Moral of the story: get up earlier...

Us at the frigid waterfall pool
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We got our first taste of really good (note sarcasm) Costa Rican roads today, though it took a while.  We had a nice drive through the country to Santa Rosa National Park, where the famous Witch's Rock and some breathtaking beaches are supposed to be.  Unfortunately the incredibly helpful and informative ranger didn´t think our little pink 4wd behemoth could handle the roads, so we would have to hike 4 hours to the beach and 3 hours back.  Unfortunately we didn´t think our little pink flip-flopped feet could handle the hike, so we promptly left.  It's a good idea to be prepared to hike and probably camp out if you´re going to do Santa Rosa.

The countryside with the Rincon Volcano in the background
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So... plan B.  We decided to check out Rincon de la Vieja National Park, where they reportedly have a really cool waterfall hike as well as a demanding hike up to the volcano's crater.  After some confusion about how to actually get there, we headed down a dirt road for some inspired rally-style driving.  Curt got the day's high score, pushing our rugged pink powerhouse up to 100kph (with extra points for sliding the tail out).  Meredith managed a slightly less wreckless - but no less impressive considering the roads and how little she´s driven a manual - 70kph.

Our first soda experience
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We experienced our first soda (ubiquitous rice-and-beans joints equivalent to taco stands in Mexico maybe?) along the way.  Got to the park and only had time to hike down to a little pool between some smaller waterfalls.  It had ridiculsously cold water, and we're wusses, so we didn't even get all the way in.  On the way out we saw an agouti (big rat/rabbit-like guy) and a coatimundi (kind of raccoon-like), which we unecessarily stalked like complete dorks in order to get some close-ups.

Our first brush with wildlife... a coatimundi
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After all of our driving and visiting two national parks today, we only managed to hike for about 20 minutes total and get knee deep in freezing water, but we did get to see more of the country and encounter our first real wildlife.