Short explanation; our bookstore in Northern Nevada specializes in botany, horticulture, gardening, and books on how to do just about anything. We carry almost no fiction, no lit, and only small sections on western history. When we travel, we hit lots of botanical gardens, thrift stores, and bookstores, searching for stock for our store. CATIE is a world renowned school where they prepare future leaders, develop new techniques, and support regional rural development with an eye toward sustainable agriculture and ecology. And beside that, they have a killer bookstore/library on horticultural and agricultural subjects. We found wonderful bilingual books on orchids (the country's official flower), and bromeliads (which hang by the zillions from trees all over the country), their 1000+ varieties of trees, and the gazillions of amazing flora that one practically has to hack through most everywhere in the country; it is way, way green! Additionally, their books were very reasonably priced. We spent a couple of hours there and our luggage weighed a good deal more when we left. Lorena came back for us and took us to the bus station where we bid her farewell and returned to San Jose.

That was our last book store, though we saw a few more little stands and shelves here and there in stores and hotels. Our swansong trip before leaving was to the inactive but astonishing Volcan Irazu, and then as we flew out of Costa Rica above Mexico, we saw the snow-capped peak of Volcan Pico de Orizaba, the highest point in Mexico.

Though Costa Rica is not a book buyer's paradise, and the food is okay, but nothing special, we can't recommend it enough for a wonderful vacation. We could, and might, go back again, because you can't see it all in one month. Go to the Pacific Northwest for books, San Francisco, New Orleans, France, or Thailand for food, but go to Costa Rica for friendly folks, beautiful, diverse landscapes, bright red macaws, amazing wildlife, incredible flowers, hand-rolled cigars, and amazing volcanoes, all packed into one small piece of land. Ciao !