Costa Rica
April 24, 2025
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Day 5, after breakfast we visited Don Juan's Cocoa and Coffee plantation for a tour, possibly the best food related tour I've ever had. We started with Cocoa and eventually ground
our own cocoa and added various ingredients such as cocoa butter, vanilla, brown sugar and cayenne pepper. The second part of the tour highlighted the coffee making process in
Costa Rica, and the country only grows Arabica beans, and in Costa Rica, people drink their coffee black, starting at about 5 years of age.
At the end of the tours, we tasted several coffees, including a special coffee growna and produced at Don Juan, honey coffee beans. There is no honey involved, it just tastes a
bit sweeter, which I preferred, although I'm nmot a coffee drinker. Avid coffee drinkers Tracy and Ken preferred the straight up black coffee. But the highlight pour moi was the
most excellent hot chocolate with a cayenne pepper kick to it ... I consumed three cups.
For the afternoon, after a nice lunch, we took the tour of the La Fortuna Waterfall, about 530 steps down mountain, inside Arenal Volcano National Park. There is no development above the waterfall,
so the water is pristine pure and drinkable, and quite refreshing to swim or lie in at about 20 C. The water falls is about 70 metres high, and swimmers are advised to not get to close to avoid
being pulled under by the currents. After that, we went back to the hotel and lazed in the pool and/or hot springs.
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Above: Cerro Arenal, the Arenal Volcano.
1 to 3 ... show another fine breakfass, the accommodations and view of the Arenal Volcano from the room.
4 ... Cerro Chato, right beside the Arenal Volcano.
5 to 10 ... starting the chocolate/cocoa tour at Don Juan's, showing the large coconut-like vessels that hold the beans inside in a slimy,
sort of sweet coating to the bitter cocoa beans.
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