Copey de Dota, Costa Rica

Please see the first post on Costa Rica for important details about this post.

Our final destination before heading back to the US was a lodge in the highlands surrounding the capital region. Whereas the rest of the country was hot and muggy, the highlands were much drier and more of a northern climate. In fact, they even grow apples and other northern fruits there (though not quite as good as the ones in the US).

We stayed at a very nice, small hotel called the El Toucanet Lodge. Among other things, they offer free bird watching tours every morning as well as coffee tours (which are not free, but not expensive either). Although we did manage to see a family of Quetzals, they weren't too close and hidden in the trees.

The highlands are also a great place for growing coffee and while there we went on a tour of Coope Dota, a local coffee grower cooperative with great coffee. Knowing my family's addiction to coffee, I ended up buying close to 20 pounds of coffee beans. After leaving the highlands, we stayed in Escazu for a few days before flying back home.