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Published: September 19th 2009
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3 buses from Pedasi and we arrived at Santa Fe. The landscape from Santiago to Santa Fe was some of the most beautiful we’ve seen - hills and valleys and very very green. Santa Fe is not in the least bit “touristy”. It’s got a small population and is safe and friendly. The hostal we are staying at, La Qhia, is stunning - like a Swiss lodge maybe - with simple bedrooms with mosquito nets over the beds. Amy instantly took to the owner Stefany who has been happy to play with her.
On our first morning we set off on what turned out to be a bit of an adventure, rather than a relaxing walk like we thought. We took a taxi 7km or so to a waterfall. The walk down to the falls was pretty slippery, but it was only 20 mins or so and it was so worth it. Crystal clear rock pools with icy water and a small waterfall and cascades. Only Amy got properly wet as it was a bit too chilly for us big kids. We scrambled back up to the road then and started on our walk back to town, following the path
we’d been told about. Problem is, we took a wrong turn. We ended up walking down a very boggy overgrown track to start with, but kept going as we saw some hummingbirds, squirrels, gigantic blue butterflies and some other interesting bugs. Then the path became a sort of track through the jungle, through shallow streams, through very muddy bogs and through some pretty dense areas. The only people we met were 2 men with machetes whom we asked the way to Santa Fe. They pointed down the track we and they were headed, so we kept on. We planned to follow the men but they were 10 times faster than us, particularly as they had welly boots on and we were struggling along in Crocs which, when they get wet and muddy, are so slippery it’s hard to keep your feet in them let alone not slip over. The track got worse, the streams turned to muddy bogs that were impassable so we had to keep changing the path we walked on. Finally, after walking for 3 hours through very difficult terrain, we reached a banana plantation. It was clearly a farm, but there didn’t seem to be any way
off the plantation, let alone any sign of a road. At that point, we felt lost, properly, and started to worry that we’d run out of time to get back to where we started in the daylight. We then heard some machinery and a couple of voices. So we shouted out “help”, in Spanish and English. No one came... But then, just as we had turned around to start walking again, a young man appeared - our saviour! He of course only spoke Spanish but we worked out that we were on a private farm and he agreed to show us the road to Santa Fe. It was no more than 5 minutes walk and we were at the road. We thanked him, shook his hand, gave him a few dollars (we’d have given any amount of money to get out of our pickle) and took the long (but downhill) walk back into town. We ate at the local restaurant - $2 for a delish meal of chicken, rice, beans and salad - then got back to the hostal looking a bit worse for wear and very muddy.
Friday morning we woke up aching from our hike and after
Off the beaten path
Lost on our jungle walk a fresh fruit breakfast went to see a local lady, Grace, who had agreed (through Stefany) to teach us some Spanish. First she spent some time with Amy, playing with a ball to help with counting and then teaching her the parts of the body. Amy seemed to enjoy it, but soon got fidgety. Then Amy and Andy left us and I did some more conversation with Grace for an hour or so. It was good practice and we agreed to have another session.
Today is our 11th wedding anniversary. Amy´s gone off to play with a little 3 year old boy for the morning and we went for a walk to a lady´s orchid garden. There wasn´t much in flower but it was still lovely. We´re having a very quiet day and Stefany is cooking for us tonight - what more could we want to celebrate!
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Jonathan Guy
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Happy Anniversary!
Hope you guys had a great time - this is one I'm sure you'll never forget.....