Rincón de la
Vieja National Park:
Travel
to Costa Rica
Straddling the Guanacaste
Cordillera lies Rincón de la Vieja National
Park, invariably a favorite of those fortunate few
people privileged enough to have visited the majority
of parks in the system. Highlights of this park include
six different life zones, abundant wildlife, gorgeous
waterfalls, fascinating geothermal features, and an
active volcano.
One of the most unique
and easily observed aspects of this park is an area
known as Las Pailas, a 50 ha. sector on the
southern slope of the volcano with numerous kinds
of geothermal activity. Bubbling, boiling hot mud
springs, sulfur springs, steam vents, and fumaroles
are all present in this relatively small area at the
base of the volcano.
For those in good physical
condition, a hike from the Las Pailas ranger station
to the volcano's summit makes for a rigorous full
day outing. The walk starts out through a magnificent
stand of tropical moist forest where the most striking
trees are strangler figs seen in every phase of the
process of enveloping the doomed host tree. As the
trail continues upwards it enters premontane wet forest
and the trees become smaller and covered with epiphytic
vegetation.
The last hour and a half
(or more) of the hike is on steep, exposed rock rubble
that has resulted from past eruptions. Cairns mark
the way to the summit since this part of the climb
is frequently in the clouds.
Getting there: From
Liberia, take the PanAmerican Highway north for 5
km., turn right at the village of Cereceda and continue
on for 23 km. (past Hacienda Guachipelín and
Hacienda Rincón de la Vieja) to the Las Pailas
ranger station.
Climate: Around
the Las Pailas area the temperatures are quite warm
(scalding if you manage to fall into one of the geothermal
features) and the typical Guanacaste weather pattern
prevails. As you go up the slopes of the volcano,
the conditions get progressively cooler and wetter.
History: The name
Rincón de la Vieja means "the old lady's nook"
and is attributed to indigenous people of the Guatuso
tribe living on the eastern side of the volcano who
believed that an old witch lived on top of the mountain
and would send columns of smoke into the air whenever
she got annoyed.
Indeed, the active crater
which bears this name periodically lets off steam
(and large quantities of ash, too). Since 1863, there
have been at least eight episodes of intense volcanic
activity, the latest one in 1991.
