Camino de Costa Rica
Day 7: Río Macho to Navarro de Muñeco
Date: February 19, 2024
Miles: ~10
Time walking: ~ 6 hours
Difficulty: Some steep up and downs beginning of day. Last 4 miles not bad.
7am breakfast (fruit, waffles, toast, tortilla wrap - beans, cheese, ham) -yum. Saved one tortilla wrap as our to go mid morning snack.
Pretty shuttered buildings along the river.
Once we hit the top it was a steep downhill
Followed by some incredible views
Walked along coffee plantations in rows along the hillside looking like vineyards.
Obsessed with orange flowering trees providing shade to coffee plants.
Last 4 miles or so back on a paved road through a more well to do community
Arrived at our beautifully crafted cabin house for the night.
Lunch (salad, rice, meat) on the deck
4 bedrooms upstairs. We lucked out and got our own room (although didn’t really matter as it was an open ceiling)
All the others shared given there are small groups of people traveling together. Two bathrooms for all to share down on the first floor with showers (hot water shower head, if you keep low pressure).
It was definitely cool sitting on the balcony in the afternoon reading. Needed a light jacket.
Nice having the afternoon off to relax. Tried in vain to find a local store to buy our daily beer or wine.
Light dinner at 6:30pm. Lentil soup with potatoes and squash. Needed it to warm us up. Definitely cold.
Day 8: Navarro de Muñeco to Palo Verde
Date: February 20, 2024
Miles: 6 miles
Time walking: ~5 hours (Started at 7:15am and finished at noon)
Difficulty: Elevation gain: 2240 ft
6:30am breakfast - toast, eggs, fruit, coffee cake. Rained on and off all day, mostly light. A bit chilly as well due to the elevation (6,000 ft). Lots of ups and downs. Started on a wide gravel road
Then changed to a single track muddy trail in the rain forest.
So lush with many wonderful plant species, flowers, birds, some mushrooms.
Crossed a couple of small streams
Then more wide gravel road through a small housing community.
And a final track through the jungle
Stopped around 9:45am at someone’s house for lunch (bean, cheese and egg sub). Got incredibly lucky and saw a beautiful quetzal bird.
Our cabin accommodation (yoga retreat center) tonight is off the charts nice. Beautifully crafted, high ceilings, separate porch, small desk area, nice linens and towels, hot water, and a very comfortable bed.
4pm special treat of yoga and sound bath at the yoga pavilion
6pm dinner. Wow the ambiance-lighting and fireplace. Wonderful soup, salad, pasta and frozen bananas with chocolate. Had a $35 bottle of wine.
