Costa Rica Soft Adventures - while Staying in Volare luxury

Soft Adventures for Everyone in the Family

Local tour operators offer some amazing places to explore. Volare will put you in contact with the best operators; you will book travel directly with them and can be arranged for as few as one person to your whole group together. You can drive yourself to any of these places, or travel by taxi.

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Volare Waterfall

Walking 200 yards to Volare's own waterfall -- get up at sunrise and descend to the canyon to see where the lovely sounds come from, and admire the smoke ascending from the active volcano in the background. You'll need to go with Franklin or Yamilet because the trail is steep.

Guayabo Ruins

We're about 25 minutes from Guayabo Ruins, Costa Rica's only pre-colombian ruins. The Guayabo people pre-dated the Aztecs and Mayans - the site was occupied from about 1000 BC (about same as the pharaohs of Egypt) until 1400 AD, before Columbus arrived. The people of Guayabo created a community with sound roads, irrigation and fresh water supply for townspeople, and stone houses. The isolated location suggests the natives were hiding from ?other tribes? So little is known about these people, where they came from, why they left, who were their closest relatives. Guayabo has barely started excavation -- only about 10% of the area has been explored. But the petroglyphs show up all over the Turrialba Valley, in coffee fields and on river banks.

Aciares Waterfall

Aciares Waterfall - Want a bigger waterfall? When you are up to more hiking, Aciares -- the little village with the orange roofed church you see below you -- has a beautiful waterfall and swimming hole with crystalline water (it is a certified organic coffee farm, and the waters are really clean). We like to take the Labradors to swim here, too... and the local people swim here on weekends.
Coffee harvest

Just past the lake under your deck is a delightful coffee tour. You are in the heart of coffee country, the "gold" that built Central America (the bitter brew, sweetened by cane sugar, was sought after by Europeans from the early 1500's -- and still is). The tour is fun and informative... and you can sample the goods as well. There's even an evening tour.
Lankester
Gardens

Lankester Gardens - Orchids and More - 35 minutes away is Costa Rica's magical botanical gardens, now part of the University of Costa Rica. Lankester has more than 18,000 specimens and more than 1,000 orchid species, as well as species of over 400 tropical plants from around the world on the 15 acre site. As amazing as the orchids are the splendid bamboos, cacti, bromeliads and secondary rainforest.
Orosi Church

City Churches, Country Churches - within 30 minutes of Volare there are several country churches. These small chapels are rustic and intimate with the strong link between Catholicism and the country people. Most are open all day so we can peek inside to see details of this spiritual relationship. The large cathedral in Cartago is 45 minutes away - and inside the woodwork is astonishing, completely different from European or American cathedrals.
Cabecar Indians

Old Cultures, Ancient Peoples - 30 minutes away is WalMart, and 30 minutes the other direction is a village where the Cabecar Indians are still making their own ropes from grasses. Volare is at the frontier of the Indigenous population of Costa Rica. Modern conveniences like electricity and schools are only marginally accepted by the Cabecar people, one of the most private races of indigenous remaining in Central and South America. Access road requires 4x4.
farmer's market

Farmer's market - the surrounding area is all about fresh fruits, vegetables and especially cheese. The daily market is in downtown Turrialba. You can buy everything from local vegetables and fruits to fresh fish caught 70 miles away in the Caribbean. The market is vibrant with local flavor, local people from the surrounding region.
Turrialba Volcano

Turrialba Volcano - right outside your window is one of the world's more active volcanoes. It's an old soul, rising to 12,000 feet above sea level, and the craters continue to produce steam and occasional ash. The drive up to the volcano is into a different climate and ecosystem, the cloud forest. Have lunch in Volcan Turrialba Lodge today, and enjoy the crisp air and be on the lookout for the Resplendent Quetzal -- one of the rarest of birds, but often seen right from the restaurant's windows. (We suggest having lunch in Volcan Turrialba Lodge, just beneath the volcano. The food is prepared over open firewood stoves, and the vista of the volcano changes as clouds roll in and out.) Requires 4x4.
Scarlet Macaw

Macaw breeding center - a small project to save an endangered species. The brilliant red macaw is making a comeback in Costa Rica mainly because of private efforts like this. The rarer green macaw is now also in this facility, and it is flying free in the northern part of Costa Rica because of this type of conservation effort. Macaws are super intelligent birds. Pairs mate for life.
Serpentarium

Minor's Serpentarium is across the valley. Minor casually milks snakes for antivenin as he explains snake behavior to you (he even teaches you how to identify which are friends and which are less friendly, and what you do if you find one in your way). Minor loves snakes. By the time you are done with a visit to Minor you will have lost all fear of snakes - and certainly will appreciate how important all snakes are to the well being of the planet.
Resplendent
Quetzal

Bird watching - Turrialba area is rich in both the highland (cloud forest) species, on the side of Turrialba Volcano, and the tropical lowland species, in the Pacuare Valley. If you love nature we have just the right guide to take you for an hour or for a day to immerse yourself in real wild jungle, all from the comfort of our 4x4 air conditioned vehicle -- or you can progress on foot.
Hiking on
Caribbean shore

A Day at the Beach -- or more time if you like - 2½ hours from Volare are the Caribbean white beaches of Puerto Viejo. The Caribbean beaches are softer, not as hot or windy as the Pacific coast, and a lot more eclectic in foods, beach styles, lodging. This is undoubtedly our favorite place to see nature, too, with Tino. Tino (there's been a feature article about him in Audubon Magazine) is a guide who develops the drama of the jungle even as you are enchanted by the flavors and smells he hands you as you walk along- leaves, flowers, mushrooms, bark.
Local shopping for
art and jewelry

Shopping - local Artesinias (craft stores selling everything from Sarchi hardwood carvings to Indigenous braided jewelry) are right below you in Turrialba. Thirty minutes away from Volare is WalMart (Costco) and one of the two largest shopping centers of Costa Rica, with chain stores both from the USA and from Brazil, Colombia, Chile -- a new variety of shopping experience for most Americans and Canadians who are accustomed to the same product everywhere.