My Favorite day
By Jatziry Bustamante
The last day in Costa Rica was personally my favorite and most memorable day. Knowing it was our last day to soak in and grasp all the alluring nature and greenery around only made it more enjoyable and sad at the same time. We started the day off with the opportunity to wake up bright and early at 6 in the morning to be on our way to Doka estate coffee plantation and tour. We were very satisfied with the amusing and informative tour, learning about the process of how the coffee is planted and grown and as well as harvested. We were shown the processing mill machines and informed how they separated good quality coffee and bad quality coffee using only water ! The high quality coffee will sink while the low quality coffee will float. It was very captivating to see how some of the world's highest quality coffee is produced! As well as tasting, we had the delightful opportunity to first hand try the various different types of coffee by the numerous coffee break stations around the plantation. Let's just say we all woke up pretty fast after this tour and were ready for our next mesmerizing sightseeing excursion!
La Paz waterfall was only one of the many prepossessing sights we had seen in Costa Rica. It is known as “Catarata de la Paz” and is 121 feet high. It is also one of the most immense animal sanctuaries in Costa Rica, being home to more than 100 species of animals like Jaguars, Monkeys, Pumas, Snakes, Frogs, and more! We had to walk 300 steps down to see the waterfall, but it was definitely worth it to see such a hypnotizing sight, being able to get close to the waterfall to the point where I can touch the rushing water of the waterfall was definitely a core memory, I remember my amazing professor, Mrs. Olson who went on this trip with us turned to me and said “ make a wish!” and I had wished for more opportunities to see sights like this again in my lifetime. The walk right back up was just as good as seeing the waterfall since we were seeing different viewpoints of the waterfall which meant many group photos on the way to the exit! After being drenched in water we all agreed it was yet another successful day on this outstanding trip.
The Poas volcano crater was definitely the best way to end the excursion. It was absolutely breathtaking. The Poas Volcano has one of the largest active craters in the world and is an active 2,697-meter stratovolcano in central Costa Rica. As soon as we got close to the crater, the smell of rotten eggs hit our noses quickly due to the hydrogen sulfide the volcano produces which was very interesting to experience as well. The Poas volcano crater last erupted on September 30, 2019 and has a total so far of erupting 40 times since 1828. This crater is 950 feet deep and has a beautiful blue color to it due to the rain water mixed with volcanic minerals. We had the chance to be more than 900 feet high in altitude and have the experience of clouds passing through us, but this also caused us to have short breathing and dizziness. It was beyond a doubt worth it to see something straight out of National Geographic. It was amazing and surreal to see something like this in my lifetime, which I will forever be grateful for.
