Costa Rica Itinerary: Day 4- Nauyaca Waterfall Property

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Last Updated on October 30, 2024 by Carolyn

Cacophony at 5:00am

We awoke on our 4th day to a cacophony of squawking in the tree outside our cabin. Our host had told us that the tree called “Cecropia” was a wildlife favorite and that often the toucans and parrots visited along with monkeys. We hadn’t seen any yet, so when loud squawks awoke me on our 3rd morning there, I bolted from the bed. To my delight, there was a whole flock of parakeets feasting in the tree. Their antics entertained us as we sipped our morning coffee on the deck…Pura Vida.

Nayauca Waterfall Property

Driving around Tinamaste it became quite apparent that there is lots of land for sale, in fact, there is lots of land for sale all around Costa Rica. On this day we were looking at Finca Nauyaca, which was actually closer to Platanillo, and right by the Nauyaca waterfalls.

Finca Nauyaca

On day 4 we returned to the soda where we met up with Lulu the owner of the property near Nauyaca Waterfalls accompanied by his grandson as interpreter. One thing that impressed us very early in the trip is how well many of the youth speak English. It made me feel pretty humble with my very lacking Spanish. We followed them in their SUV down through the town of Platanillo and turned on to the winding road to Nauyaca waterfalls. We drove in several kilometers crossing the Baru River, and then at the edge of a banana plantation, our guide told us that this is where the Finca started.

The Finca was a large parcel of land about 40 hectares ( In Costa Rica large parcels of land are measured in hectares rather than acres, with a hectare being 2.5 acres). The property was far larger than what we were looking for but Lulu was willing to sever off a parcel of about 10 hectares if we were interested.

We walked around the farm, which was truly beautiful. The terrain was rolling with a nice mix of trees and fields. There was a stream cutting through the property, and best of all a beautiful view of not just one waterfall but two. Both Nauyaca Waterfall and Diamante waterfalls could be viewed from the property. There was no ocean view which was one of the things we were looking for, but could an ocean view be traded for waterfall views? Perhaps.

Nauyaca Waterfalls Wildlife

After touring the farm we went for refreshments at the restaurant by Nauyaca waterfalls. Where we finally saw some of the wildlife we were so anxious to see. We were entertained by capuchin monkeys darting too and fro in search of handouts, obviously, they were accustomed to being fed by tourists. There was even a pair of scarlet macaws that had their home in one of the trees.

Back Roads of Platanillo

The farm was lovely but way more than we wanted to invest and manage at that time. We spent the afternoon exploring the back roads of Platanillo above Dominical and saw some lovely mountain vistas, and hills terraced by grazing cattle. We decided it was definitely an area we wanted to explore further.

One concern we did have is that we wanted to get away from car ownership. The allure of being able to walk to town and to the beach very much appealed to us, and this area was both too far from the coast and town to walk and most properties were rather far from bus stops to make taking the bus feasible. Purchasing an ATV to get to and from town and the beach would be a viable compromise but we weren’t sure if that was a compromise we needed to make.

Restaurante Gate One Charter

We stopped to grab a drink at Restaurante Gate One Charter, a restaurant housed in of all things a Boeing 727. Supposedly the owner an airplane enthusiast brought it to its final resting spot piece by piece and reconstructed it. Sadly when we arrived it hadn’t yet opened for the day. I was amused that they even had dog shelters where you could safely leave your pet while you sucked down a cold refreshment. The food is reported to be very good here serving french, mediterranean, south american and of course Costa Rican fare. Here is a tripadvisor link to Gate One Charter Restaurant.

Farmers Markets

Tinamaste is home to a very popular organic feria (farmers’ market). We’d hoped to visit it but we arrived on Tuesday afternoon and it is on Tuesday mornings. Our plans were to leave Friday morning and head towards the Osa peninsula so we made plans to stop at the farmers market in San Isidro de Pérez Zeledon on our way out.

Tinamaste-Our Conclusion

We saw lots of gorgeous properties in the Tinamaste area and we sent emails to some local realtors in hopes that after our visit to the Osa Peninsula that we could return to the area and view some additional properties. We liked what we’d seen and we were curious to see if there were any oceanview properties closer to the coast that we might like above Dominical and Uvita.

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