Sweet Release

Well after a crazy last week I decided that I needed to get out and do something adventurous. Long ago I realized that the best way for me to deal with any sort of negative situation is for me to go and exercise. Without ready access to my usual cathartic crux, soccer, I had to improvise and to this end, I decided to tackle one of the many national parks that dominate Costa Rica.

I hopped on a shuttle bus that departed from a local hotel and made the hour trip to Parque Nacional Rincon de la Vieja to get out civilization for a day and see what I could see. The park has a couple different trails leading past fumaroles, bubbling mud pits and waterfalls but I wanted to try my hand at something a little more exciting i.e. hiking up to the crater of an active volcano.

It took me about four hours to get from the ranger station up to crater itself and it was absolutely incredible. The trail worked its way up through a forest where I saw gigantic Fichus trees, some crazy looking birds and some monkeys that were pissed I was taking pictures of them. Just as I was getting out above the forest line the trail split and there was a sign pointing out an easier way and a more difficult and dangerous path. I thought about it for a second and of course I ended choosing the tougher route, I mean what kind of pansy would I be if I took the easy way, geez!

It was windy and slow going on the way up but I persevered. It actually wasn´t too bad but I imagined myself as Sir Edmund Hillary, minus my faithful shirpa Tensing, summitting Mt. Everest (well, or something like that). I actually first went to an inactive volcano crater that was along the way but I couldn’t really see anything because it was shrouded in clouds. After the inactive volcano I worked my way over to the real deal and the view was incredible on the cusp of the crater. I could see for miles in all directions! I was hoping to see lava bubbling but instead there was this sorta translucent milky colored lake in the crater. It smelled terrible and the sulfur gases burned my throat a little bit so I didn’t stay too long. I made it down with time to spare before the bus came back to pick us up, so I took a quick jaunt on another trail to see some more smelly, bubbly things. All in all, it was definitely a great trip.
My legs were sore yesterday so I hopped on another bus and went to the beach for the afternoon. Volcanos and beaches in consecutive days... yup, Costa Rica is pretty sweet and it´s hard to stay down for too long.