Wrapping up our time in Monteverde, Steve and I hit the road to head to our final destination in Costa Rica: the Arenal volcano region. Since it was a drive of a few hours, we looked around for something to break up the travel time, and I immediately hit upon visiting another of Costa Rica’s gorgeous national parks: Parque Nacional Volcan Tenorio, home of the spectacularly beautiful Rio Celeste. It was a hot day, and we waited in line in full sun for over two hours to get into the park – fair warning to aspiring travelers – but it was well worth it. Once we finally made it through the park gates, we struck off on a shady trail that climbed up, up, up, and then WAY down to this:

Catarata Rio Celeste pours into a milky, electric blue, pool surrounded by mosses and overhanging trees and spilling out onto a rocky streambed – absolutely enchanting.

Full disclosure: the hike to the waterfall was surprisingly tough. We are experienced hikers and I think we’re decently conditioned to the trail, but this one was actually quite difficult. There were quite a few long staircases – including the last one to get down to the waterfall (and then back up when you were done gorging on beauty) – and sections of sticky mud and uneven rocks and roots. And yet the trail was crowded with Sunday walkers hiking along in delicate sandals and seeming to have an easier time of it than we were. I wonder if it was the altitude? The maximum altitude of the park is over 6,500 feet, and I don’t know how high up this trail was – it did climb a fair amount. So I’m going with altitude. That’s definitely what it was.

I mean. Look at that.

According to my guidebook, local legend holds that when God finished painting the sky, He washed His paintbrushes in Rio Celeste. It definitely checks out.

The scientific explanation is that it’s a mineral in the water, composed of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen, that gives the water that milky, but bright, blue color. (I have to say I like the God’s paintbrushes explanation better…) Well, whatever the reason, it’s stunning.

The water continues cascading down the rocky streambed. It’s so beautiful it doesn’t even look real – but I assure you, it is.

After we’d stood and drunk in the view for awhile, we turned and began the agonizing climb back up the stairs (oof) and then had a decision to make. The trail continues on for miles through the forest, past multiple beautiful landmarks – we could keep following it, or we could turn back (having seen the main view we came for). The next stop on the trail was Laguna Azul, which was only a little more than half a kilometer onward. Now, how could we resist a blue lagoon? Clearly we had to keep going, at least to that point. The mud and uneven ground and climbing continued – if anything, the trail got more intense (but less crowded, so that was something). Was it worth it? See for yourself:

Laguna Azul was cool to see because it’s actually the point where the waters from upstream mingle with the first introduction of minerals, and you can actually see the water changing from clear to milky blue. It was hard to capture, because the camera angle was not good – but look at the far right of the picture above. See how the water is clear, and then it hits the minerals in the lagoon, mingles, and turns opaque? Amazingly cool to see.

Just super, super fascinating and beautiful.

From the blue lagoon, the water continues off downstream – headed for Catarata Rio Celeste, the beauty spot we’d just hiked up from.

I’d have loved to stay and explore more along this captivating trail, but we were hot, tired and hungry – and we had a long road ahead to Arenal. It was time to turn back, and catch one more glimpse from way above Catarata Rio Celeste as we moved on to our next stop. This was just a short interlude, but about as memorable as they come.

Next week: we eat some Costa Rican food! Pura vida!