Costa Rica has so many hidden gems.  Places that calm the spirit and rejuvenate the soul.  In the shadows of the Poas Volcano, along the banks of the Rio Toro, is such a place.

Back when I used to do some transports myself, for many of my customers it was their first experience of the country.  I used to get a kick out of playing tour guide.

Moments after picking a group up from the airport, just outside of the city of Alajuela, we’d be careening down the Pan American Highway.  At this point I’d begin to hear comments like “it’s so beautiful” as they peered out at the Central Valley completely surrounded by mountains.  I’d just have to grin and think to myself, yea, but you haven’t seen anything yet.

We take’d a right turn off the highway and head through the little town of Grecia.  It’s a bustling and scenic pueblo with a very unique church made completely of metal. Then we’d head towards Sarchi and stop for a few moments at the Chaverri Oxcart Factory, the oldest in the country.

After that, things start to get really interesting. I usually tell them to say goodbye to civilization as we head up into the mountains and the Rio Toro Nature Preserve. We’d climb to about 6,000 feet with the cloud forest becoming more and more dense at each turn. The views are amazing and the drop-offs from the narrow road are stomach turning.

We come down through the mountains, catching a fleeting glimpse of the Poas Volcano if the weather was clear, to the little town of Toro Amarillo. It is a tiny picturesque pueblo nestled in the valley of a narrow gap between the mountains, with the nickname “valle de las truchas”, due to the excellent trout fishing in the area.

Customers of Package Costa Rica were fortunate back then because we were the only tour company that traveled to the Arenal Volcano via this off-the-beaten-path route. Others would opt for the wider and busier San Ramon route.

But going this way is more of an adventure and a great way to get a first-hand experience of what Costa Rica is all about. The highlight is the Catarata del Toro, a ninety foot waterfall that dumps into what best can be described as a rock whole in the forest. It’s an awe-inspiring site.

Some of the brave and energetic ones will make the trek down to the pool at the bottom, where you will see sombrillas de pobre that have been singed by the sulphuric spray from the falling water that originates from the highly active Poas Volcano.

Sometimes we will schedule a rappel down the side of the waterfall with the folks that have the property where you enter to view the falls.

Costa Rica has many such places, but this is one of the most special and another reason I love Costa Rica so much!

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