Learning Curve

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Well, here in Montezuma the Howler Monkeys rise early in order to attend their Sunday morning Evangelical service. They sing, worship, and praise for much longer time and more forcefully on the Sabbath! Finally, after what seemed forever, they said their good-byes to fellow congregational members and made their way off through the trees. Peace at last!

The sun sets early in Costa Rica like at home and it is dark by 6:00pm however it is also light quite early in the morning. The sun streams through the myriad of palm fronds beside our window and by 6:30 am we are awake and glued to our books.

Our plan for today was to take the advice of our neighbours, Michael and Laura, and visit the small waterfalls that is just down the road from our place. We headed to the bridge and found the little path they had clearly described. We followed the leaf-covered path along the river and came to a very small waterfall. Somewhat disappointed we figured we must have misunderstood so we headed down the road again. As we journeyed along we marvelled at the blue iguanas sitting idly on trees or at others who moved like greased lightning through the undergrowth. We could hear the roar of the waves as they were huge today, We walked down to an area where the waves were pounding over the rocks and sending spray high into the blue sky. Curtis was fascinated by the black crabs that were crawling in abundance over the rocks. We eventually continued on our way. There seemed to be no other waterfall so we ended up making the long journey into Montezuma. Now don't get me wrong. It's 3km from our place Solyluna. However, at home, 3km means down Ridge Road to the 15/16 and down to just past the 7th line. Not a daunting journey in Meaford but here it seems to take forever! We arrived at the parking lot and a wonderful Tico introduced himself to us. His name was Carlos and he spoke flawless English. He asked us where we were from and then proceeded to tell us he had a brother in Victoria, B.C. He directed us to the path that would take us to Cascada Montezuma. He asked if the couple behind us could follow. Sure, the more the merrier! There were several people making the trek or returning from the falls. We clamoured over rocks and tiny inlets of water. Now, knowing that I had worn flip flops on my last 10km hike I was quite happy with my latest purchase, water shoes! They were very helpful as we moved along. I felt sorry for the girl behind us in her dress and flip flops - not an easy journey. We met up with another man who told us it was easier to take the path up through the woods. We took his advice and it was easier going until we came upon one of the water pipes, that allows the fresh water to travel down to the village, had sprung a leak. Although refreshing as we went through the spray, footing became tricky! We got past that obstacle and continued on. Three American travellers let us go on past them since we were moving somewhat faster. As we trudged along, hanging on to tree roots (and watching out for fire ants) we figured that at some point we had to get down to the base of the waterfalls. And what a journey down it was!! I'm not the greatest with heights so I found it tricky. We were completely drenched in sweat. I looked back at the guy who was travelling with us and said, "I am not going back this way." He reasuured me they were not either (especially with her in flip flops). My quads were screaming from all the tension of going down. We could hear the crashing of the falls and entered into a beautiful clearing that was littered with people. What a busy spot! The falls were gorgeous as they cascaded down into the pool below. People were sunning on the rocks, in the water, scaling the slippery rocks beside the falls, relaxing under the flowing water. The we noticed one young guy was 3/4 of the way up, in the middle of the falls. Everyone watched and waited as he made the dive. Thankfully he came up. Several people have attempted this and actually died. We soaked up the atmosphere for a while longer and cooled off. As we packed up our gear we ran into Carlos again who directed us to the steps that lead up to the next waterfalls. So we crossed over and hung onto the wire to help us get up the side to the steps. What a trek up, up, up the steps. We climbed for a long time only to reach a gate where there stood a Tico man. Because the steps had been built to reach the next set of falls they charge admission to carry on. Hmmm...so we have become somewhat smarter in our hiking. For instance, we had water, I had better footwear but money? Of course I had put 1000 colones ($2) in my pocket for possible bus fare. Not knowing we were going all the way into Montezuma I figured we didn't need any. Of course the admission was 1000 colones each. We took the steps back down and made our way back to the entrance. We met up with John, a man we met the first day from B.C. who was also looking for the falls. We described our adventure. While chatting with him and telling him we were going to take the bus back, we realized we had missed it and would have to wait another 3 hours until the next one. In Montezuma with bus fare and that's it. Not enough for a cold beer or a snack. Seasoned travellers for sure 😉. Feeling sorry for us he kindly offered us some money. We thanked him and reassured him we would just walk back to our place. 3 km. Just to the 7th line. Right.

After a light lunch we hit the beach. The waves were massive and we watched 11 guys out surfing. They were awesome! Fishermen dotted the shoreline while Curtis dove into the huge waves like a little kid frolicking in the water. We relaxed until the waves crept higher and at one point the fishermen were yelling at me as the waves were just about up to my towel. We laughed cheerfully as I scrambled to pull everything back from being swept out to the ocean. We walked home under trees filled with howler monkeys and one gazing down at us on a wire.

Lessons learned today - don't always take the easier path, always carry more than 1000 colones with you, and simple mathematics: the distance between any two points is always shorter when it's a straight line, not a hilly, curvy one!

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