San Gerardo de Dota

It's almost the end of our trip in Costa Rica and to close the loop back to San José we went through the valley de Dota. Our first stop was at a coffee plantation and we learnt everything from the crop to the cup! Coop E Dota is a fully carbon neutral operation which uses beans grown in the valley and exports mainly unroasted dried beans to Europe and America. They also do their own roasts for the local market, including being the supplier to all Costa Ricans and Panamanian McDonald's. It was an interesting visit, very detailed , we learnt a lot but we didn't take many pictures as, being up in the mountains and in a coffee plantation it is inclined to rain, a lot.

Now pumped full of caffeine we headed down into the neighbouring valley of San Gerardo where we would be spending the night. As we are back at altitude again it can get a little bit cold, down to 10°C at night, luckily we had lots of blankets in our luxury chalet 😊. The main draw of the valley is its bird watching, people come here specifically to hunt the Resplendent Quetzal, a very colourful red and green little bird who's tail feathers can grow up to a meter in length during mating season then fall out when it's ready to migrate. With the help of some locals we managed to spot one of these incredible birds as well as a few Toucanettes, Parakeets, Trogans and Humming birds all before the rain set in for the day.

Satisfied with our birdwatching we went to indulge in the other activity worth doing in the valley, and trip to the spa with massages 😁 very relaxing. Next day and we're heading back to San Jose to catch our flight out of Costa Rica. This wasn't a country on our original plan but was highly recommended by lots of people we have met along the way, and we are very glad we made the stop, such diverse eco systems and a plethora of amazing a animals, great scenary and wonderful people. A little more expensive than we have got used to but we have been won over by this little Central American paradise. There is a lot we left unexplored but I suspect we will be back here one day.Read more