After San Jose, La Paz Waterfall Gardens, and the mountain towns of Grecia, Sarchi, and Zarcero, we travelled to Paraiso Camping Lodge just North of Guayabo de Bagaces (tucked between Miravalles and Rincon de la Vieja Volcanoes) for more mountain exploration. Things did not go exactly as planned. But (with some difficulty) we were flexible, and we still had an enjoyable time.
Imagine that you had traveled from Costa Rica to Calgary in the hopes of driving out to explore the beautiful glacier fed lakes in Banff and Yoho National Parks. (Emerald Lake, Moraine Lake, and Lake Louise come to mind). Now imagine your disappointment if for some reason you arrived in Canmore only to find out that the park was closed or the lakes were somehow inaccessible, or worse yet, filled with mud due to a recent landslide.
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| Moraine Lake |
We arrived in Guayabo hoping, among other things, to visit the famed Rio Celeste waterfall in Volcan Tenorio National Park. Our plans were changed when an honest, yet upbeat couple from Valencia, Spain told us that they had visited Rio Celeste but it was not Celestial. Because of recent rain in the mountains, the Rio Celeste river was muddy and brown instead of turquoise. The beautiful pictures happen only in the dry months of January, February, and March.
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| This is the beautiful rio celeste which we did not see! |
On our first day in Guayabo, we discoverd a zip line canopy tour. It was 400m from our little cabin, and cost $20 for adults and $15 for kids. Of course, ziplining is a must-do Costa Rica experience, but one that we thought we would have to forgo due to the cost of most adventure tours.
A really neat beatle joined us at the pool as well.
On the second day we discovered that there were about 7 hot springs in the Miravalles area. We drove around to a few of them and settled on Thermomania which had 8 or 10 thermal pools, a natural swimming area, a geothermal sauna, picnic and bbq areas, a geothermal energy museum, and most importantly, a waterslide park! An admission band (valid from 11am to 10pm) was only $8.
We had hoped to visit Calypso (Canada's largest waterslide park) near Ottawa this summer, but due to cost (more than $180) and cold rainy weather in Ottawa, we skipped it. I am a waterslide fiend, and the kids of course love watersliding, so we really enjoyed being able to go watersliding in costa rica.
A busload of grade 6 children were visiting thermomania on a school outing from Puntarenas. The whole water park was powered by thermal energy. All of the pools and slides were super hot. There was a even a (hot) natural diving pool in the river. Until 3PM, we were the only non-Ticos in the complex. Pura Vida.
At 3 PM we met one foreigner - a Canadian lady who lives in Playa Coco. She has lived in Costa Rica for 13 years and comes to Thermomania once a month with her friends. She prefers Thermomania to the hotsprings in Arenal which cost 4 or 5 times as much money.
On our third day in Guayabo, we drove to Villa Pez hoping to fish in the stocked Trout and Tilapia ponds. No luck! It was only open on the weekends! Again, we were a bit disappointed and things were a bit tense, but in the end we:
1. Discovered a volcanic fumarole at on the slopes of Miravalles Volcano (smell the suphur);
2. Got our extra large hockey bag repaired at a small shoe repair store (just in time for Nicaragua);
3. Visited the local red cross ambulance service (and saw a Toyota van-style ambulance with 842,000km);
4. Learned about renewable and geothermal energy in the area;
5. Got some great haircuts;
6. Picked up some pre-Christmas tamales at a soda;
7. Sampled pastries and sipped on espresso in a local panaderia;
8. Picked star fruit from high up in the tree with a long stick;
9. Joined in the after-school roller-skate party in Guayabo. The roller rink was super popular with the locals. Admission was $2 including old-fashioned 70's style roller skate rentals, a disco ball, and all of the loud Latin music you could handle. Pura Vida.
I am so enjoying your posts. Keep them coming!
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