Doka Coffee Plantation, Poaz Volcano, and the La Paz Waterfall Garden

On Sunday, we took a private tour to three places; the Doka coffee plantation, the Poaz Volcano (a lot of coffee plantations are on the slopes of volanoes because of the fertile volcanic soils), and the La Paz Waerfall Garden (see the awesome waterfall picture post for what the La Paz garden was like.

The Doka plantation was neat (it's a real, in operation plantation), and I have some pictures here, but what was really interesting was the story behind coffee farming in Costa Rica.  The Ticos (Costa Ricans), don't pick coffee- migrant Nicaraguans do.  Think migrant farm workers in the Southwest.  They are paid $1.50 for each laundry basket of coffee beans they pick.  That's ~ 750 colones.  For reference, my lunch today was 2,000 colones, bus fare was 250, and a cab ride was 1450.  If you're a good picker, you can make $10 a day, or 5,000 colones.  The Doka plantation sells 65% of their coffee to, guess who, Starbucks, who proceed to burn the crap out of it, slather it in sugar, and call it good.  So think about that the next time you order your half double decaf decaffinated half caff.

Poaz was awesome.  It's at about 2500 meters, or 8000 feet (I think the math is right there).  The main crater is flooded with rainwater, so when it erupts, it's in the form of a geyser.  And it erupts a lot.  While we were there we saw what looking like massive steam clouds coming off the lake, as the water is superheated from beneath.  The soil just beneath the thick vegetation is white volcanic ash, and you can see dozens of layers of ash all around the crater.  See the pictures here.

The La Paz Garden was great as well.  It's part zoo, part garden, part waterfall veiwing platform.  They have a butterfly garden, where butterflies will literally land on you as you walk through, an aviary, and the biggest pair of jaguars you will ever see without being eaten by one.  Lots of pics here.  By the time we got to the waterfalls, it was pouring rain, but it was still awesome.  And I was absolutely estatic about getting my awesome waterfall shot.