I hate guided tours. I was always a do-it-yourselfer.

When I was in Costa Rica 40+ years ago, I ended up being a coffee plantation guide and saw the other side of the tour.

In January, my wife and I went on a coffee plantation tour .: Cafe Ruiz de Panama :. and http://www.ruizcoffee.com/ which was superb! Our guide Carlos - was an articulate, instructive guide and his sidebars to the tour ( comment on one of the well known mass coffee brands was "we call it NO ES CAFE) made the whole tour hilarious.

After touring the plantation itself and learning about the rare "Geisha" coffee variety, we toured the processing plant and then back to the starting point which was the head office in Boquete where we did a very instructive coffee tasting. Reminded us of winery tours.

Highly recommended!