Cataratas Nauyaca, Costa Rica

A visit to a stunning waterfall, but not before a horrific walk that left the four of us dripping in sweat, looking like the waterfall we were trying to get to.

This post is a bit out of order just to make things confusing but think of it more as a side post. As I wrote previously, with messing up our timing in Manuel Antonio to visit the national park, (i.e being there on a Monday, the only day of the week the park is closed) we had to do a bit of a switch around of our plans. We'd intended to visit a waterfall called Cataratas Nauyaca on our journey from Manuel Antonio further south, but ended up doing this as a day trip instead.

The road took us past huge palm tree plantations and subsequently a palm oil factory. We're unsure if this is an eco-friendly one, but that's the hope. It looked rather ominous though. Costa Rica is the leading producer of palm oil in the Americas and while there are global ethical standards to be followed in terms producing palm oil whilst still protecting the environment, not all companies actually follow these. Some companies here have been in trouble for degrading the environment plus child and immigrant labour issues. Sigh.

On a brighter note, we found another cheap (for Costa Rica) roadside restaurant that did good and cheap food for lunch on the way and then ended up returning again for dinner because when you find a good one, just stick with it.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't our wisest move to embark on this one hungover and in the brutal heat in the middle of the day. This waterfall is on private land so we purchased our tickets from the grumpy woman at the desk and set out to walk to the falls. We quickly realised she hadn't actually told us where to go nor were there any signs, so had to go back to the office and ask, much to her displeasure it seemed! We left our car on the main road because the woman also didn't inform us that we could have driven the first kilometre or two and parked our car in a carpark. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal but this first kilometre or so of the walk happened to be a rather steep hill which was fine for the way down but the whole time, we were thinking how bad it was going to be walking back.

The rest of the walk was undulating, through farms and across streams. Normally it would probably be quite an enjoyable 5-6km walk, but on this particular day it felt like hell to all of us in the sweltering heat and humidity. It would have been about 35 degrees and humidity that day must have been at least 80-90% and honestly, I don't think I've ever wanted a swim more in my life. I'm not sure I've ever been so sweaty in my life either. It took us about an hour and each kilometre there was a sign telling you how many more there were to go. I'm not sure if this was a good or bad thing, but each kilometre began to feel longer and longer and signs further and further apart.

The relief of finally reaching the waterfall was immense. Shoes and clothes couldn't be discarded fast enough and we scrambled over the rocks into an amazingly refreshing pool at the base of the waterfall. Bliss.

The waterfall itself was stunning with multiple different layers and levels. You could sit underneath it and have a free shower or water massage due to the power of the water. In some ways it was surprising the amount of water here because there are so many other waterfalls and rivers that are just completely dry at this time of year - it being dry season and all - but definitely weren't complaining. There seemed to be many American school or university groups and families around, perhaps this is a common area to be holidaying in for them. Some of the lads scaled the waterfall and jumped off various levels which was fun to watch.

We spent an hour or two at the waterfall and then succumbed to the fact that we were going to have to endure that walk all over again. A quick visit to the upper section of the waterfall that you're not able to swim in and then we were on our way. The walk back was actually much more pleasurable and seemed to pass much quicker, possibly because we had cooled down and the day was cooling down too. Until we reached that beast of a last hill, that is. Our somewhat higher spirits were quickly dashed especially with cars driving past us. Even the two-wheel drive cars were battling to get up the hill on that dirt road.

Normally you'd probably say a beer was well deserved after this day but after the previous night, none of us could face one. It's fair to say we were all well and truly pooped!Read more