We spent most of the day on the bus, so I can reflect on things. I will spend a little time explaining some of the Costa Rican culture as I understand it.

               First, they have no army (they say, “Who is going to invade us?”) so they have spent their funds on education, health care, and a complex inexpensive (subsidized) bus system.  Their roads tend to be very narrow, often with no dividing lines.  By making an extensive bus system available, the people can travel easily over distances.

               In order to be a driver here, you have to be certifiably insane.  You will be passed constantly by other autos and motor cycles at great rates of speed.  A Stop sign (Alto) seems to be a vague suggestion to lower your speed from 80 km/hr to 79 km/hr.  There are very few road signs, so if you come planning to drive yourself for sightseeing, you will see the entire country thoroughly because you will be lost the whole time.

The people call themselves Ticos (and this is NOT a derogatory term).  They are happy, social and hard-working.  It is amazing how well those in the tourist industry speak English,  so we have not had to make an effort. (However,  you will have a lot more fun if you speak Spanish.)

Coffee is not a beverage.  I would almost call it a religion.  Their coffee is fabulous.  Making it the traditional way involves pouring boiling water into a cloth bag containing coffee grounds.  We learned very quickly that the Ticos laugh about dark-roasted coffee because they consider it inferior.  Good coffee consists of beans picked at the same level of ripeness, and roasted just long enough to bring out the aromatics.  If you roast ripe and green beans together, you have to roast them long enough for the green beans, which means all the others are over-roasted, leading to a more bitter flavour.  Live and learn!  If you wish to purchase the most eco-friendly coffee, buy ones that are bird friendly.  They will tend to be planted with some shade trees (not everywhere!  They need sun to grow and ripen) that help fix nutrients in the soil and provide some plant variety, because nature abhors a monoculture.

I have seen a lot of what I have called “whimsical art”.  It’s spontaneous, colourful, and often funny.  Our restaurant today demonstrated that in spades.

The metal/ceramic old style camp coffee cups hanging from the ceiling are also the ones they used to serve the "real"  coffee.

Tomorrow, hopefully we will be hiking in cloud forest.  Stay tuned.