Rincon de la Vieja

During our stay at Palo Verde, we took a day off. First day off in six weeks. Folks were getting cranky. So the coordinators organized an excursion to Rincon de la Vieja, "haven of the old woman", a volcano about two hours away. It was a magnificent hike to the top of the volcano that began in one of the most beautiful primary forests I saw in all of Costa Rica. In this first picture, Maya, myself and Cynthia take a moment to mock the "Pirate's Code", that is, "if you can't keep up, you'll be left all by your onesees."

Of course, we all made the hike easily. I'll leave it at that and let the pictures below tell the rest of the story.

My sense of scale wass thrown by the intensely clear air, long vistas and surreal landscape. For instance, those little dots on the left rocky ridgeline are fellow hikers

The mouth of Rincon de la Vieja