Costa Rica Adventures: Day 3, part 2

 After hanging out on the veranda for a bit and eating some snacks, we drove to our next waterfall: Oropendola.

K on the suspension bridge, I want to say this bridge was one person at a time

Viewing platform

View of the water at the base of the falls from the platform

We ran into the couple on their honeymoon with whom we spent most of the previous day. J had my DSLR and offered to take their photo as I was heading down the stairs towards the water. I quickly turned back around and grabbed the camera and said I'd do it!lol No offense to J but other times that I've asked him to use the camera to take photos of me they were out of focus or he ended up taking video or there was a finger blocking part of the lens. Besides that, to take photos on the platform the telephoto lens needed to be swapped with the 50mm one.

I took down his email address and promised to send the photos to him later that night. The couple were so nice and sweet. They spoke a little English. K, who will say she doesn't speak Spanish well but I'd say has a very good grasp, filled in the gaps. It was pleasure getting to know them.

The guys stayed on the platform (not sure why this time) and the girls and I debated as to who would be the first to brave the chilly water and swim towards the waterfall.

M the brave one

K and C

Speaking of brave, there had been a few others who were jumping off the rocks right beneath the viewing platform, and K decided to go for it.

In my opinion, this was the prettiest of all the waterfalls we saw that day. It was also a little bit more busy than the others with around 10 other people there. Still enough room to social distance but we did not have the place to ourselves. 

K swimming back after her jump

B posing in front of the waterfall

I still think the guys should have come down and swam too.😜 It wasn't quite time to head to the last waterfall so we took our time walking back and drying off. Back at the car we heard then saw a bunch of birds.

I managed to get a picture of one. J was told it was an Urraca Copetona. I knew it was a kind of jay (reminds me of blue jays back home). When we got back to the hotel that evening, I uploaded the photo into my iNaturalist app to identify the bird. It's a white-throated magpie-jay.

Next stop was the Rio Negro waterfalls which are located across the road from the hot springs. There are 4 different points on the trail that you can view the falls. We walked to the marker for the first view point and stopped to debate if we should do 1-4 or start at the top and work our way down, 4-1. M who was grumpy by then (I think because we skipped lunch and only had snacks) had the rotten luck of being bit by a bunch of fire ants while we talked. That made her real happy...NOT! We went by the water at #1 so she could stick her feet in the cool water and when the pain had abated some we continued up to the top view point (#4). 

*I think I have the below photos in order but honestly, it's been 3 weeks and I'm not 100% sure which photos belong to which view point*

P, king of the waterfall view point #4?

K

I think this is #3

#2?

K and P checking #2? out

P and K

walking back to the car

I dropped my DSLR off at the car, we grabbed our towels, and headed to the hot springs for another soak. Of all the places, the hot springs is the busiest. The smaller (and hotter) pools are the least crowded. We were always able to get one to ourselves. Of course, we were mindful and only spent 10 minutes or so in them at a time so that others could enjoy the pools too.

K, C, B

B and J

M (she didn't want to go in the hot springs) and K

P in the 104 degree pool

P and B cooling off in the river

P, K, B in the 100 degree pool

Relaxing in the hot springs is a perfect way to wrap up a busy day! Back to the hotel to shower and change and then it was time for our last dinner at Hacienda Guachipelin. We had made dinner reservations for 5:30 pm, the earliest of our entire time here, in part because we skipped lunch but also because we wanted to go to bed earlier. This was the one time I actually took a photo of what I ate...

shrimp ceviche, yummy!

We really enjoyed our stay at Hacienda Guachipelin. It's nice that there is so much to do on the property itself. My only regret is that we didn't go to the Rincon de la Vieja National Park. Next time!