The following day, we were picked up by our driver and taken to the Arenal Lake, where we enjoyed a boat ride over the lake, then a hike up the hill and, finally, a ride in a van over a very bumpy road–they call these rides “Costa Rican Massage” since that’s what you get as you literally hop up and down in the car. Fortunately, the van was rugged and must have had a perfect suspension. And also fortunately, I don’t have any back problems!

Several other tourists joined us and we met quite a few people from Canada as well as England.  The destination of our journey was the cloud forest of Monteverde, where we enjoyed a coffee and chocolate tour at the Don Juan estate. After our arrival, they first served us a delicious lunch on the terrace where we enjoyed a gorgeous view of the cloud forest.

 

 

 

 

A true paradise! After enjoying our leisurely lunch, we met with some of the other people for the coffee and chocolate adventure! Alex, our guide, was a wonderful expert on the growth and production of coffee and the preparation of chocolate.

 

Besides chocolate and coffee, the versatile Don Juan estate also grows sugar cane, different fruits, and peppers. Have you ever seen the fruit whose seeds are the origin of chocolate? It was a first for me. Below is the picture of the “chocolate fruit” with its slimy seeds that taste nothing like chocolate at this stage. But wait for its magical transformation!

 

 

From the fruit above to the delicious chocolate:

In order to sweeten our tour and learning experience, we got to try our hands at preparing some chocolate of our own:

 

 

 

That was yummy!

One of the advantages of growing not just one fruit or vegetable like in the so-called mono-cultures but a variety of produce is the fact that they can harvest and work all year round and not just during the one season. In addition, growing different plants together serves as natural protection against bugs and diseases. The Don Juan estate like many outfits in Costa Rica emphasizes its biodiversity and protection of the environment. One of the major attractions of the country is Eco-tourism.

Here is a picture of another crop–a variety of peppers.

Let’s get to the main crop: coffee. Right after tourism, coffee export is the second largest source of income in Costa Rica.

During the tour through the coffee production, we received a historical overview. Some of the machines and instruments used in earlier times are there for illustration. Here are a few pictures about this fascinating process. Below is the symbol of the San Juan estate.

The next picture shows the way coffee beans look after they have been roasted for different periods of time. The roasting time also determines the darkness and strength of the coffee. My favorites are the dark roasts and I drink coffee black.

Below is one of the old-fashioned roasting machines. (I think that’s what it is. We received so much information that I can’t remember all the details.)

Don Juan, the founder of the estate

After our introduction to coffee and chocolate, we got to experience the process of sugar cane. See below

Some of our group were hard at work to press the sugar cane and extract the juice which is, of course, the basis of another famous product of Costa Rica: Rum!

We did get a taste of straight rum. To me it tastes better in a mixed drink and rum is the basic ingredient in many of the drinks in Costa Rica.

After all the excitement of the day, we were driven to our hotel Belmar in the Monteverde Cloud Forest, a charming place, where we relaxed because the following day was going to be another adventurous one with a walk over nine hanging bridges in the jungle and an adventure in the true sense of the word–zipping (literally) high above the forest.

But first a few pictures of the view of the luscious cloud forest from our hotel in Monteverde.

 

 

 

Yes, relax girls, you’re going to need all your strength, stamina … and courage for the next day.

Stay tuned. More to follow!