Rincón de la Vieja (day 12)

After breakfast (the least so far) we took the car towards national park Rincón de la Vieja (about 40 minutes driving). At the adjacent Santa Maria we did a hike to the natural hot springs. This is a hike of about 3 km over slippery and muddy paths up and down and on our way we had to cross 4 streams (2 narrow ones and 2 wide ones). This was quite a challenging walk which took us 1,5 to 2 hours, but it's not for nothing.

The natural hot springs (with crystal clear water) are located against a cliff, right next to the hot springs is a water stream. At the place where the two water sources merge the water streams jointly down the mountain. During our walk we encounterd a lizard, but also beautiful caterpillars, a lot of butterflies, and many yellow colored centipedes and a giant insect (sort of fly of about 5 to 7 cm big). Besides that we also heared a lot of birds making the nicest sounds. When we had enough of the hot springs we could walk back the 3 km. Once back at the car there's also a lookout point, 400 meters upwards. The first 100 to 150 were very steep, after that it was less steep and easier to walk. Upon arrival at the lookout point you stand on top of a termite hill and you look over the tree tops into the valley. The view was not very spectacular, rather disappointing (especially after such a steep climb). Then we walked the 400 meters back down. On our way down a stick insect fell right out of tree on the ground right next to me. That's a nice incidental! With the dirty shoes and wet socks (from crossing the 4 waterstreams) we got back in the car. On our way back to the lodge we had some lunch. Once back at the lodge we took a refreshing shower. My parents went to the swimmingpool after that, I stayed in my room to listen to music (I had plenty of excercise for today). Later on we went for dinner and after dinner we walked to the reception to ask about the volcano Rincón, where we were supposed to go to tomorrow. But because of lack of time (walking up the volcano is about 7 km, which will take about 2 to 3 hours and we have 4 hours of driving to do tomorrow to our next destination). So this is not an option anymore (still haven't seen a volcanic crater). As a compesation my dad and I will go ziplining! An activity that takes up about 2 hours, crossing 9 lines through the jungle. The lines vary in length from 40 to 300 meter and are about 45 meters high. Yes, still something I can cross from my bucketlist! After that we are gonna drive to our next destination: Sámara, this is located south of Rincón de la Vieja.

Day 11

Travel overview

Day 13