This post will be a wrap up of trips that I have been on for the last month. In the middle of December I returned to Rincon de la Vieja National Park near Liberia. The original intention was to climb the volcano again with some of my friends but we arrived late in the morning and decided to just visit the waterfalls instead. There were two waterfalls and I had never been to one of the waterfalls so I didn't know what to expect. It ended up being a steep 2km climb that went almost halfway up the volcano. It was a good thing we had decided not to climb the volcano because, given the trouble on this trail, we would not have made it. We finally arrived at a beautiful valley with multiple waterfalls pouring into the inaccessible depths. Walking up the river a few hundred meters we found another smaller waterfall with blue mineral stained waters and it made a good but very cold swimming pool. Later we took a much flatter and easier trail to the other waterfall. This one was much bigger and warmer and the blue was brilliant. On the return trail we ran across three boa constrictors lying by the path. These were the first wild boas I had seen and this picture is of me showing one off. Here is a movie my friend made of the trip.

After returning from Canada after Christmas I managed to make a trip to the Santa Rosa national park before work started. I went there in March of 2006, the second week I was here, but it was a bit different this time. It's just the start of the dry season so everything is still green and the wind keeps everything a lot cooler. I went with the American surfer from Saco and we met another traveller, a German, in the Liberia bus station who was also going to the park. We arranged a taxi to the main campsite, 13 km from the beach, where we were intending on camping just as it was getting dark. However the German wanted to make it to the beach to meet his friends so we started to walk down the rough road. Luckily it only took about 1 or 2 km of walking in the pitch black before a pickup truck showed up. They were willing to give us a ride and we all climbed in the back.

The campsite when we arrived was packed with people. The last time I came there was only one other group but this time is the holidays for the Costa Ricans. I set up my hammock tent and met the German's friends who were all studying in a University in Heredia near San Jose, mostly biology. The next morning I took a walk through the dry forest and it led to a watering hole which had almost dried up already. There was still a small pool where a bunch of water birds were hanging around in but the rest was cracked and dried clay. In the afternoon I walked the other direction down the beach until I arrived at Witch's Rock, the famous rock formation where surfing is excellent as this clip from the movie Endless Summer 2 demonstrates. There was nowhere to rent a board so I couldn't surf but there were two boats there from Tamarindo bringing surfers. I wandered up an inlet looking for wildlife, but I didn't see much, not even a crocodile. I found a path through the woods that led back to the campsite so I decided to take it rather than return all the way to the beach. Unfortunately, halfway back the ground was littered with thorns which were not pleasant on my bare feet. By the time I made it back, my feet felt like pincushions.

The next morning we headed out of the park, walking uphill the 13 km back to the ranger station. Luckily there were clouds and a faint drizzle and I had lots of water which made it a much more pleasant trip than the time I went in March. When we arrived in the main camping area we ran into a couple from Quebec who were here on a vacation. They agreed to drive us back to the highway which saved us another 8 km of walking. At the highway we were lucky and quickly caught a bus back to Bagaces.

Last weekend I decided to test out my new waterproof camera. On Saturday I went inner tubing in a place nearby Bagaces. I had been twice before, but this time I could take photos and videos of the trip down the river without losing my camera. It was somewhat complicated to film and stay on the tube at the same time and one time I flipped off when I hit a rock going backwards. I managed to avoid bashing the camera against the rocks by cushioning the blows with my body. My camera survived and I proved that it really was waterproof.
The next morning I went to Playa Conchal on the Pacific coast. It is a beautiful white beach with the sand consisting of crushed up shells. Being the summer vacation down here, the beach was quite crowded. The beach was in a sheltered area so the waves were not nearly as powerful as those at Tamarindo but they still broke powerfully against the sand. There was a rocky area nearby that was good for snorkeling so I took my camera out to try and get some pictures. The waves prevented the water from being very clear but there were still fish to be seen. It was significantly less impressive than in the Kuna Islands but I did take some pictures and the camera seemed to work fine underwater.

This past Wednesday I went to Liberia to watch a soccer match between Liberia and La Liga from Alajuela. La Liga is probably the second most popular team in San Jose behind Saprissa and so the stadium was packed. The stadium is basically just a field with a bunch of grandstands surrounding the field but the crowd was very enthusiastic. Liberia was the better team in this match and they surprised La Liga by winning 3-1. The crowd had some La Liga supporters but most of the crowd left happy.