To Grecia via Bajos del Toro

I tried not to gorge myself quite so much at this morning’s buffet breakfast in light of the amount of time I anticipated spending in the car enroute to our next destination. We said goodbye to Paradise Hot Springs, grateful for the hospitality of everyone who worked there and made every effort to accommodate our needs and desires. Even though it may be smaller than many of the other hot springs in the area, we loved the personal feel and the fact that it was never overrun by tour buses of people coming in with day passes.

One of the routes to Finca Organica San Luis (the Airbnb where we’d be staying our final two nights – use this referral link to save $55 on your first trip!) took us right by Catarata del Toro, so we decided to pay a visit to Costa Rica’s biggest waterfall.

Catarata del Toro turned out to be one of the highlights of our whole trip! We paid the $14/person and expected to hike a designated path to get to the falls.

About 10 steps later we arrived. As we sat on the stone bench overlooking the majestic site, I couldn’t help but feel we’d been ripped off.

Thankfully, Julian discovered that there was a trail we could traverse if we wanted to that would take us further into the property. In the end, the trail actually led all the way to the bottom where we could boulder across a field of rocks and stand close enough to the falls to feel a steady spray of water in the face. Well worth the $14 after all!

After ascending 300 stairs, we made it back to the top and meandered around the garden snapping photos of the tropical plants. We also had a wonderful visit with the owner of the site, Donais, and found out that she is involved in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation ministry in a nearby town. We discovered this because as we are traveling we are sharing a gift with various people that we encounter: a booklet called There is Hope that Julian wrote. [Incidentally, if you are a traveler and would like to request some of these booklets to share with others along the way, just visit our website at hopenotshame.com or email us to request some (free of charge).] Donais had begun reading the booklet while we hiked, thus prompting the conversation upon our return.

We continued our drive in the early afternoon and found ourselves winding through cloud-engulfed roads. On several occasions there appeared to be a spot in the road where there would have been an incredible view from both sides. But we’ll never know. All we saw was a solid sheet of white.

Eventually we emerged from the cloud and for the first time in our whole trip, Google maps let us down. It has been plotting our route each day with amazing precision, and we might have survived today’s route had we been brave enough to attempt it, but we chickened out when Julian felt a few of the boards give a little beneath his weight when he walked across this “bridge.” Plus, even if we had made it in the moment, I suspect my mother would have killed me when she found out about it later on!

Rickety bridges notwithstanding, we made it a short while later to our cabin on Finca Organica San Luis. We checked in with our hostess, ordered breakfast for the morning, unpacked our bags, and then departed to explore Grecia. Far more populous than any of our previous destinations, Grecia is also clearly more “real” Costa Rica and less “tourist.” Few of the people we encountered could speak English, so we had to get by with gestures and smiles. It does save having to listen to sales pitches, though, when you can shrug your shoulders apologetically and say, “No Españole.”

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Arte Latte, right along the town square beside the landmark Templo Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, then spent the rest of the evening walking up and down the blocks of the bustling city.

We loved getting a different perspective on life in Costa Rica, joining the throngs of people weaving through traffic trying not to get run over, and observing vendors and customers at the numerous meat and fruit markets and bakeries on every street. Then we retreated for the night to our quiet corner in the hills far from the hubbub of the streets of Grecia.