This was our last full day in Costa Rica, and it turned out to be the best one. We had several hours of driving to get back to the capital for our flight out the next day, but we had half a day with no plans. So we had asked our guide from the mangrove tour for suggestions the day before. He suggested a hike along our drive back. We had no idea what an amazing place he was sending us to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenzie and I followed his directions, turned off the main road, and drove 30 minutes on a dirt road into the jungle. We were starting to wonder if we’d gotten lost again when we finally found the unassuming entrance to the park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a 3-mile hike roundtrip, and over the several hours we were there, we only saw 5 other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first half of the hike was up steep mountains and included a bunch of very high (and sketchy) hanging bridges crossing valleys and next to waterfalls. So beautiful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second half of the hike was even better. We worked our way back down to the river and followed it back. All of the waterfalls we’d seen on the way in drained into the river we followed back out. For a mile and a half, it was swimming hole after swimming hole fed by the waterfalls and river. We spent the next hour swimming in a few of them and taking lots of pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This place is not anything we had read about or found in any guidebook, so we were so appreciative that one of the locals shared it with us. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole trip!<\/p>\n\n\n\n