I stayed three nights in Liberia in March 2024 and used the full first day to visit the Rincon de la Torre national park. I took an uber taxi there for around $22. The driver gave me his number in case I needed a pickup for the way back at the going rate of $30.

One has to book the tickets online, they cannot be bought at the park itself, though there is wifi and it shouldn't be a problem to book there for the same day.

I was there a bit before 8am and I had to wait to be registered. It was a windy day and I started off with the trail to the waterfalls. There are several karst phenomena, such as an underground river shortly coming to surface.

The hike up to the Hidden Waterfall was quite steep plus the wind was so strong that it was difficult to keep my balance on the rocks. Also, there was a spray of water a few times, and I wasn't sure if it was from the clouds or from the river. In any case, this mountain wind is partly responsible for the dryness on this side of the mountains, so I considered myself lucky to be able to experience this feature of the world heritage site so intensely. The last part down to the waterfall was steep, but there is a rope. I hadn't met anyone so far but was soon joined by a family. The small waterfall was nicely hidden from the wind and felt a bit like an oasis.

From there, one has to backtrack a few kilometers and take the path down to the Cangreja waterfall, a more popular destination. There are signs that swimming is prohibited, but the tour groups clearly go with the purpose of having their picture taken in the water in front of the waterfall. While the waterfall is more beautiful and bigger than the first one, I preferred the quietness of the first one.

It was already 15.00h when I came back to the headquarters, and it was quiet on the shorter loop trail with the vulcanic features. I especially enjoyed the bubbling mud pools, which I had seen on TV as a child but it was the first time to see them in reality. There are nice fumaroles as well in several places.

There were just few cars at the parking when I returned. I tried to call an uber via the wifi network but unsurprisingly no driver accepted. I approached a group of young Americans on their spring break and they were happy to take me along as they passed by Liberia.

The second day I went to Santa Rosa by taking one of the frequent buses that run to the border with Nicaragua and got off at the park entrance. Here one pays by card, and one apparently needs an online reservation. I didn't have one but the park guard made one for me on her phone. From there it was a long hot walk of 8 kilometers to the ranch house, which is actually a reconstruction as it was arsoned in 2008 and almost burnt down to the ground. The trees loose their leaves during the dry season, so there was little shadow on certain stretches. There were several cars and I think hitchhiking would have been easy but I didn't try. I liked the walk through the heat and the sensation of just putting one foot in front of the other.

I had considered to walk to a few viewpoints where it should be possible to look at Naranjo beach, or even to walk down there, but I had just 2 liters of water with me and it seemed too dangerous in this intense heat. I walked a forest trail instead, it must have been around 6 kilometers. I stumbled several times as the path had been cut through bushes but the stumps were left a few centimeters and were subsequently covered by the fallen leaves. There was a water basin that must have belonged to the hacienda. I heard a lot of sounds here in the leaves but probably it was the iguanas that are so plentiful here.

Afterwards I walked all the way back to the highway to catch the bus. Now the sun was setting and it was much cooler. I was glad the bus came before it was dark, and drank several liters of cool water when I came back.