Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [91]
La Garita/Zoo Ave (Calle 10 btwn Av 2 & Central) ₡300; 30 minutes; departs every 30 minutes from 6am to 9pm.
San José (Tuasa Terminal West; Calle 8 btwn Avs Central & 1) ₡400; 45 minutes; departs from Alajuela bus terminal every 10 minutes from 5am to 11pm, some of these stop at the international airport.
San José via Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría (Station Wagon; Av 4 btwn Calles 2 & 4) ₡400; 45 minutes; departs every 15 to 20 minutes during the day, less frequently at night; operates 24 hours a day. Locally, these buses are referred to as los buses amarillos de la liga (the league’s yellow buses).
Sarchí (Calle 8 btwn Avs Central & 1) ₡300; 30 minutes; departs every 30 minutes from 5am to 10pm.
Volcán Poás (Tuasa Terminal West; Calle 8 btwn Avs Central & 1) ₡3000; 4½ hours round-trip, including time to visit the summit; departs at around 9:15am. (This bus originates in San José so departure times are approximate.)
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BUTTERFLY FARM
Started in 1983, the Butterfly Farm (2438-0400; www.butterflyfarm.co.cr; adult/children ages 4-11 US$15/7.50, with transportation from San José US$35/20; 8:30am-5pm) opened as the first commercial butterfly farm in Latin America. In the wild it’s estimated that less than 2% of caterpillars survive to adulthood, while breeders at the farm boast an astounding 90% survival rate. This ensures a steady supply of pupae for gardens, schools, museums and private collections around the world.
¿QUÉ ES UN ‘CHURCHILL’?
Enter any Tico ice-cream shop and you’re likely to encounter a rather mysterious-looking menu item known as the ‘Churchill’ – a viscous bright purple drink that looks like it emerged from the Star Wars cantina scene. For the uninitiated: the Churchill is a milkshake crafted from helado de colita, a tutti-frutti ice-cream that is less frutti and more tutti (especially in the artificial dyes department) and is blended with milk and sugar syrup into an achingly sweet, lavender-hued goo that is topped off by an architectural dollop of dried powdered milk. What does it taste like? We’re still trying to figure that out – but rest assured that it’s not like anything that exists in nature. And yes, we drank the whole thing.
The butterflies are busiest when it’s sunny, particularly in the morning. Your entrance fee includes a guided two-hour tour, where you can learn about the butterfly life cycle, visit the lab and stroll around a netted garden amid the fluttering. Tours in various languages run four times daily. In addition, there is an option to purchase a package tour (adult/child US$75/60) that includes transportation from San José, lunch and a visit to the Café Britt Finca.
Drivers can reach the Butterfly Farm by heading 12km south of Alajuela to the village of La Guácima; it’s almost in front of the well-signed El Club Campestre Los Reyes. From Alajuela, you can take a direct bus (Click here).
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PARQUE NACIONAL VOLCÁN POÁS
Just 37km north of Alajuela by a winding and scenic road is the most heavily trafficked national park (admission US$10; 8am-3:30pm) in Costa Rica. And for those who want to peer into an active volcano – without the hardship of hiking one – it’s ideal. The centerpiece is, of course, Volcán Poás (2704m), which had its last blowout in 1953. This event formed the eerie and enormous crater, which is 1.3km across and 300m deep – and offers the wonderful opportunity to watch the bubbling, steaming cauldron belch sulfurous mud and water hundreds of meters into the air. There are two other craters, as well, one of which contains a sapphire-blue lake ringed by high- altitude forest.
The main crater at Poás continues to be active to varying degrees. In fact, the park was briefly closed in May 1989 after a minor eruption sent volcanic ash spouting more than 1km into the air, and lesser activity closed the park intermittently in 1995. In recent years, however, Poás has posed no imminent threat, though scientists still monitor