Written by John Benus
Costa Rica by far is the safest, cleanest and most user-friendly country that Margaret and I have visited in Latin America. Departing San Francisco at 11:55 a.m. and leaving Costa Rica at 12:55 p.m. seemed too good to be true, with just an hour layover in Houston each way.
An old friend who lives in Costa Rica met us at the airport, then took us to his mountain hideaway in San Jose de la Montaņa.
First Day
Our First Full Day he drove us to Poas, an inactive Volcano, about two hours on a road that could have taken one hour had it been without potholes. The good news about the back roads of Costa Rica is that they allow you to slow down and get in touch with the surrounding countryside, which I call Nature's Paradise.
Once we paid the $2 entrance fee and were directed to our parking space by several smiling faces, we instantly knew we had come to an organized country. Even the short five-minute walk to the lookout platform had a separate to and from walkway. As expected during a holiday period, the touring high school students from North America outnumber the local Ticos, two to one.
This particular volcano, of the many throughout the country, has the largest crater in the world - approximately 1,320 meters or 1,439 yds. in diameter. The turquoise-colored lake inside the cone plus its steam holes were an impressive sight, not always visible, according to the leader of a student group. She said this was the first time in her three trips that the entire crater was visible.
When you think of Costa Rica, you'll probably envision bananas, coffee and sugar cane plantations which cover 65% of the country's land mass, but we also discovered huge pine forests with lightning bugs and rolling hillsides with cattle plus tropical ornamental plants and flower farms.
Travel to Costa Rica 
