Italian food, coffee plantations and American Tourists

After our first full day in San Jose we found an excellent Italian restaurant and decided to treat ourselves to a hearty meal before we start our diet of rice and beans in the jungle. La Piazzetta at the Sabana end of Paseo Colon was very smart, the food was excellent and they had an extensive wine list. Only problem was the Maitre d' who was slightly more fawning than Basil Fawlty - tried hard to push the expensive red italian wines - but conceded gracefully whem I found the slightly more reasonable Rioja at the other end of the list.

Our trip to the Doka coffee plantation was great - found that they still operate a water driven coffee mill which was installed by J Gordon & Sons of London in 1909. The coffee plantations really dominate the higher ground on the sides of the volcanoes around the Central Valley. They also had an enclosed buterfly garden which allowed us to get close to some of the more common local butterflies such as the Blue Morpho which had a wingspan of at least 5 inches.

The tour included a couple of other stops which were designed to allow for souvenir shopping - biggest problem were the 6 US tourists on the bus with us. Conversations ranged from odd - such as the first young couple who had done Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica by bus in the last 4 weeks and gave us chapter and verse on the problem of toilets without paper - to the inane chatter of three young spanish americans from LA. Next time we do one of these tours I will have to make sure I have my ipod plugged in.

Driving back into San Jose this evening through the rush hour made me yearn to be in the rain forest already. Think this will be the last internet access for a week or so.