"How does a trip to Costa Rica sound?" My wife's question activated my mental slide projector. Luxury fishing boat cruising Pacific waters for marlin, dorado, wahoo, and tuna. Yours truly in the fighting chair, fishing rod arced and thrumming with the action of some monster billfish. Click to five-star hotel with swimming pool. Wife and I ensconced in lounge chairs as a white-jacketed waiter delivers icy cocktails sporting little parasols to keep the sun off the skewered cherry, lime, and papaya. Click to the first tee of a luxury golf course, a caddy congratulating me on my tee shot. Zip to the Caribbean coast for snorkeling in warm waters among tarpon, snook, and manta rays.

"Yes indeed! I'm all for that. But first tell me who died and left us a fortune. Or did you buy a lottery ticket that was a winner? Rica means rich, if I'm not mistaken.

Sally then explained that I wouldn't need to pack up golf clubs or worry about boat charters, rental car, and gilt-edged accommodations. A friend was assembling a group for a thirteen-day tour of Costa Rica.

A potluck dinner acquainted us with others who would be on the trip. Thereafter, it was only a matter of arranging for house/dog sitter, buying a few items and we were off to San Jose. No, not the nearby town in California but the capital of Costa Rica - a country smaller than West Virginia, with no army, a 95% literacy rate, the salutation Pura Vida, or "the pure life," and a welcome mat for visiting Americans.

The next morning we boarded our tour bus and drove to our first major stop, the scenic overlook of the Poas Volcano. Unfortunately, the caldera was filled with cloud and we got only a moment's glimpse of the crater's lake when winds blew the mist away for a few seconds.

The bus ride to and from the volcano more than compensated for the cloud problem. Our tour leader, a Costa Rican with the surprising name Clarence Taylor, regaled us with historical information, identified the multifarious flora and bird life we encountered, answered questions, fielded jokes, and was generally charming and entertaining. Born in Costa Rica to a Scottish father and Sephardic mother, the half Jewish-half Catholic CT, as he preferred to be called, speaks nearly perfect English, has encyclopedic knowledge concerning matters zoological, botanical, ecological, historical, gastronomical and political.

The drive up the mountain through the cloud forest and a later hike on a jungle trail presented

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