Liberia and Rincon de la Vieja

After our Nicaraguan adventure Don Jorge was kind enough to drop us off in Liberia where myself and three friends planned to begin our Spring break apart from our group. We stuck around in Liberia for a couple of nights in order in explore the town and enjoy the ongoing festivities as the people of Liberia celebrated there town in true Guanacasteco fashion.

Guanacaste is the large northwest region of Costa Rica and Liberia is its capital. The region is known for its infatuation with rodeos and runnings of the bulls. The festival in Liberia played home to rodeos both nights we were there and we were able to visit one. We payed about four dollars each to sit up in the top of the stands and watch the Guanacastecos ride bulls and then after dismounting let their drunk amigos agitate and flee from the angry animals. There was only one injury when we were watching, so it was mostly just amusing to watch the drunk people dodge the hooves and horns of the bulls. Eventually, it got to a point where we sort of felt bad for the bulls as people chucked their empty beer cans and bags of trash at them as they tried to rile them up. Sadly, few bulls got the revenge they deserved.

During our only full day in Liberia we made our way to Rincon de la Vieja National Park about 50 minutes away from the city. The volcanic Guanacaste Mountain Range is older than the more active Central Range but still plays home to some impressive volcanic activity. The park at Rincon de la Vieja takes you through some starkly different micro-climates and sports many rivers and waterfalls along with fumaroles and extremely active mud pots. We encountered three different types of monkeys as well as a variety of lizards and birds along the paths. I wasn't able to accompany my friends to the beautiful waterfall la Cangreja but I was able to enjoy some swimming in one of the cool rivers, which was extremely refreshing after a long morning of hiking. The only thing we should have been prepared for was the bugs, more specifically the black flies which were quite vicious and left us all scratching for a couple days afterward. While transportation and park entrance was a bit expensive ($30) the experience was definitely worth it, and I look forward to going back sometime when my ankle is less sprained.

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