Naranjillo – Esquipulas (15km). Actual 9 miles. 1300 feet elevation gain. El Camino de Costa Rica – stage 15
Summary
Today was a relatively easy day. It clouded-up early and started raining about 11:30 am, several hours earlier than other rainy days. We were near our destination but still walking when it started raining so most of us stopped to put on our rain gear. We walked the last 30 minutes or so in a downpour. Our shoes were soaked in minutes. We were happy to take off our raingear and sit under cover watching the many birds that were attracted to a couple of feeders located by the outside eating area. The rain eventually let up and we had several hours in the afternoon to explore the lush surrounding of Esquipilas rainforest.
Details
Our breakfast call time was 6:30 am, which was pretty standard. We saw several large toucans near the hill-top camp ground in the morning. We were hiking by around 7:15. Our ill group member was feeling better today so she returned to walking.
The morning began mostly sunny and hot. I took advantage of two stream crossings to cool off by splashing water on my head and soaking my shirt. It cooled off a bit when clouds moved in mid-morning. Rain started around 11:00 and I put on my rain shell for the first time while walking. We walked for about a mile or so in pouring rain. While everything that was not protected got soaked in minutes, the temperature remained pleasant. We made it to Esquipilas rainforest camping about 11:30 and had a chance to remove soaking wet shoes and change into dry clothes if we desired. We had a hearty lunch and watched it rain for a couple hours. The rain stopped and we had the afternoon to shower and relax in the beautiful grounds.
There were several trails on the property. I walked around a loop on the property and was able to get pretty close to a vulture, saw several toucans from a distance and saw a coati from about 30 feet away. It was very shy and disappeared in the understory as soon as it saw me.
It started raining again a little before dinner around 6:15. It was still raining at 7:30 as we finished dinner with the rain continuing until sometime after 12:30 am.
Track
