Waterfall Fun!

This past week Steve went back to his favorite waterfall twice.  It is a hike of about two hours in each direction, but it is such a beautiful place that it is well worth the trip down there.  On Saturday Steve thought he had a large group interested in going, but only two people actually went on the day:  seventh-grader Massiel and her uncle Didimo.

Massiel and Didimo

 For the second trip this past Thursday, Steve invited fellow Peace Corps volunteers Savannah and Amy.  Once again, he invited several people from Chepo, expecting that he would only get a few.  On Thursday, however, there were ten people from Chepo to go along with Steve and the two women.

Here you can see the whole group (minus Savannah who took the picture). Ages ranged from 8 to 28, and everyone was set to have some fun.

The following pictures are mixed from both trips.

On our way to the waterfall, you can see the islands in the Pacific.  The coast is only a few miles away, but there are almost no roads in that direction.  It takes 6 hours or so of walking to get there.

Here is the view before we start our descent to the waterfall.  It is a half hour of very steep downhill, with very little shade.  You can see the dirt road in the distance below.  It’s not too bad on the way down, but going up in the afternoon sun can be brutal!

The river valley is far below

Shortly before the waterfall we passed through the small community of El Salto (the waterfall).  What do you do for fun in a town of only six houses, three of which are inhabited, and where there is no electricity?  This device is simple but lots of fun.  All you need is a big piece of bamboo and a stake driven into the ground.  Not only does it go up and down like a teeter totter, but it also goes around in a circle.  Kids and adults alike had fun with it.  The only problem was that too much weight will break the bamboo!  There was a pile of broken bamboo stalks, but we found one that was mostly intact.

Savannah hangs on while Didimo tries to shake her off

It takes two small kids to balance a bigger one, and one more to turn

Massiel gets knocked off by her uncle Didimo

We finally arrived at the waterfall, tired and hot and ready for a swim.  The waterfall glistened in the morning sunlight.

Massiel is dwarfed by the huge waterfall.

Of course the kids all wanted to jump off the rocks into the water. 

Some jumped off low rocks

Some jumped from higher up

The waterfall was quite powerful, but there was a small space behind it where you can look out. 

Steve waves hi with his foot from behind the falls

Some of the kids went sliding through this chute

After a while, the kids took a trail up to the top of the waterfall.  

There was a big pool up there for swimming, too.

We eventually left for the long walk back to Chepo.  We arrived home tired but happy to have spent the day at such a beautiful place.