Camino de Costa Rica
Day 3: Las Brisas to Tres Equis
Date: February 15, 2024
Miles: 12
Time walking: ~ 8 hours.
Difficulty: Very hard day due to endless slippery mud and steep ascents.
Early 6:00am departure after a breakfast of a thick corn tortilla with eggs on it. Finished our 12 mile tough mudder at 3:45pm
Today we walked on more traditional narrow hiking trails.
Most of the day was a hard tracking through the thick slippery (“gne” indigenous word for it) mud. We did 10 miles of steep up and downs in the beautiful rainforest. Slipping and sliding. Had fun trying to keep up with our indigenous guide, and stay vertical. It rained hard on and off throughout the day.
We had 3 river crossings. First river crossing we changed into our water shoes.
By the second river crossing we didn’t bother changing into water shoes as our hiking shoes were soaked through with water and mud.
The last crossing was a little cart that we pulled ourselves across the river with manual ropes through pulleys.
Lunch (12:45pm) pasta and rice was in the indigenous community. They are poor but with the creation of the Camino de Costa Rica there is money starting to come in.
After lunch, first mile was a steep wide road, followed by a mile of flat gravel road with beautiful views. Last couple of miles were less muddy.
Slept in comfortable cabins located in a very well maintained garden.
Our Wonderful host (Wilma) makes chocolate and shared with us how she does it. The cooked coca beans without sugar are addictive.
Walked a half a block to our hosts cousin’s restaurant. we had a choice of fish, chicken or beef with our staples of rice, beans, potatoes and cabbage salad. We slept well this night
Day 4: Tres Equis to La Suiza
Date: February 16, 2024
Miles: 13
Time walking: ~ 8 hours
Difficulty: Easier day than yesterday as mostly wide gravel road with some up and down.
Breakfast at 7am at the same restaurant we ate at last night
Started the day at 8:15am and finished at 2:30pm. We walked about 13 miles this day.
Mostly a gravel wide road. A good section of up hill with some down and level. Passed by lots of beautiful plants, small communities and farm land.
Saw guys harvesting sugarcane, and got to sample some right off the stalk.
Ate our to go lunch, a wonderful tortilla with beans, rice, potatoes, fish in a banana leaf, on the grounds of a church.
One of the girls Brittany ( who is transitioning to CR full time with her partner Matt who co owns a rafting company) was renting an Airbnb a couple of blocks from our cabins. We all went over for happy hour. Beautiful view of the valley.
Dinner at 7pm in our hosts house. Dinner was very good. Fish, salad, vegetables and mash potatoes.