Yet Another Waterfall!

The school vacation is rapidly drawing to a close, and kids visiting Chepo are going to have to go home to the city soon.  Three kids invited me to walk down with them to the hamlet of Los Ceibos, where only five houses are inhabited, to visit a waterfall called “El Pantalon” (the pants).

Here are my three guides for the day:  Melissa, Jonathan and Ollie. (It’s pretty unusual to have three kids here with names that are the same in English)  We started off the morning with 75 degree weather.  We were glad to be here and not in the frigid Eastern US!  

First, however, we have to go down the hill called “El Picacho”, so steep and rutted that it cannot be driven by any vehicle.  Every several years they smooth it out with a bulldozer, but the heavy rains wash away their work in a few months.  It’s been quite a few years since they did it last.

We soon came to the Los Ceibos school, grades 1-6.  There are only two classrooms, and a place where the teacher sleeps on the right.  The teacher just retired in December after 18 years of teaching here. There will be a new one starting later this month.  The enrollment of the school has been dropping steadily.  Last year they finished with seven students, and the new year will start with only three.  Evidently there is no minimum number to keep the school open!  

We got to Los Ceibos and picked up four more kids who also wanted to go to El Pantalon, even though it was another half hour down steep hills. We joined the stream above the falls and walked down the stream bed.  These kids would rather cross the stream on a fallen tree than walk across the stones!

Soon we were there, at one of the most idyllic spots in the area.  You can see the split in the falls which makes it look like a pair of pants.

There was a very nice view from the top as well

Jakelin enjoys the top of the falls.

I was lucky enough to get a waterproof camera for Christmas, and the kids loved posing for underwater pictures.

Melissa showed her underwater smile.

The kids never tire of jumping off rocks.

Jakelin takes the plunge

Surprisingly enough, these kids had never climbed on each other’s shoulders in the water.  They thought it was absolutely hilarious when I showed them, and they didn’t stop laughing the whole time that they played their first game of “chicken fight”.

The girls have the edge in this encounter

We were there for a good two hours before everyone was ready for the long hot walk back up the hill.  The air temperature was only in the eighties but the sun is extremely direct at only 8 degrees from the equator. We posed for a group picture before we headed back.  Two of the group opted out of the photo.  It’s pretty common here for kids to be shy around visitors or in front of a camera.  I had to trick Jakelin to get the two pictures shown of her above.  Other kids, though (like Melissa), will do anything to get their photo taken.

We had time for one last look at the falls as we walked up past them.  It looks like the smooth rocks would be good for sliding, but they are just too steep.

That's it for this week!
Steve