A group of 9 ASU Retired members traveled for 13 days to Costa Rica, along with 6 folks from NY, PA, and Prescott, AZ. They were delightful companions and they proclaimed that ASU Retirees were very special, ‘because we are a fun group!!

Some of the trip highlights included:

• visiting Escazu, a suburb of San Jose and learning about the annual parade of brilliantly appointed ox drawn carts,
• making “mascaras”- traditional Costa Rican masks,
• learning about the coffee business – grow, harvest, process, and package coffee beans,
• rafting on the rapids of the Rio Sarapiqui,
• seeing the results of volcanic mud bath, and thermal pools,
• taking a forest canopy ride,
• experiencing a river cruise on the Rio Frio,
• visiting a cocoa farm, yum,
• horseback riding to cool waterfall, with swimming hole,
• outrigging on the Pacific coast with a beach picnic, and
• searching the Rio Tarcoles for crocodiles on a cruse through a mangrove forest.

A good time was had by all and are looking forward to the 2025 trip to Sicily.

Story and pictures by Joyce Hartman Diaz