Rincón De La Vieja

After Spanish school we took a long non-stop drive to the mountainous countryside of Rincón De La Vieja "Corner of the Old Lady" or "The Old Woman's Nook".  The treacherous roads did not take away from the sun setting on the green, grassy hills. Minutes before nightfall we arrived at the Borinquen Mountain Resort & Spa. I had  mixed feelings about visiting Rincon due to the fact it is one of six ACTIVE volcanoes in Costa Rica along with Poás, Irazú, Miravalles, Arenal, and Tirrialba.  In 2016 Rincón de la Vieja erupted, not so cool! Sorry to say, but dying was NOT on my to-do list for this vacation. My parents decided to tell me this AFTER we arrived Borinquen. Settling in took a little longer than usual since they gave away our room. However, they gave us a free waterfall expedition which entailed a horseback ride up the mountain, and a hike to two mysterious waterfalls! 

After a good nights sleep and breakfast with Magpie-Jays and Capybaras, we prepared for a hike though Rincón de la Vieja National Park. At the front desk of the ranger station there were animal specimens, jars full of colorful liquid, beetles, spiders and pickled SNAKES?! Yes, there were jars of snakes, dead, curled up, and preserved. Some were as small as a worm, and others as long, stretched out, as I am tall! The jars varied in  size according to each snake. Thankfully, they didn't have taxidermied animals, but there were bird, animal, insect, and reptile guides.

The path we took was through the woods but as we climbed the trees started to thin.   Then we came out onto a desert-like area of land. There were large sulfur springs, scanty bushes, and browning grass.The mud was gray and bubbling. It smelled awful, like hard boiled eggs! Later we learned the chemicals creating the smell were a combination of Carbon Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Hydrogen Chloride, and Hydrogen Sulfide. My mother wrote it all down in MY drawing book, so I probably won't forget these "chemical compounds" anytime soon. We came across more of these smelly sulfur springs as we continued up the path. We also saw steam pouring from cracks in the earth. I noticed the cracked, dry earth and decided to spray a little water on the ground and watched it evaporate in record time. I decided not to go any nearer. I wanted to come out of the reserve with two whole feet and all ten toes.

We began our trek back down to the ranger station, so we could go back to Borinquen. I heard the sound of rushing of water, and sure enough when we rounded the corner we came to a rushing waterfall.

Two boiling mud pots, vocancito (little volcano) and a white faced monkey later, we were back on the path to our car. I was tired, the day was hot and the bugs were swarming. We kept having to STOP because one of my sisters had to pee. When we got out of the forest and started walking toward the main road, I saw the man who was supposed to be running a booth, taking a siesta on the back of his little building. Lucky him. I wanted to take a nap too! Soon enough we were in the car and driving down the dirt road to Borinquen!