We met some local tico’s on the trail to Cerro Chato in Arenal who used to be park guides in another national park. They sung it’s praises so much we decided to check it out. Rincon De La Vieja (Rincon) is a volcanic national park near Liberia in Costa Rica. Our 5 year old guide book makes mention of cheapish ways to reach the park from Liberia so we head there on the morning bus.

When we arrive in Liberia we discovered that the park transfer was $20 pp plus park entrance, $10, plus private road toll, $2. On top of that the aging hotel wanted $22 for a room. We deliberated the different options including the expensive lodges walking distance from the park. We ended up getting another hire car with a plan to camp or sleep in the car.

After buying groceries for the next 2 days we headed up to national park in the evening. On the way we discovered Sol Y Verde. You can catch the bus to them and then they run a shuttle to the park each day for approx $10 per return trip (i.e. not per person). Their new cabins are in a rural setting and cost $20 per person ( a little cheaper if you have enough for the bigger ones). They also have a camp ground with lovely amenities for about $6 per person a night. We declined, figuring we could sleep in our car anywhere for free, and headed up to the national park gate. We found a place where we could drive of the road and started into a broken and cramped nights “rest”.

The next day we were rewarded with being first into the park. We did the thermal loop walk seeing volcanic mud pools, boiling water pools and other volcanic oddities all too hot to enter (i.e. deadly). We then got lunch out of the car. No sooner had we been warned about the racoons and put our bread on the table one came screeching down on us. It didn’t even slow a heartbeat in hesitation but jumped onto the table, grabbed our bag of bread and was off. The park ranger ran it down and got our bread back… a little worse for wear. We spent the afternoon walking to the waterfall which while impressive and very similar runs second place to the one at Arenal. One the way we saw a family of Spider Monkeys (completing the Central American set; Squirrel, Capuchin, Howler & Spider).

Then it was off to the other side of the national park, hopefully to camp!