Tag 84 - Rincón de la Vieja

Since last night there has been an extremely stormy wind. So strong that the national park I wanted to visit today was temporarily closed. But then it worked out anyway. In the shuttle bus there were already a Spanish man, an Italian woman and two Chilean women. Somehow crazy. We spent the day together, which made me very happy. I was afraid of having to walk through the jungle alone. With all the snakes and insects and pumas. There are not many visitors (I read) and the park is 14,000 hectares. What I find very likeable is that the ranger station does not have a souvenir shop or a restaurant.

In any case, we hiked for nearly 3 hours to this beautiful waterfall. I would say: Difficulty level 2 on a scale of 1 to 2. The reward was a bath in the basin, a little sulphurous and cold, but wonderful. It's a good thing we were already on the road so early, so that we arrived before the gigantic mixed Canadian tourist group. How the chubby ones made it this far... Kudos to them.

In this national park there is an active volcano. There are hot springs in many places, bubbling and emitting smelly sulphur. They ensure that the pressure underground does not become too high because the volcano can release steam (photo no. 2 and 3).

These are the animals we saw: plenty of leaf-cutting ants, 5 butterflies, 1 iguana, 1 gecko, 1 tapir, 3 birds. This wouldn't have happened with a guide.

When leaving the ranger station, we discovered the sign on the entrance door: Swimming prohibited! This would have happened with a guide too.

Strong wind from the east, 33 degrees and clear.