Volcanic Mud and Hotsprings - Rio Negro

The one thing I had known I really wanted to do, once I knew it existed, was to envelop myself in volcanic mud and wash it off in natural hot springs - or so I imagined it would be! So on Monday June 2nd, the whole gang went to the closest Volcano to our house here in North Western Costa Rica - Rincon de La Vieja National Park - where we figured we would first do (YET ANOTHER) nature hike followed by this cool consept.

Turns out though, when we get to the volcano place, that they are closed on Mondays. Who closes a volcano on Mondays?

Ok - so we were pretty bummed - after all - we had sacrificed (YET ANOHTER) day at the pool for this adventure...

So we start heading down the mountain to have a sightseeing tour in Liberia instead, when we see the sign: MUDBATH AND HOTSPRING SPA - ESTAMOS ABIERTO (WE ARE OPEN). yayayayayayya - who cares if the volcano is closed - all we wanted (corrected: all I wanted) was mud and hot water!

We were soon disappointed though, because this was a sterile spa, and hte water was luke warm at the best, and the pool was filled with leaves and junk and we were not at all tempted. The workers there, however, suggested we go to Rio Negro instead, because they had much hotter water! They even cost the same, they insisted - 10 dollars per person!

So off we went and YES we found it - despite the fact that it was invisible and we had passed it when I by chance glanced backwards. Bella didnt have to pay, so for the whole gang, it was USD40. The first inexpensive thing so far in Costa Rica.

We changed into bathing suits, and started walking a nature hike for half a km to get to the hotsprings.

We had no idea what to expect of course - and were pleasantly surprised when we found a hanging bridge for max 2 people at a time! It rocked loads and was super fun to pass.

 

Once we got off the bridge we met an older man who just kinda looked at us - and we just kinda looked back... finally I asked him in spanglish "donde esta mudbath?" - and he points to a tiny pool with a thing of bubbling mud inside - the size of - well - a double bathroom sink. So we undress and start making way towards the little pot of mud only for the man to shake his head and lead us back, while he filled a LITTLE pot of mud and gave to us, with 5 paintbrushes. We were going to PAINT EACH OTHER with mud - how cool is that???? LOVE IT!

So we painted and laughed and had a blast for 10 minutes, then waited about 10-15 minutes before rinsing off in ice cold river water showers, and THEN we got into the natural hotpool, which had a temperature of about 40 degrees celcius, or about 104 fahrenheit Arild says.

And it was AMAZING - there were nobody there but us and the old man, who by now had slumped down in a chair and fallen asleep! We were swimming in a pretty big pool of hot water, with a shower of cold water coming down to make the tempareature bearable. We also swam in a pool behind this one where the temperature was SCOLDING hot - we all tried it though - but our pulses spiked fairly fast.

After a while of bathing tourists started coming and guides and americans and the magic was over - but we had spent well over an hour all alone in this paradise - which for us is a highlight of our trip to Costa Rica!