Stage 8: Through Tapantí National Park to Orosí

Loud bird chirping accompanies the sunrise in the morning, which bathes the jungle in warm light and creates a kind of exotic postcard idyll. Today, we will partly go through Tapantí National Park, with overgrown trees and plants with huge leaves on the roadside. We briefly hear howler monkeys again, seemingly startled by something. Somehow, we are not finding our usual hiking rhythm today, and so we struggle a bit uphill, only to walk downhill again shortly after, which is demotivating. The official entrance to the national park can only be reached via additional kilometers from the Camino, and we would have had to register beforehand as well. So, we decide against this detour and opt for a longer break at a restaurant at a crossroads, where we found the best internet of our entire vacation, despite its remote location. A little further on, a large yellow bridge decoratively crosses the river just before the town of Purisil. Later, we reach another milestone of the Camino, which happily indicates that we have already completed exactly half of the journey. Despite this joyful message, we drag ourselves forward the last stretch to the accommodation, partly accompanied by a young street dog who is eyeing our provisions. After a challenging 19.4 km, we reach our destination, Orosí. Fortunately, we have a beautiful accommodation today, the Chalet Orosí, where we can take a warm shower and put up our feet. The separate cottage is comfortably furnished to European standards, as the landlady is French herself. We decide that we don't want to take another step today and simply order delivery service to enjoy a cozy evening.