For week 5 we went to Volcan Poas, the La Paz waterfall gardens, Irazu, and had a tour of San Jose. At volcan poas there were lagoons and a massive crater that had water in it and everything… it was absolutely beautiful. The Waterfall Gardens were very extravagent and had a multitude of things to do… there was an aviary (with tucans that we could hold), a butterfly garden, cat exhibits, and orchid gardens traditional ox carts with oxen that gave people rides in the cart, waterfalls and wonderful food. La Paz is a well known hotel known for being over the top. On the way down the mountain we also stopped at the abandoned hospital which had some amazing photo ops and we bout queso palmita which is kind of like string cheese and is only made in the mountains: that includes Poas and Irazu. Hard cheese is made in Arenal and Monte Verde. When we went to Irazu, which is another volcano, it was so high up that it was hard for us to breathe let alone hike. We go to see the craters which also had water in them, but unlike Poas it was quite barren without much foliage. Later that day we went to see the church in Cartago again and we toured the city of San Jose briefly. ~Koryn