Road Trip Numero Dos

On Friday, Lauren and I took off in our newly-rented Toyota Rav4 for a weekend of hiking, waterfalling and sunsets.  Our first destination was the Tenorio Volcano National Park (see the attached video), which is just under a three hour drive from our apartment in Samara.  Now, most people might pack a light snack or small lunch for such a venture, but Lauren and I are not most people.  In the 3-hour drive, we each consumed a peanut-and-jelly sandwich, along with a cheesy chicken empenada and a wonderful cinnamon donut-like pastry (both of which were purchased at one of the Samara bakeries)...just stocking up for the hike though, right?

We hiked about a mile in once we got to Tenorio and were welcomed by an amazing aqua-blue waterfall (see the pictures).  Lauren learned from her tour book that the chemicals from the volcano are what give the water its surreal color.  

After Tenorio, the Rav4 rumbled on down the road and we hit up another waterfall (more pictures) before settling into Liberia for the night.  

Saturday morning, we got an early start on our way up to Rincon de la Vieja National Park, which is about 45 minutes north of Liberia.  The hike to the waterfall inside of Rincon was a little more strenuous than Friday's - about 6.2 miles round trip with a lot of ups and downs.  The waterfall at the end was pretty stunning, and we both got in and took a dip (pictures below of course).  We really lucked out with the weather on this hike, as it was nice and cool under the canopy of the lush forest.

From Rincon, we headed west and ended up in a quaint little beach town called Playa Brasilito.  Brasilito is located just 6 kilometers from the town of Playa Flamingo, which is where Lauren lived for a month following her Paladin days.  We stayed at the esteemed Hotel Brasilito, a cute establishment that is situated about 50 feet from the ocean.  Lauren and I went on a nice long walk, took a dip in the Pacific and then celebrated our first Costa Rican sunset in style with a pina colada that was accompanied by an umbrella, cherry and a piece of pineapple.

Sunday we explored three more beaches that were close to Brasilito before returning home to Samara for our last few days here.

It was a great weekend and luckily we have lots of pictures and videos to share.