Thermal waters? Near San Isidro? Yep!

When you think of thermal waters in Costa Rica, you probably think of volcanos, and areas near volcanos. But here in San Isidro, there aren't any nearby volcanos. Despite that, there is a thermal waters place here. We found it when we were considering climbing to the summit of Chirripo. When those plans fell through, we remembered the thermal waters and went there today with the Hines.

Cristina started her birthday with a big breakfast: fried eggs, toast, platanos maduros, avocado, tomato, coffee, and a homemade pineapple natural drink (a quarter of a fresh pineapple, cut into chunks, in the blender, a few spoons of sugar, juice of half a lime, and topped off with water. Blend until smooth, serve immediately.)

We met the Hines at a little restaurant, Antojitos del Maiz, near the turn for their Airbnb and they followed us out to the thermal waters. Once parked, we met the owner, Don Gerardo, a soft-spoken 75 year old, who owns the place, called Gevi Thermal Waters. He told Cristina how the source of the hot water is a mystery, and how they built 3 pools, each fed independently from the hot springs. The pools used to be sand-bottomed, but he felt it was safer to tile them, so now they are like regular pools. The pools had picnic areas, and you could bring your own food, or there was a small soda on the grounds that you could eat at. I especially loved that each pool had a roof/cover, so I didn't have to worry about reburning my still healing sunburn. It didn't rain, but if it had, the covers would have solved that issue as well. I did come better prepared for the sun, though. I remembered my hat and applied sunscreen before we even left the Airbnb.

The view was gorgeous from the pools. Termales del Bosque is still my bae, but I gotta give it to Gevi, they have prettier views than Bosque. At Bosque, you're in a dense forest. At Gevi, you're up on a mountain, overlooking a green valley of countryside, with the clouds rolling in over the mountain tops.

While we soaked in the pools, we made a game plan: 1) hike, 2) eat, 3) redip, 4) chocolate tour. The hike was gentle enough to do in our flip-flops. The trail went down to a waterfall, the water of which was not as warm as the pools, but warmer than what you would expect waterfall water in the mountains to be. Felt good. The kids climbed around in it and we got some pictures. The trail ended at the road we drove in on, and we hiked up it back to the main building. The lunch we had ordered from the soda wasn't quite ready (1 girl, Diane, cooking for all 10 of us), so we chatted until the food was ready. We took our food up to the picnic area above the pools and ate lunch. Delicious. Kudos, Diane. Part 3 of our plan was as easy as walking back down to the pool and slipping into the bathtub-temp waters. We went to the third, biggest pool this time. By this point, there were only 2 other people at the pools, a mom and her little daughter, who had a Frozen beach ball.

It never did rain.

On the way back down the mountain, we stopped at the the little chocolate factory that we'd seen on the way up. Alas, it had closed at 4 (it was now around 5). Cristina went to the front door of the house to ask if we could possibly still get some chocolate, but the lady was rude and we left. She didn't have a Costa Rican accent, so we're assuming she was an ex-pat or from another Latin American country. So Number Four was a fail.

We stopped at a little mini super to get alcohol for Alex's ear. He had gotten pool water in it and it was bothering him. Jacoby got 2 containers of ice cream, one of which he later discovered was coconut. It said Coco, and he thought that meant chocolate (like, cocoa). Whoops.

We went to the Hines Airbnb and got the tour. Much more remote than ours, but beautiful. I was especially envious of their kitchen (better stocked than ours) and their laundry room. Also, the ladder going up to the bedroom loft was engineered to roll out of the way, which was clever. Our loft has 2 chairs that fold out into beds. Their loft had 2 full-sized beds. The Hines invited Bella to stay at their place, so she and Jacoby could hang out more (and Bella could have the luxury of a large bed that would otherwise go unused). Very nice.

We headed back down to get some dinner. We went to the same restaurant we had met the Hines at, Antojitos del Maiz. They specialize in corn dishes, so pupusas (those corn pancake things we had in Curridabat), tamales, homemade tortillas, that sort of thing. I had perhaps the best cafe con leche I've tasted. I wish we'd asked them their secret. We wondered later if it was sweetened condensed milk.

Since it was Cristina's birthday, I looked at the dessert menu and saw flan de coco, one of Cristina's favorites. I took the menu to one of the waitresses, and in my poor Spanish, told them it was my wife's birthday, and could they bring her the flan de coco after our food, but I got the word for "before" mixed up. I said Hoy es mi esposa cumpleaño. Quiero para ella flan de coco antes comidas? Spanish speakers, I know it's bad. But at least I tried. This was not one I could have Cristina translate for me, for obvious reasons. The waitress happily agreed, and I sat back down. Just then, I spotted her getting the dessert out of the refrigerated case and bringing it towards Cristina. I flagged her down and quickly conferred with Sofia and Ramon about the proper word for after. Despues. Despues, dammit (I didn't say that to the waitress, just to myself). We got it sorted out, and after the meal, she brought it to Cristina. She said it was compliments of the kitchen, which was very kind. Awesome restaurant overall. I think the pupusa I had was even better than the place in Curridabat. And that coffee...

We said our goodbyes to the Hines (and Bella) and went back to our respective homes, where we showered and conked out, exhausted from our day at the thermal waters. Tomorrow, for the first time in 25 years of going to Costa Rica, zip lining.