A weekend in the country (day one)

This weekend we went on an overnight trip to a nature reserve where there's a little albergue. It was in many ways the nicest place we've been to in Costa Rica so far.

In the morning we drove partway around the Nicoya peninsula and up into the hills. The scenery looked something like this:

Or like this:

In other words, it was kind of like Vermont. It also had a beautiful river called the White--here, el rio blanco. After meeting our guide and host, Arnolfo, next to the school in the tiny hamlet of San Pablo, we parked our car and started walking up to the nature reserve along a path that not only followed the rio but crossed it more than a dozen times. Eventually we got to a really big waterfall, which was too big too be captured well in photographs, at least by our little camera, which was being carried in a ziploc bag to protect it from the spray.

We swam in a pool right up under it for a while. It was amazing. Then we walked down, and stopped to swim under another, much smaller waterfall.

There was a vine next to the waterfall that we could swing on and drop from.

 

Then we walked up through old growth forest on a narrow path. In places the path had been fortified with concrete blocks.

At last we got to the lodge, "Cerro Escondido" ( hidden hill, I think). Here's Gabriel giving the thumbs up.

We were happy to relax on the porch of our little room:

A couple of hours later we lined up for a simple but delicious dinner cooked by Arnolfo's wife, Mari:

We had a nice time talking to Arnolfo and Mari. We were the only ones staying at the lodge, so we got a lot of their attention. We learned about their five children, about the visitors they get (not many Americans--it's mostly French people, with some Germans and Italians, about different national customs (Arnolfo thinks most Costa Ricans don't like walking or hiking), about Arnolfo's trip last year to  Cerro Chirripo, the highest mountain in CR, which Gabriel and I hope to climb later this year (it was a long hike, and it was way too cold for Arnolfo's taste--he had to wear three sweaters, a scarf, and a hat and gloves), about the recent changes in the area (reforestation, basically, due to a decrease in farming), and much, much more. Then we went back to our room, played a game or two, and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Then we went to sleep.