Costa Rica - Day 8

Our trip is drawing to a close. And, although we have accomplished most of what we were hoping to do and seen much of what we had hoped to see, we seem to be getting started later into the morning. So yesterday we decided to play things sort of close to our base camp in Playa del Coco. We set out heading southeast on the Pan American Highway (highway 1) toward the northeastern edge of the Parque Nacional Palo Verde. We decided to make a stop at the Rescue Shelter Las Pumas located 5km north of Cañas.  Unless you are hiking in some of the most remote protected areas of Costa Rica, you're unlikely to see any of the large cats native to this region. So, rescue shelters like this one offer pretty much your only opportunity to see jaguars, margays, ocelots, pumas, jaguarundis, and pumas as well as gray fox, lots of parrots, toucans, and a very playful river otter, and capuchin and spider monkeys. The shelter relies on entrance fees and donations to care for these rescued animals -- all the animals have a sad story and some bear physical scars of their past abuses. It is a last resort -- releasing these animals back into the wild is simply too dangerous for them.  It was a great experience to see these magnificent animals up close but also a sobering reminder of the cruelty imposed by some and the consequences of human sprawl. Afterward, we headed to a waterfall around 2km off the Pan American Highway 3km north of Bagaces known as Llanos de Cortés. The waterfall and surrounding gold-flecked sand beach is a well-known spot to Ticos, but off the beaten tourist path. The road to Llanos de Cortés is 1.3km of unimproved dirt road leading to a large parking lot that seemed pretty full. After paying $2 to the parking lot security guards, we hiked a short, steep path down to the waterfall where we enjoyed our picnic lunch and a refreshing swim in the pool under the falls. All told, there were probably around 150 people hanging out there, but it was a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon and easily 95% of the crowd was Tico. Everyone was friendly and clearly enjoying the swimming and diving. There were a couple of barbecues set up and a generally festive atmosphere.  A short path to the left of the falls led to the top of the falls where there were  only a few people.  Great for solitude and a wholly different perspective on the falls. In the late afternoon, we packed up and returned to Playa del Coco for dinner at a local seafood joint, Papagayo, and a relaxing evening on the lanai.