"El Velo de la Novia"

To walk to the waterfalls we needed to wake up early.  Well, it wasn't too early but we did wake up at 7am.  Then we had breakfast at 8am.  We had delicious pan de yuca.  It was like having pancakes, except I didn't have milk =(.  For those of you that know me...you know that I l<3ve milk.  Unfortunately Chen woke up not feeling so well, so only Brian, Yonseili and I got ready for the 2-3hour walk to the waterfalls.  We geared up with our bathing suits, shorts, shades, mosquito repellent, and last but not least our rain boots.  We met our guide, Jorge, and he was really cool.  He was quiet but cool.  He was wearing a cap, a white and blue striped polo, jeans and his rain boots.  As you can see.

With Jorge

With Rosario

We began our walk, and boy I sure had no idea what I was getting into.  We started off well.  After a while I took off my XL comfortable sweater that Yonseili and I got at Pinto because we needed one, plus it was on sale.  Yonseili and I talked along our hike and wondered how on earth we were going to explain our experience on the blog.  Well, here's my try:  As I walked I really thought it was never going to end.  The sun was our enemy today and it was a blessing from God to feel a breeze once in a while.  It was almost like He whispered, with every breeze, "Keep going, you're almost there, just keep going."  Honestly, for me it wasn't a hard walk, it was just long and tedious.  The ground we walked on varied from soft and dry, to soft and wet, to hard and wet, to cow poop, to walking through tall grass and other plants.  We got a few scratches here and there, including a few mosquito bites.  FYI-Mosquito bites look a bit different here.  Anyway, it was humid, then dry and hot, then fresh and cool.  When we were directly under the sun, I remember thinking I couldn't wait for the cold waterfall.  But, by the time we got there and we had our tuna sandwiches that Jorge brought along for us in his backpack and the chips that Brian carried in his, it got kind of cold.  I was second-guessing whether I should get under the water because, who likes to get sick? I had to think about it differently, however.  Did I really want to miss out on this?  Uhm... NO.  So we did it.  The water was definitely cold, but it felt great.  What was painful was stepping on the rocks, the pointy rocks.  Yonseili and I hadn't brought our sandals so we had to walk barefoot under the waterfall.  It hurt soooo much.  I even got a small cut under my right foot.  When I first got under the waterfall, "El Velo de la Novia," the water banged on my head hard enough to push it down a bit.  It sounded funny.

Our guide Jorge took the picture

I must dedicate some space for the rain boots.  I thought they would be hard to walk in, but they really weren't and I am so happy that I went ahead and wore them instead of my Nike's.  It was great walking through the water and  not getting my feet wet.  Their grip made it so easy to walk as well without feeling like I would slip... although I did slip once.  So thank you boots.

The walk back was faster but a bit harder for me.  As hard as it may be to walk up... I would rather do that than walk down.  My toes weren't too happy with me.

Can you see the bird?

Momma cow and baby cow.  Tell me you wouldn't be intimidated.

Along our walk there were plenty of cows.  It's different seeing them up close than seeing them from a distance in a dairy farm from the freeway.  It was funny to see our guide just smack their butts with his machete so they would move.  Nonetheless, on our walk back, Yonseili and I had a roadblock.  Momma cow and baby cow were intimidating and we didn't want to upset Momma cow by getting near her baby cow.  Brian was just yelling at us to go around them... well, I'm sorry Brian but it's not that easy to cross a 600-1000lbs creature and its baby.  But when I look back at how easy the guide moved the cows over... I should have just gone for it.

During our walk to the waterfalls, Yonseili lost her camera case and I my camera... good thing I noticed sooner than later and Brian walked back not too far and found it.  He confirmed my camera looked sad on the floor.  We recovered Yonseili's camera case on our way back by our first rest stop.  I also found an old machete, but the guide said, "no vale," so I just put it back on the ground.  Yeah, it was really rusted.

As soon as I saw the cabin I was very relieved.  We put our stuff down, took off our boots and Yonseili and I went straight to the hammocks outside under the gazebo.  We had lunch and after we took a nap.  After a while I went to my room to take the rest of my nap because it had gotten kind of cold.  When I woke up I could hear Chen, Brian and Yonseili talking so I went back down to the gazebo and we just hung out.  Dinner was at 8ish.  We had a mountain of spaghetti that I couldn't finish.  Yonseili and I showered and then we played cards in the guys' room.  Chen showed us a game called Yaniv that is played in Israel a lot.  It was fun.

looks like worms, huh?

Then we went to sleep.

Highlight of the day:  Going under the waterfall, "El Velo de la Novia."  It's named that way because the way it curves as it falls down sort of looks like a wedding veil.

Tarzan status.

Cow