A wonderful day  at the Blue River!   Costa Rica’s Unique Blue River is located at the base of the Tenorio Volcano in north central Costa Rica.  Blue because of a specific mineral in the water, when the sun shines thru the water it appears blue.  The brighter the sunlight the bluer the water. Tourist hike from the main entrance of Tenorio National Park  for around two hours, arriving to the waterfall which is an eight foot drop, then swim in the pool of blue water-known as the blue lagoon. 

My friend paulette and I set out very early and entered Tenorio National Park’s main entrance. We paid $10 national park fee. Our goal was to see as many birds as possible and hike the Blue River Trail which is 7 kilometers.  I told Paulette. ” I don”t think I can hike the entire trail.  I did remember to wear my old comfortable tennis shoes and rain jacket.  There was a small drizzle of rain because August is rainy season in this area.  We encountered quite a lot of muddy trails.  We saw flocks of  toucans and also  small green parrots.  Maybe fifty of them.  Squaking and making a lot of noise. I wanted to see a Scarlet Macaw but folks told us none in that area of Costa Rica.  We heard the early morning howler monkeys and one had a small baby monkey in arms.  We kept our pace until around one hour we arrived at the waterfall.  My! What a sight!  We had dry clothes our backpack so we took a dip in the blue lagoon. So refreshing.

Returning we encountered a hot springs but told tourist are not allowed  to get into it.  Also along the trail are “las ollas” fumaroles filled with hot gurgling mud.  Yes very eery  feeling to see this.  Looks like quick sand.  The rainforest is virgin (primary).  Buttress are sometimes two meters in diameter and the trees seem to cling to the clouds, blocking out the sunlight in the undergrowth of the forest.

It was lunch time when we returned to the park entrance.  We hopped into our small Jimmy 4×4 Suzuki and started our journey back to our hotel .  When we got back to the highway, approx 15 minutes on  rocky muddy road,  we drove awhile toward a small town called Upala.  We stopped at a great small owner operated soda named Toya. A very pretty young woman operated this and serves typical Costa Rican food for $6 a plate.  We had rice, beans, fried plantains, chicken baked in fresh tomato sauce, fresh tortillas, and flan (egg custard)  for desert.  Plus a great cup of hot Costa Rican coffee..What better could we ask for!!

Weather:  dry season is January thru April. Other months expect rain in afternoons.  Plan to enter the park early morning.

Clothing:  cool cottons, good closed walking shoes, sun screen, mosquito repellent, small back pack, bottle water and camera

Level of physical activity-very good physical condition

Entrance fee  $10 person      no credit cards

Location- close to town of Upala in north central Costa Rica.  Stop and ask in Upala and anyone can point to the road–dirt road–that leads you to the entrance to Tenorio Volcano National Park.  Dirt road is 20 minutes drive to the park. 

contact Ann, the Costa Rica Expert  to help you plan your Costa Rica Vacation.  email      anncreed23@gmail.com

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