The Daily Scoop - Travelin' Cousins

September 14, 2024 - Recap: Pura Vita Costa Rica Trip Day 9 |Doka Coffee Plantation & Poas Volcano

9/14/2024

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Hope you enjoy reading today!!

Taking you (in a recap) to DOKA Coffee Plantation AND to Poas Volcano in Costa Rica

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY IN: ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Greetings from SoCal.
Today is a recap of my day 9 in Costa Rica, however I'm not in Costa Rica anymore. (Although, I've gotta say - I had such a great time on this trip that I am sort of already planning our trip back).

And I'm not in Hawaii...yet. But in 3 days I will be!!

Cosette flies in from Seattle tonight and our weekend is full of family filled activities.
This afternoon Dave and I will be heading over to the soccer field to cheer on and watch Aurora in her very first ever soccer game!

Tomorrow we will be heading over to South Coast Plaza to watch Chaplin perform a couple of numbers with the rest of the kid performers that were in Seussical the Musical and then our fam bam will be heading over to Din Tai Fung for a yummy lunch.

On Monday we will all be going to the Angels game, but although a few of us are certainly a bunch of big baseball fans, we are actually heading there to watch Mika perform there before the first pitch along with her cheer team!

And those with be the three days leading into our trip to Hawaii!

Keep bringing on the good times!!

Now let me take you back to Costa Rica...

On this day I planned to do both the Poas Volcano, the DOKA Coffee Plantation and Waterfall Park at Peace Lodge (however this segment will be shared as a recap in the next posting of the "Almost" Daily Scoop).
Being that Poas Volcano can get rather socked in with clouds, I had opted to do it first in order to perhaps have a better opportunity to actually see the volcano...

The visitors center at Poas (c)travelincousins.com

For the record, this is another park in Costa Rica where it is required that you have advanced tickets and reservations.

Park signage (c)travelincousins.com

More information (c)travelincousins.com

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We arrived, parked and began our stroll to the caldera. Crossing our fingers all along the way in hopes that we would actually see it!

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When we arrived to the viewing platform and were delighted to hear the hissing and seeing the bubbles bursting from afar.
But beware of the dangerous gases that are constantly being released. Therefore the suggested visiting times are fairly short in order to keep your time exposed to these gases reduced.

NOT AT ALL DORMANT!

Amazing (c)travelincousins.com

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Viewing platform (c)travelincousins.com

Safety area (c)travelincousins.com

One of the first things I noticed was all of the first responders that remain vigilantly alert on site in case of an emergency, also seeing the safety shelters in case of any such emergency. Being there and just knowing that this Volcano is very much alive and could erupt at any given moment (last time it erupted was in September 30, 2019) was definitely a thrilling experience.

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Swatting gnats (c)travelincousins.com

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We walked about and explored in the informative visitors center, then went into the gift shop and took break for some retail therapy before getting back into the car and heading to DOKA coffee plantation.

We had pulled over for some pictures of just gorgeous views along the way and to my DELIGHT I realized that there was a herd of beautiful cows right below me...this made me soooo HAPPY!

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THIS MADE MY DAY!

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I eventually hopped back into the car and we continued to DOKA COFFEE PLANTATION, one of the most stunning coffee plantations that I've even been to!

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Please bop over to Elisa's side of the blog to get the full scoop on DOKA - which I highly recommend visiting if in the area!

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You are welcome and it is encouraged that you stay and enjoy the property after the tour (which is exactly what we did) and one of the exhibits is a lovely butterfly gardens to which we thoroughly enjoyed and then some...

YES, I AM AFRAID OF BUTTERFLIES!!

HELP ME!

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All in all a wonderful most enjoyed first half of this 9th day of our visit to Costa Rica... be sure to come back and visit the "Almost" Daily Scoop for our next installment and to see how I spent the 2nd half of my day (HINT: there was a Jaguar inches from my face!)

Signing off for today.
Ciao 4 now,
-Travelin' Tanya

A Closer Look At Doka Coffee Plantation & Poas Volcano

Elisa's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY IN: LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

Hello and Happy Saturday.

Today is an amazing day for me as we will be celebrating as my "baby" Kelsey turns 18 !

It's hard for me to even realize that this kid is that old. How did I end up having a 20 and 18 year old???

Our day will include a visit to The New York Botanical Gardens in the great borough of The Bronx and then a delicious late lunch at one of Arthur Avenue's most acclaimed restaurants. I'll fill you in on all the details with lots of pictures in my next blog!

More on Pura Vita Costa Rica Trip...

As we finish up the recap on Tanya's trip to Costa Rica, today I'm going to piggy back her recap experience with some information about the Doka Coffee Plantation & Poas Volcano.

Let's start with the a "visit" to Doka Coffee Plantation, which is located in Alajuela, roughly 19 miles northwest of San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica.

The Plantation is owned by the Vargas Ruiz family who have been making coffee for over 70 years, making it one of the oldest coffee plantations in the country.

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If you are a coffee lover, then this tour is definitely something you will not want to miss when visiting Costa Rica! As Tanya experienced first-hand, visitors are taken through the entire coffee making process from planting the coffee tree, picking cherries, roasting and making coffee the Costa Rican way.

From what I was told by my dear Cuz, this excursion is extremely fun, educational, interactive and interesting, providing a true appreciation for the process and steps that go into the making of this beloved beverage.

From Cherry to Coffee Bean (c)travelincousins.com

One thing I had not idea about is that coffee comes from a plant that grows cherries with the coffee bean inside!

The rows of coffee plants are visible when driving through the Central Valley and this is where the coffee pickers spend their days picking basketfuls of the cherries. Once picked, the processing begins which includes washing, peeling, fermenting and drying.

This all takes place in the oldest wet mill in the country. It is here where the cherries are separated by quality using water. This separation process is enabled because the low quality coffee floats and high quality coffee sinks. Once they are separated by floaters and sinkers, the berries get carried into the next room where they get shelled and washed.

From here they go into large holding areas to ferment in order to get rid of the sugar. The drying process is next. There are two ways to dry the beans - either in the sun or by machine. Tanya told me that she was told on the tour that while drying by machine is faster, the quality and flavor does not turn out as good as when they are dried naturally in the sunshine!

Storage is the next step once they are fully dried, where they are kept in giant bags.

What a fun experience for Tanya to see this process up close and personal!
The best way to "see" this tour is through the photographs that Tanya has on her column - they illustrate the process visually!

On this same day, Tanya was lucky enough to visit the Poas Volcano!

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Located in the 16,000 acre Parque Nacional Volcán Poás, is one of the largest craters in the world and the most active volcanoes in the country.

The Poas is a volcano that rises to 2,708 meters above sea level, since 1989, as described by Essential Costa Rica, and has increased markedly the emission of gases causing acid rain phenomena that have damaged the flora in some sectors of the Park and surrounding agricultural plantations to the area.

At the top there are two craters, the principal of 1.5 km in diameter and 300 deep, and the Botos lagoon, cold water and source purely rain, that drain into the Caribbean by the Angel river, tributary of the Sarapiqui River.

According to the International Commission of GeoHeritage, what makes this volcano so important is that it is "an iconic and type example of an arc shield-like massive stratovolcano and type example of an active crater lake complex."

If you are adventurous and ambitious! for a great deal of walking - you can venture to the top of the mountain to take in the incredible sights!