Another day on the bus. Everyone is fed up with spending too much time on the bus.
Today we drove 2 hours to Irazu Volcano. As we left the central valley and climbed we started to enter the cloud, so visibility at times dropped to less than 100 metres. Eventually we arrived at 3500 m and the parking area. I felt a little dizzy, probably because of the altitude. We walked about 300 m and took photos on the way and saw the 3 different craters created by the volcano. None of this had any interest for Maggi or I and particularly when there are no great views.
We drove on to Cartago to visit Basilica de los Angeles.
The building itself dates back to 1976, so not very historic, but the site has a history dating back to the 17th century. The story behind the church tells of a little girl who finds a black Madonna and child by the creek where she washes the clothes. She takes it home and puts it under her bed. Next day she is out washing clothes at the same spot and finds a black Madonna again. She takes it home but the first Madonna has disappeared. Next day the same thing happens. She goes to the priest and tells her story and the priest interprets as God requesting them to build a church on the site where the black Madonna kept appearing.
We looked around the Basilica while a service was in place or at least while the priest was talking to the congregation. It surprised me so many people attended a service at 12 am on a Friday.
We then descended to the crypt where the most astonishing sight of lots of small silver carvings of body parts hung in display cabinets. Apparently they are offered as a token of thanks for the recovery of various ailments.
Next we visited the water flow supposedly from the original creek in the story of the little girl. I asked Alejandro about a design on the floor. He didn’t know what it signified.
After the church we all waited around for Alejandro and Freddy to have their lunch before we drove on. Our destination a coffee plantation. Alejandro had warned us not to ask any question of the owner of the property. Nobody took any notice including myself who asked whether the majority of workers who picked the crop were female. She went off into a 10 minute diatribe about how well they treated the staff and how their plantation was a means for the girls to own their own money, buy clothes for the children etc.
After listening to her for roughly ¾ hour I said I was being bitten and needed to leave the area of the coffee bushes. 30 minutes later I discovered the tour had moved on and the son was talking. He presented the story of how the coffee was processed. He held his audience rather than bored them. We bought some beans and left. It took another 2 hours to get back to the hotel.
We set off at 7 am and returned at 5:30 for about ten minutes of interest. The rest was standing around or on the bus. What a waste of a day.
We all gathered in the lobby and walked to a nearby Peruvian restaurant called Manchu Pichu. It was okay. Most of us ordered a Pisco Sour which was a first for me and a very enjoyable cocktail.
After dinner we all returned to the hotel for bed.