What does off-roading look like in Costa Rica?

Yesterday around 10:30 a.m. I was ticked, grumpy and more than a little disgruntled. 

Our mission: Vientos Fresco Falls. 

Google maps indicated that the small-intestine shaped road that was the last 3 km of the trip was yellow a.k.a. slow traffic. That was a very subtle way to say "cow trails with a chance of washouts." I have never been over such rough terrain in a vehicle, short of a quad, in my life.  You could not see the trail in front of the hood of the car. I know a vehicle can't go up a forty-five degree slope, but these sure looked like it. I should have realized the condition of trail when the ol' guy selling tickets said, "Your vehicle will do just fine!" - that was my try at translating his Spanish, but in fact, he was saying, "The clearance and 4-wheel drive capabilities of your vehicle will definitely get a work-out on this trail! Check your insurance, and I don't mean for the vehicle!" The last of the trail and the very worst of it was supposed to be only like 700m, but at about the 1.2 km mark, we were facing downward a mountain and it looked like we were destined to shake, rattle and roll to the bottom of the deep valley. I was telling Myra to look for a spot that we might be able to turn around on because we are DEFINITELY ON THE WRONG TRAIL ! ! ! Why didn't the guy wave us back when we first left the "main road"? A bend in the road and there's a clearing and room enough to turn around. In fact, lots of room to turn around! Oh! Wait! This is the parking lot!  Cheese and crackers, what a drive! Two peanut butter and jam sandwiches later I was more like myself again. There are no pictures of the drive, it was too dangerous for Myra to get out of the vehicle.

So we're carefully tai chi walking down the trail on the face of this mountain and we meet a couple coming back up. They looked like they were overheating and a little bedraggled. They speak great English, but are from Italy. He asks me, "Did you drive here?" I say, "yes." and he shakes his head and vehemently curses. Huh! That's one word that transcends the language barrier. We were both basically totally unimpressed with the road.  Later as we continue our descent Myra reminds me - "And they're Italian!" Italians are amazing drivers - in their own country at least.

There are three beautiful falls along the trail. The last set of falls has a 75m drop and a place to swim in warm-ish water.  It was a great relief to have a swim and a picnic lunch courtesy Myra's forward planning. 

Needless to say it was a beer and pizza out when we got back. Rob and Dawn from Florida joined us and we ended up staying to listen to some great music. A hard but good day. Technically I don't Ticos would call what we drove on today "off-road," but I think Canadians might. 



The trail to right is the road to the falls.





This is a local howler monkey named "Rodney."


And the birds continue to dazzle us:









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