Tuesday, November 15

We had a very early wake up this morning, 5:30, as we were getting picked up at 6 for our tour. This is what happens when you are the first pick up of 18 people. The last pick up was 7:30 as the traffic in this big, busy city starts with the sunrise at 5:00 am. We were headed to a coffee farm first. I had a bad vision of this but it was actually pretty good. The not so good was the breakfast. Someone was dishing out the food, very little of scrambled eggs, a rice and bean dish, two little pieces each of watermelon and pineapple and finally a shrivelled up tortilla shell. Our guide walked us through the whole coffee bean process from taking us to the plants, and by the way, there are thousands of plants. Also, we are up in the mountains which is the best place for these plants and beans to grow. We then go into the factory and he demonstrates every phase of the procedures.

The bean which is still cover by parchment. It does not have a smell at all. 

Closer look at the shell

Beans drying outside whenever it's sunny. When it rains they use big dryers.

The walkway had the bean design.

We are near a cloud and rain forest so the plants here are quite impressive.

Eucalyptus tree brought here from Australia

Very pretty red leaves

This is tough, solid flower. Couldn't believe it when I touched it.

My brother informed me that thislant is called Bird of Paradise. Thanks Alan.

Don't know it's name but liked the two tones.

We leave the coffee farm after going through the gift shop of course. Not being coffee drinkers, Ron and I didn't spend any money. 

On our way to our second destination we stop to have some strawberries. They are being sold everwhere. People are on the sides of the road selling them. I would have preferred buying the fruit from the small farmers, but of course the bus didn't stop. We arrived at Paos volcano and the skies opened as if right on cue. We are now at a higher elevation and in a cloud forest. Thank goodness we brought our ponchos. Some of tourist have to buy a cheap raincoat or an umbrella as they were unprepared. We walk for about 15 minutes to the first lookout. The clouds are so thick that we can't see through them so no pictures can be taken. We walk up anther 15 minutes to the second lookout but of course it's the same sight. It's also still raining, but it has subsided quite a bit. By the time we walk back to the first lookout, the sun begins to shine through. We have about a two minute window to snap as many shots as possible. But of course, it's still not completely clear. 

This is about the best shot that I could get. 

After the volcano we hop on the bus and we have another 20 minutes or so before we arrive at La Paz falls and lunch. Everyone is getting very hungry. It's a little after  1:00 by the time we arrive. Our guide tells use that we are going to have a visit before we eat. We will see Macaws, Toucans, Tanagers, Hummingbirds, butterflies, monkeys, and big cats. Some are in the wild, but unfortunately most are not. The cats in particular did not seem to have enough space. 

Lots of hummingbirds 

There were four Jaguars in the same space. 

Poisonous frog. Pretty cute though. 

These guys were pretty shy. They never faced us. 

Many toucans also. This one tried to take my ring. I think he thought the silver shining was food.

The macaws 

A beautiful blue butterfly

Spider monkeys. They were moving around so quickly that it was hard to get some good shots. Also looking through two layers of fencing doesn't help.

After the visit in the "zoo", it was time for lunch. This was a full cold and warm buffet. Could go for seconds and thirds if anyone wanted.  

At the end of our meal we were guided toward the falls. It was a walk on stairs leading us up and  down to get good views of three diferent sets of falls. 

La Paz falls. There were three levels of these falls. Quite impressive.