It was a long journey back from Tortuguero to San Jose, first we enjoyed a boat ride for 90 mins, during which we managed to see a couple of crocodiles, several more beautiful birds such as herons and egrets and we also noticed the evidence of a manatee, however, it was a little shy and we did not see the actual manatee that was churning up the mud and silt from the bottom of t he river! We then had a 3 hour bus journey, though thankfully we stopped for a refreshing lunch en route.
We arrived in San José at about 2.45 pm and once we had checked in to our hotel for the night we decided to have a walk around San Jose to get a feel for the city. We also we happened to come across an ice cream parlour!
In the evening Paulo our driver took on the steep roads that led up the Escazú mountain side to a restaurant that had a panoramic view of the whole city, which was simply stunning. We also enjoyed listening to a Marimba and a folk dance show. Some of the pupils were lucky enough to be invited to get involved with this too!
Once back at the hotel it was time to pack everything up so that we could check out by 7.30 am and get to the Irazú volcano!
The long drive up the Irazú volcano was worthwhile in terms of the views! At 3432 m altitude it felt rather cool when we got off the bus, though, once again, the sun was blazing down so we did not feel cold. I think that we had all hoped to see the green lagoon that is in the photos of the the Irazú volcano, but due to the lack of recent rain the crater was dry. We were instead captivated by the view which included being able to see the emissions from the currently active Poas volcano that we had visited on our first day in Costa Rica; so it did feel as though we had gone full circle…. and we also realised just how luck we were to visit the Poas volcano on Saturday 23rd March our first full day in Costa Rica as it became active within only 4 days of our visit!
We had a quick stop for lunch and a spot of shopping at a souvenir shop and then it was on to the airport. We bid a very heartfelt thank you, ‘Adios’ and ‘Pura Vida’ to our ever-patient driver, Paulo, and our phenomenally knowledgeable and entertaining tour guide Fabian. We were quickly through check-in and on to security for our 24 hour long journey home via Madrid….
