Termales del Bosque

Jennifer made breakfast burritos: scrambled eggs with onions and peppers (and bacon) wrapped up in big flour tortillas. We packed up and hit the road around 8:30.

The ride to Termales del Bosque was nice. I’m really enjoying the Silver Bullet and it’s peppy climbing of hills and passing of large trucks. Cristina says I’m driving more like a Tico, though I’m not sure that’s a compliment.

Check-in at the hotel wasn’t until 2 pm, but we could go to the hot springs before checking in. The guy at the front desk gave us temporary wristbands that would get us in to the waters.

First, we drove to the entrance, which was at the end of a small road that meandered through some cow pastures. Goats grazed nonchalantly as we drove by. We parked the cars and those that needed to change clothes could do it at the bathroom. An attendant gave us some towels (I guess only guests staying the night get towels, because the Sheridans weren’t offered… they had green wristbands and ours were red). The towels were interesting. They were disposable. Basically, they were gigantic napkins, sealed in plastic. But they were better than nothing.

Then, it was a 10-minute hike down to the waters. The path was well-maintained and paved with concrete blocks. It never got dangerously steep, but a handrail was there if you needed it.

The waters. Set beneath a thick canopy of rainforest, the hot waters are contained in about 7 or 8 different pools of varying temperatures. Each pool has a sign that tells you how hot it is. Those higher up were hotter, and those more downstream were cooler. The hottest was a small, heart-shaped pool, labeled 48 degrees C. We dipped our toe in it, but it felt painfully hot. I don’t think anyone actually goes into that one. The mid-level pools were in the 42-45 degree range: the kind of heat that you can only take for so long before you get a little lightheaded. The bottom pool was the coolest. I don’t remember a sign for that one, but it felt like warm bathwater. We stayed in that one a lot because it felt so good. That pool was right behind the little bar/cantina and even included some stools in the pool for having a drink. But no matter what pool you were in, you could order a drink or a snack and they would bring it to you. Near the bar were some tables, where we stashed our stuff (shirts, shoes, glasses, cameras). The changing rooms/restrooms had lockers nearby, but we left our stuff on a table.

The kids were hungry as soon as we got there, so we ordered a couple of personal pizzas for them. Another nice thing about the bar is that you didn’t have to have money right there. They would “put it on your tab.” Dangerous, in a way. It’s easy to spend money when it doesn’t feel like you’re spending money. A concept I’m sure the owners are familiar with and thankful for.

The prices were reasonable. Natural drinks (fruit drinks made in a blender with fresh fruit and either water or milk) were 1,000 colones ($1.75). I think sodas may have been the same. The pizzas and chicken salad (a tasty snack served with a small pile of tortilla chips) were in the 1,500-2,000 range.

A small river runs along the pools. The water in the river was cool, but not freezing. It made a perfect complement to the hot waters. Play in the cold river, warm up in the hot pool. Get too hot in a pool? Cool off in the river. It’s easy to stay all day when you’ve got that kind of situation. Plus, the river was full of rocks (not slippery at all) so it was fun to climb around on. The kids spent the most time in the river, until they go too cold, then they’d warm up in a pool.

Around 2:30, I went back to the office to check us in to our room. The room was decent, although I noticed it only had 3 beds: a double and two twins. We had been told that each person would have a bed (two doubles and a twin would have been fine). I unloaded our stuff and joined the others back at the thermal waters.

Part of the charm of this place, as opposed to the fancier places like Tabacón, is that the pools are made with river rocks. So the whole place has a rougher, more natural feel to it. Sure, you occasionally step on a rock or bump into a stone when you’re in a pool, but that gives it personality. Also, I love this place because it’s so deep in the forest. No sunscreen necessary, because you have a constant canopy of greenery above you. It was sunny part of the day, but never so much that you felt in danger of getting burned.

As relaxing and fun as the day was, the highlight may have been the sloth. Sloths are my favorite animals in Costa Rica. But they can be hard to spot. In the seven trips I’ve made to Costa Rica I think I’ve seen four sloths. One was in a restaurant/gift shop, so that one doesn’t quite count. I saw one in a park in Limón that just looked like a ball of fur. No movement, no detectable limbs or head. And we saw one in a tree near the entrance to the beach at Cahuita. That was the best sighting…until today. A sloth came down from a tree (they come down to use the bathroom) and climbed around on the low branches right in front of us. I guess he pooped, though I didn’t see it. Then he slowly (do they do it any other way?) climbed back up into the highest parts of the tree out of sight. We got lots of photos and video of him (or her).

Cristina and Jennifer scheduled deep-tissue massages, one of the many services offered at Termales del Bosque. One hour for $30. I considered getting one too, but decided against it. They both seemed to really enjoy it. The name of the masseuse was Ligia. I’m not familiar with that name (and as a teacher in Phoenix, I thought I’d seen every Hispanic name) but it’s pretty. Pronounced: LEE-hee-uh.

The Sheridans left when the ladies had finished their massages (they had dogs at home to deal with). We went up with them to say goodbye and to have some dinner.

Our original deal for the hotel had been this: one night’s stay, entrance to the hot waters (which would have cost us $48 a la carte), dinner, and breakfast for $165. If you figure that dinner for 5 usually runs us about $25 and breakfast about $20, that meant the room was about $72. At least that’s how my mind thought it through. $72 for a hotel room in the States is slightly high for us (I would expect an upgraded dump, rather than the usual dump that $50 gets you). But in Costa Rica, $72 is a lot to spend on a room. I’d seen the room and it was not worth $72.

At the front desk, Cristina asked the guy about the bed situation, and in the course of her explaining how tight of a budget we’re on, he suggested we change our deal and pay for dinner separately. His offer was a room for the night, entrance to the waters, and breakfast for $110. I knew we wouldn’t spend anything close to $55 for dinner, so we took that deal. And he changed us to a room with four beds: two doubles and two twins.

We moved our stuff from Room 20 to Room 23, then walked to the restaurant to check their menu. A little pricey, but I didn’t think t was worth saving a few bucks to drive into town. Since we wanted to go to the hot waters one more time before bed, we stayed close.

Dinner was good. I got arroz con pollo. Cristina got a vegetarian casado, and Alex and Sofia split a casado with chicken. Bella ate from all of our plates. We were trying to be frugal (I think we came in around $21) but I must admit that not everyone got full. Alex and Bella in particular wanted more. So I did what any health-conscious father would do: I gave them cookies when we got back to our room.

We trekked back down to the thermal waters. Bill had said how cool the place looked at night when they had the lights on, so we were looking forward to experiencing it. We were not disappointed. Not only do the lights give the forest a different look, but the insect and frog symphony is cranked up a few more decibels once darkness falls. We got our fill of the pools and river and sauna and then hiked back up and drove to our room.

Bella wanted to sleep with me, so we gave Sofia a double to herself, Cristina and Alex each got a twin, and Bella and I shared the other double.