We traveled to Liberia and met up with two of Jimmy's friends, Bebsy and Minor, and their 2 year old son Sergio. We were planning on going to Santa Rosa National Park, but there was no water, so we practice the value of flexibility and drove Beby's mom's old truck to Rincon de la Vieja National Park.
Arriving to Rincon de la Vieja was a full day's experience of frustation and surprises. We traveled along a back road of white dust and somehow missed the turn towards the national park. It was not until we helped an older man dislodge his truck on a huge, powderly hill did we figure out that we had gone a couple of hours too far on that bumpy, dirt road. The funny part of this story is that we were almost to a volcano and we thought we were almost to Rincon de la Vieja volcano, but the farmer on the side of the road comented on how beautiful that
Miravalles Volcano was, and we burst into a frustrated laughter. So, we turned around in the crapy truck and also got stuck on that hill, until a nice 4x4 came by and chained us up the dusty hill. THEN, we heard a rare sound from the truck and we get out only to discover that the left suspention had broken on the truck, so the bumper was pratically scrapping along the soft dirt. Well, to make a long story short, we did make it to Rincon de la Vieja National Park after dark and we set up camp. ONLY IN COSTA RICA COULD WE GO TO THE WRONG VOLCANO!We spent the next few days in Rincon de la ViejaNational Park, known for the volcanos. We hiked often around the plethora of trails, visiting sulfur hot springs and bubbling hot mud pools. We saw so many monkies and left with a million bug bites. 
It was nice to sleep in our tent.
Sulfur Hot Springs.
Bubbling hot mud pools.
After our wonderful two nights in Rincon de la Vieja, Jimmy and I treked to Santa Rosa National Park, which is known as the oldest and largest national park in Costa Rica. The expansive dry forest was impressive and we had fun hiking around the trails covered in monkies. We visited 
LA CASONA, which is a historial landmark that represents a battle that won Costa Ricans their freedom from the Filibusters. We also went to Playa Naranjo and enjoyed the pristine, long beach. Luckily, a nice Hawaiian couple picked us up and brought us back in their rented 4x4, thus we did not have to hike the instense 13kms down the mountain and back up. Santa Rosa is an very-well organized national park where a lot of scientists carry-out investigations and research. There is not a lot of tourist development, so it is a good place to visit for a short stay. It was nice to sleep in our tent.
La Casona and Playa Naranjo.
After leaving Santa Rosa National Park using our thumb several times on Thursday, including a scary ride on the bumper of a full truck, we found out all the returning buses to San Jose were sold out until Saturday. So, we used our thumb once again to get to a secluded, non-tourist beach called Playa Iguanita in Culebra Bay. We give thanks to the brothers Manuel and Johnny for picking us up and sharing their beer with us in the water, while conversint about a variety of intersting subjects. Normally there are no people on this beach, but since it was Semana Santa, there were about 1000 people camped out along the building-less beach. All families. Grandparents cooking and kids playing in the motionless water all day long. I was the ONLY white person. Unfortunately, a young guy yelled 
at me from his gruop of friends, "Oh no, hay una puta gringa," (oh no, there is a bitch ginga). In a seemily-safe place, I felt threatened and scared. So, Jimmy and I left on Friday. Nevertheless, we swam in the placid, clear water and listened to the waves from our tent and looked out the nylon window at the full moon. It was so very nice to sleep in our tent.
Our adventure during Semana Santa was wonderful and taught us the importance of flexibility and adaptability. Jimmy and I visited three new places and enjoyed every minute. We are a very good traveling partners and it was fun to learn together.
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