Nearby the Guayabo National Monument there is a waterfall that will teleport you from the mountain to a paradise with a blink of an eye.

How to get there? On the way to the Guayabo National Park, you pass through several towns including Pacayas until you reach an intersection in Santa Cruz of Turrialba. Here you continue to Guayabo and then you access the property from a road between farms. With Waze If you do not have 4 × 4 vehicle it’s best to enter through San Antonio de Santa Cruz of Turrialba.

What to bring? Comfortable clothes, trail tennis shoes, sun block, hat, sunglasses, insect repellent, swimsuit, towel and a good attitude.

Distance: 3km

Difficulty: Moderate It is short but the return is very steep.

Vehicle: High clearance preferably.

Parking: Yes

Pets: Yes

Camping: No

Contact: Don Adolfo 8408-8446 Rosa Fernández 8309-3452 (Call for permission, as it is a private estate)

Cost: ¢ 2000

On the way there, the landscape is super scenic, so do not hesitate to hit the brakes to take pictures, remember that enjoying the way often plays an equally important role as the destination.

We then met with Mister Adolfo who guided us to the entrance of the farm where we would leave the car parked. They explained to us how to get to the waterfall and after prepping our stuff we started walking. The journey is a path where you basically have to go down 175 meters in 1.5 km ... you do not have to be a genius to realize that the climb is not going to be a breeze.

You pass a gate with a loose chain barely guarding it, then it continues down in a normal terrain for 500 meters until you reach the second gate, the owners of the farm give you a key or go to open it for you. From this point down it’s where the descent begins to get pretty not only in inclination but because you get to a point where you can already see the waterfall.

The path continues down the pasture until it reaches a mini barn, in this section the grass is high so I recommend strongly lifting your feet because it is easy to trip over the roots of the dirt.. From this point you have to cross a barbed fence and you go downhill on the last part of the road. You have to be careful because there is a bit of loose rock but then you get to a meadow that crosses a spring of water that was quite refreshing for dogs.

Once there the path is self explanatory, just follow your instinct and after crossing a paradisiacal jungle with giant stones you will reach the Muralla waterfall. It’s inevitable to stop and breathe deeply and feel the spray of water that ends up soaking you.

After taking about 700 photos we decided to go to a pond that we found walking down a bit. To get there, just walk on the rocks (slippery) by the side of the river about 20 meters until you arrive. There are dry stones to sunbathe, put your stuff on, picnic and of course ... dive in head first. After bathing, we spent a lot of time doing a picnic and having fun while admiring the waterfall in the distance.

Once we ate and rested, we only had something left to do ... go back to the starting point. Yes, it is hard to walk up that hill under the sun, but after a tremendous effort I feel that it was worth it, and we really didn’t have a choice either did we? So that's how it turned out ... we arrived dripping sweat to the car but happy to visit this Turrialban treasure.

** BONUS: Since it’s obvious that you are going to burn all the calories walking up that hill ... we recommend going for a tortilla with cheese and a killer national meal at the Torre Alba restaurant right at the entrance of the Turrialba Volcano (it is on the way back) . With Waze