Rincón de la Vieja: the Las Pailas Loop and Oropéndola Waterfall

Las Pailas is the trail where the volcano comes closest to the surface. The loop runs 3.5 km (2.5 miles) through dry tropical forest and takes about two hours, and along it the ground is busy: fumaroles venting steam, mini-geysers, mud pits at a slow boil. The wildlife list is long, because the park holds more than 300 bird species along with armadillos, collared peccaries, iguanas, snakes, white-nosed coatis and three kinds of monkey, white-faced, howler and spider. How many of them you see depends on luck and on how quietly the group walks. After the loop comes the Oropéndola waterfall. It is a short walk from the park entrance, on a trail whose surface keeps changing as it drops towards the river, and the fall itself comes down 25 metres (82 feet) into a turquoise pool in the canyon of the Río Blanco. The swim is the reason to go down there. The company is locally owned, and the meeting point is the entrance to the Las Pailas sector of the park, fifteen minutes before the start time.