This morning i have booked myself a tour of a coffee, cocoa and sugar cane plantation. We have a great guide who speaks very good English and he has a cheeky sense of humour as well. As we move around the plantation we learn the process for growing, picking and processing all 3 products. Obviously they are quite different. The pod on the cocoa plant contains many cocoa beans inside which are encased in a fruity tasting pulp. Before the beans are dried they are actually allowed to ferment between banana tree leaves for up to a week. Our guide crushes some dried cocoa beans and allows us to taste them raw, then with sugar added and then with milk added, which is in effect chocolate. Its amazing how it changes from a bitter taste at the start to the familiar sweetness of chocolate. Coffee bushes are trimmed severely every 5 years to regenerate growth and this can be done 3 times, giving each bush a productive life of 15 years. And the difference in the roasting process between a light roast and a dark roast can be as little as a minute or two. So its a very delicate process that comes about initially through trial and error. After lunch I'm off on another tour, this time through a rain forest. Its a 3km walk and on the way you pass over 8 suspension bridges. Some of them as high as 40 metres above the forest floor and up to 100 metres in length. Even though there is light rain most of the time the thickness of the forest canopy prevents much of getting through. Its a very peaceful walk and I see a lot of birdlife, including some humming birds, various bugs and caterpillars and even get a good look at a racoon in a tree. The variety of plant life is quite broad. Monteverde is a pleasant town, made more so because of its location in the mountains. The scenery is quite different to what we have been experiencing and makes for a pleasant change. It seems to move at a slower pace which is a welcome change from the pace of recent days. Tomorrow we leave for La Fortuna. My trip is nearing its end and I have mixed emotions. It has been a great 7 weeks so far but it will be nice to get home as well. But for now I need to make the most of the next few days.