Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - May 2025

Click on images to enlarge.

During May, visits to this blog were received from the following 9 countries:

Each country is followed in brackets by the total number of visits received since records first started to be kept in November 2012.

From the time I started to keep track, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 137. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions; for example Macau - a special administrative region (SAR) of China. from which 1 visit has been received.

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The following is a summary of the weather for May in the area where we live:

The rainy (or "green") season arrived in full force during May and the amount of rainfall was unusually high. The 27 days with measurable rain compares with19 days in May last year. and the amount was almost double that measured last year. In fact, it was more than May of any year since the time in 2018 when we moved to the Grecia region.

On most days, the sky did not begin to cloud up until the late morning or early afternoon. So, daytime high, low and average temperatures were roughly the same as last year.

The erupting Poás Volcano began to settle down in May. Compared to April, the amount of ashfall with consequent effect on air quality was substantially less.

Information on current and recent weather conditions, climate change and more in various parts of Costa Rica can be obtained from the website of IMN: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional de Costa Rica (Spanish) or National Institute of Meteorology (English). IMN also has a Facebook page which may be of interest.

Here is a photo I took (0450 this morning) from our house of last night’s Strawberry Moon:

Breakfast - Granja Rysol

I learned of Granja Rysol from a Grecia Facebook friend who said it was a fun place to visit and have a meal. It has lots of farm animals to interact with, which is just up my alley. So on January 14, 2023, we decided to go there for breakfast.

At just 6.4 km from our house, it didn’t take long to drive there.

Hours are 0845 to 1600. There is a large parking lot with a nominal charge to park there for the day. This is the entrance:

Here are some photographs of the restaurant area with fun art work:

We could hear “moo’ing” behind the log wall and I discovered a couple of calves, two pigs and a horse!

After breakfast, we walked around the grounds. Here are my photos of the critters we met up with:

While we were having breakfast, the workers were bringing in fresh cut grass for the three horses that were used for giving short rides to kids. They were saddled with kiddie saddles. It’s not grass like you may have for your lawn but long and thick grass. All the animals were well cared for.

An interesting sign near the front entrance - notice where the top arrow points to. It points upwards to “Dios” which is the Spanish word for God.

One arrow pointed to Volcán Poás (under “gallinas” and above “burra batalla”):

We live on one of the ridges of Poas Volcano. Here is a good article about our area.

The trade winds were blowing hard on the day we visited Granja Rysol so we didn’t stay as long as we wanted. That’s fine … a good excuse to go back and visit, have lunch and pet more farm animals.

Click on images to enlarge.

This Week in Review!

Hah! I like to use this title - it makes my post sound so important!

Four of my orchids are blooming now.

Trigonidium egertonianum:

Encyclia cordigera, a lovely spicy scent:

 

Guarianthe skinneri (Guaria morada), the national orchid of Costa Rica:

And I cannot recall the name of this one:

 

We moved my hammock from the back of the house and put it under the carport. We had a few drops of rain recently so I got tired of moving it under the eaves at the back of the house to keep it dry.

Missing in the above photo is our car. It’s now with the main Subaru dealership in Costa Rica. They have some sophisticated diagnostic tools which our local mechanic (Carlos) who works with them from time to time does not.  More to follow.

This is not an orchid, but a vine - Pyrostegia venustra, or flame vine. The flowers and their colours are amazing. This one is cascading down the tall retaining wall between our house and the vacant lot next door.

Every Thursday we have been buying a kilo of fresh picked strawberries from our friend Minor. The berries are grown around the Poas Volcano at a higher altitude. They are delicious.

We are expecting to receive our Covid-19 vaccine shots soon. We are in the second group to receive them. The clinic we are assigned to should be phoning us with a time and date.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Strawberries, Breakfast, Cows and Poas Volcano

On the recommendation of a friend, we decided on Friday to visit Bosques de Fraijanes - a recreational park on the slopes of Poas volcano.  The park has a lake and forests and hiking is popular. Another reason for a visit was to buy the luscious strawberries that are grown in the area. 

We left our house around 0730 - we wanted to have breakfast in the Fraijanes area. Freddo Frescas was recommended but instead we stopped at Restaurante Tipico de Fraijanes. It was open and had lots of parking available so in we went. We were not disappointed.

It’s a very large restaurant and the interior is beautiful. I think it caters to a lot of tour groups and tour buses going up to Poas volcano.

The menus are in English or Spanish. We always choose Spanish because it forces us to read and order in Spanish. We no longer have much trouble doing this but if we get stuck, I have a translator on my phone. Our server was really nice.

We both ordered mora batido con leche and a desayuno tipico (typical Costa Rican breakfast). The mora is a fruit similar to blackberries and a batido is similar to a smoothie but you can have it made with milk or with water. We had ours with milk. Lance also ordered a coffee.

This breakfast was excellent. Starting from the left and going clockwise - two eggs, slice of local white cheese, toast, plantains and lastly the gallo pinto. I thought this gallo was really tasty but, as usual, the quantity defeats me and I can never finish the portion. This version had nice big pieces of cilantro in it. Total cost: 11,000 colones (about $18.84 USD). You can get similar breakfasts for less at the sodas but, as I said, this restaurant probably caters to tourists so the prices would be a bit higher.

A view from our table. Dark clouds were starting to come in. Sure enough, as we left the restaurant it started spitting rain.

Hydrangeas everywhere and always blue because of the soil.

Off we went to find the park and strawberries. At an elevation of between 3000 to 4000 ft., almost in the cloud forest, strawberries grow very well. The volcanic soil, temperature and the annual rainfall all contribute to big juicy berries. Coffee is another crop grown in this area. I’ve seen both strawberries and coffee grown under shade cloths. 

I’m not sure what’s under these shade cloths - strawberries or coffee, sometimes it’s tomato plants.

We found beautiful berries at a shop along the way. 2 mil for this container (2,000 colones, about $3.40 USD). I’ve seen much smaller sizes in our local grocery stores for a higher price and not as good looking.

We found the park but decided not to go in because of the rain. We’ll leave this visit for the dry season. The area around Poas is absolutely stunning. Dairy cows thrive here because of the cooler temperatures. Here is a cow tied up to a fence outside the field so she could eat the fresh green grass that was there. Several other cows were also tied up and none of them were bothered by the traffic going by or by me taking photos.

Breakfast was so good and the strawberries a real treat that we are going to make going to the Poas area a more regular occurrence. After all, it’s only about a 45 minute beautiful drive from our house.

Excellent Birthday

What more could a gal want on her birthday then to spend the day with Jersey cows and a busload of men? That’s just what I did yesterday.

We went to Corso Lecheria, a dairy farm near Poasito on the way to Poas Volcano. Actually, it is far more then just a dairy farm - they grow strawberries, practice reforestation, experiment with different crops and so on. They also offer tours which are very interesting and you get to interact with the cows! They have hundreds of hectares and about 800 to 900 dairy cows, all Jerseys I assume.

Where did all the men come from? Well, there was Lance of course and then a busload of men from a church group arrived for our 0900 tour - so I was the only lady - an enjoyable situation to be in. One dad brought his little boy and he was doted on. I said to Lance, that kid is only three years old and has better Spanish then I do.

At an elevation of 10,000 feet it is cool up there so jackets/sweaters are recommended. Our guide, Jonathon (bilingual by the way), pointed out that we were very fortunate this day because the sun was shining. This is cloud forest country and it can be socked in with rain and clouds. Corso Lecheria lies between Poas Volcano and Barva Volcano  Diary farms all over, incredible views, contented cows lying in waving green grass. I could be tempted to live in this area if it wasn’t for the weather. Dairy cows do well at this altitude because of the cool temperatures.

We ate breakfast at the restaurant on the grounds - La Antigua - it opens at 0800. I ordered the desayuno criollo (typical Costa Rican food) and Lance had the desayuno americano. At the checkout, there are coolers to buy Jersey milk, cheeses and freezers for the ice cream they make. Also eggs from their hens and their various artisanal breads.

Walkway to restaurant:

Some of their beautiful hens near the restaurant. A great life, not penned up all the time.

Looking down from the restaurant to the parking lot where you get the tour. Hydrangeas grow very well here. 

Here’s where you buy your tickets. I had made the reservations earlier in the week via email.

Price for the tour was 6,000 colones each (about $10 USD). I believe if you are a foreigner and not a national or a legal resident, the cost is higher. We climbed aboard a wagon pulled by a tractor. This is how you travel around to the different “stations” - a dairy barn, a forest, the strawberry greenhouse and so on. There are twenty seats inside and plastic can be rolled down in case of rain. No shocks on this baby!

Off we went to a dairy barn to see the beautiful Jerseys. This is Rosita. I was able to try my hand at milking her but I think she got irritated!

After eating, these ladies were sent back out to pasture.

I was able to visit the calves. These ones are a cross between Jersey and Angus, so bred for meat.

Cows! Oh boy!

Lance with Princesa in the background:

Next ride on the wagon took us to a forest walk. Jonathon pointed out so many interesting things that we probably would not have noticed. He identified trees and explained the symbiotic relationship between trees, birds, plants and insects. We even learned how to tell if water in a stream is good and not stagnant. It’s an easy walk.

Then off to one of the strawberry greenhouses. How do they pollinate the plants? They buy boxes of male bees and release them. No females because they don’t want a hive to be started.

Back to where we started - a tasting of the cheeses they make and the strawberries they grow. Sorry for the blurry photo but you get the idea. They were all excellent.

When the tour was over, I walked back up to the restaurant and bought Jersey milk, two types of cheese, bread and eggs - all products of the farm. Did you know Jersey milk has an average butterfat content of 5%? It is very rich and creamy. The cheese is cheddar at the front and chili behind. Excellent ciabatta bread.

Lucky us - Corso Lecheria has an off site outlet in our town of Grecia - it’s the only one in Costa Rica. So now I can buy their products right where we live.

The drive home was spectacular - the views unbelievable. A word to the wise: we use Waze to navigate here a lot. There is no way we could find our way  through so many areas even when we are familiar with them. No street signs - do we turn left, right, go straight ahead? 

View from the drive home:

We had a great morning and highly recommend the Corso Lecheria tour.

San Luis de Grecia

Today we decided to explore another of the five ridges running up to Poas volcano. This was San Luis de Grecia, which apparently is the highest ridge of the five.

San Luis is about 13 kms from our house on the usual twisty and climbing, but paved, road - until it ended at a rough looking dirt road. We turned around here and proceeded back down.

At an elevation of 4,800 ft to 5,000 ft (1,463 m/1524 m), the air is quite cool. The views are stunning, with coffee fincas everywhere. The volcanic ash enriched soils are perfect for growing coffee and other crops. When you look down into the valleys, everything is laid out in perfect order - hedgerows, fields, coffee. 

Here are a few photos.

Clouds hang over some areas:


I don’t do selfies but Lance took this photo of me:

Playing Tourist

We are currently entertaining VIP visitors, my sister and her husband. They arrived last week from Carlsbad Springs, Ontario, Canada.

Today we went to see the Poas volcano.  This volcano is a post in itself so I'll just say for now that it is well worth visiting - so amazing.

Lance checked the weather at 0530 and declared it a perfect day to see the volcano - clear skies. We were on the road just after 0730. We recommend getting to Poas by 1000 before clouds come in.  Lance was correct - the volcano was clear of clouds.

After the volcano visit, we drove to  Restaurante Chubascos for lunch. Restaurante Chubascos is 1 km north of Fraijanes and about 20 minutes from Poas. The setting is lovely, they have cabinas for rent and the food is excellent - they serve typical Costa Rican food. The portions are large and the fruit drinks delicious.

The cooler elevations of the Poas area support strawberry growing, dairy farming, lots of coffee plantations, cheese making and the views are incredible. We stopped along the side of the road and bought flats of fresh picked, juicy red strawberries and balls of the local white cheese. A large flat of berries cost 2,000 colones and the cheese was the same price.

Also recommended: use a GPS! We do and it makes things so much easier - most of the time. "Jill" steered us wrong a few times, leading us to a washed out road that was impassible.

Patacones rellenos.

Yuca appetizer

This soup was delicious, filled with good things.