Jan. 25 - Los Campesinos Ecolodge

“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.” —Gabby Basora

Stan and I like to look for activities that are a little off-the-beaten-path. We're not the normal tourists that like to visit every museum or touristy place, in fact those are the places we try to avoid. So after our adventure yesterday at Manuel Antonio National Park, it was time to get away from the crowds. 

I do research to find local places and things that will lead us to something different and less crowded. In my research I found Los Campesinos, it's a little known community-based ecotourism organization deep in the mountains north of Quepos. It took us about an hour to get there, up a mountain road that was a bit bumpy and steep, but no wear near as bad as the road to Rio Celeste last year. The drive itself was part of the adventure...it took us past charming Tico (local) villages and we saw some beautiful lush green sights.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by friendly locals at the small ticket booth/store where we bought our tickets to explore the wonderful nature reserve. There were several hikes we could do on our own, but you can also hire a guide to take you deeper into the rainforest to an overlook where you can see Manuel Antonio and learn more about the area and the work this group is doing. We chose to hike on our own today. 

The first hike starts near the entrance. It crosses an extremely long hanging bridge that is 328' long and 246' above the river and waterfall below. The hanging bridge was a bit scary and I was glad there weren't any other people around at the time we crossed. At the end of the bridge is a small natural pool to swim in, but we decided to climb up a little further and found a wonderful little spot (called Victoria's Paradise) that had a deeper pool for swimming and a great place to relax for a few hours. The best part...we had the place to ourselves.

Our first look at the hanging bridge

Here we go! When there is more water, you could see the waterfall to the left of Stan.

Looking down was a little scary...mostly because I didn't want to drop my phone.

Not much water this time of year, but still a fun place to visit.

Playing in the water and doing a little exploring.

Our little piece of paradise for the day.

We had the whole place to ourselves for hours.

We chose to have lunch at the lodge. They serve a traditional Costa Rican casado plate, cooked fresh as you wait. We had chicken, rice, black beans, picadillo, salad and homemade tortillas. After lunch we took our second hike to the bottom of the large water that is under the hanging bridge. There were several falls in this area and plenty of places to swim. Los Campesinos is remote, unspoiled and unbelievably beautiful. This is the dry season so the waterfalls weren't too impressive, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the day.

The lodge where they serve meals

Walking to the bottom of the waterfall

There were several other falls coming down into the pool.

Our sunset for the day