and best of all, the friendly people and their hospitable way of life. What a magnificent place to come to have a training program about Costa Rican quality coffees! If you have never been to Costa Rica, you should take the short two-hour plane trip down from Miami. Many pleasant surprises awaits you!

Source: articlealley.com

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