Today was a tour day for us. We got up early and had a delicious Tico breakfast of fruit, rice and beans, and eggs. Outside the window we were joined by many beautiful (house) plants that were thriving like we have never seen them, apparently because this is where they are meant to grow. If Jason and I could get our rainforest weeds to grow like these, it would be a miracle!
Then it was immediately off to the cheese factory, where we started the tour with some Rum Raisin ice cream. Jason was called loco in la cabeza (insane) for doing so so early in the morning but we thoroughly enjoyed it. We then spent an hour learning about the history and operations of this originally Quaker-run cheese factory. They continue to operate based on Quaker values, with workers having ownership over the company and no one having more than 5% of shares. They make a wide variety of cheeses, from their original Monte Rico to gouda to provolone to cheddar. We got to sample them all at the end of the tour as well as see the workers cutting up 12 kg blocks of Swiss straight out of the cheese vats. We ate quite a bit of cheese as we were the only two people on the tour.
We then headed for a tour of a butterfly garden and on the way got started by getting a glimpse of a bird-sized iridescent blue butterfly very common in the area. We were once again the only two people on the tour in a slightly mixed up garden staffed entirely by American and Canadian volunteers. We got to see tarantulas, scorpions, katydids, cockroaches, walking sticks, talking beetles, and caterpillars. The garden had four different butterfly "houses," each representing a different elevation and climate within Costa Rica. The butterflies were beautiful, and Jason and I each got to release a butterfly that had just emerged from its chrysalis. Mine even sat on my hand for a few seconds! We got to see more of the huge blue guy we had seen, as well as some with zebra stripes and even clear wings.
From there we got a taxi back to our hotel, where we had planned to make some lunch with groceries from the night before. However, we discovered our stove did not work and although there was a hose with a contraption on the end and a gas tank sitting on the floor, we decided not to attempt anything that might blow us up. We used a toaster oven to melt some cheese on tortillas and then were on our way to a tour of the local coffee cooperative.
I might note here that it had already been POURING for several hours. What with being a cloud forest, things tend to be a bit wet here. We were picked up by a van and taken through some very muddy mountain roads to the farm of a local coffee grower who has been a part of the cooperative for 20 years. Remember the columbian coffee commercial with the dude with the donkey and the mustache? We got to see how he grows coffee starting from the seed up until harvest and preparation of the beans. 
It apparently takes an entire year before a coffee plant will start to produce fruit, and once a limb of the bush has borne fruit it will never do so again. The farmer must rely on new growth for harvest and eventually must cut back the entire bush and start over. Then we sat around with the farmer and drank some of the most delicious coffee either of us has ever tasted. The farmer had been a little dreary up until that point, but once he started in with the coffee, he perked right up! He revealed to us that he drinks four huge mugs of coffee daily, and that his two year old also loves the stuff. Starting them early.
Since then we have had a lovely Italian dinner and are now across the street on the balcony of the Argentinean restaurant from the night before having coffee, dessert and hopefully beer if they ever come back out here. From here we will walk back the 1.5 km to our hotel in complete darkness. I was a little freaked out by this walk last night, but I think it will be better the second time around!
Ciao!
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