We warmed ourselves with coffee and breakfast, served again by the amazing gold medalist Katia. It was odd to leave a campsite without having to pack up the tent, but soon we were on our way. A short bus ride took us along the valley road, to the beginning of today’s hiking, and then we started the climb.

It was a simple route – the first half of the day was up, and the second half down. Although it was forecast to be rainy, it stayed dry.   The sky was overcast it was humid; but we were glad not to be in blazing sunshine but instead were able to climb the hill in reasonable temperatures as the route took us winding up to a pass at about 1650m.

Like all mountain climbs, much of the pleasure was in the ever evolving and more spectacular views over the heavily forested and diverse hillsides. Looking out at one viewpoint Jairo estimated there were probably more than a hundred different species of trees in view.

This was a much more prolonged climb than our previous days so we had frequent stops for photos and admiring the views and surrounding forest.  David also needed to pace himself as he was very conscious not to push things too hard. 

At one point we saw a tiny hummingbird flitting from flower to flower for nectar. What was the hurry after all. The last plod up seemed to stretch out but then we were at the top and were soon cruising down into the next valley with views over Tapanti national park.

At the bottom of the hill, the minibus picked us up for a short drive to lunch.  The ‘full’ camino walkers would walk every step but we were happy to take the ride after the 660m climb. This ‘highlights’ tour meant we could do everything at a more relaxed pace rather than having to battle through the kilometers. It has still been a fantastic way to get deep into rural Costa Rica and see areas that we would not do if we had stuck to the main tourist routes.  We have had the chance to savour the beauty and enormous diversity of this county, as well as engage with the hugely friendly locals.  Like many places in the world, locals here are proud of where they live and wanted us to appreciate their homeland.  We have seen this all over the world and, at times, it has been challenging to find positive things to say about the local environment (although we always did – sometimes fearful that our noses would grow).  In contrast, in Costa Rica it is easy to share the locals’ enthusiasm for where they live.

Lunch was the end of the hiking day and another short minibus ride took us to an actual hotel for tonight – felt like luxury with boiling hot showers and even a laundry service. Some of the group went off for the afternoon to some hot springs but we decided to stay behind to start planning for ‘after the Camino’ as time is flying by and in 4 days time we will be at the Pacific coast.