Today we headed to some waterfalls called Eco Chontales. But before we left San Isidro, the girls wanted to mail postcards, buy Anna's bus ticket, and we wanted to buy some cheap towels for the falls. While loading up in the cars, Ramon noticed that my back tire was nearly flat. Upon closer inspection, we found a nail in the tire. We called the Enterprise guy and told the other car to head on to get the bus ticket. Long story short, we drove the semi-flat tire to the nearest service station, where they fixed the flat for a grand total of 2500 colones. Whole thing took about 10 minutes. Amazing!
Lily had recommended a store called Mundo Magico, which did indeed have the best priced towels. We will forever refer to these towels as the "magic towels." We also grabbed some bread and jam from a bakery to add to our cooler of snacks.
Eco Chontales waterfalls are towards the beach, off the same road we drove with the Hines, not far from the mysterious airplane-restaurant thing. A few kilometers before you get to the beach road you turn off on a gravel road. 40 minutes of driving on the rocky gravel road later, we arrived at the falls. These waterfalls are operated by a family. Very reasonably priced compared to the more touristy Nauyaca falls.
The drive, while bumpy and slow, was beautiful. Gorgeous mountain countryside. And a couple of sketchy bridges to cross just to remind you that you're in Costa Rica.
As we were paying for entrance (1500 colones per person...that's the National price, but he gave it to all of us) two wild scarlet macaws flew up and perched beside us (the grandmother was feeding them). As if by design. The family's house is right at the entrance, and they've added restrooms and a cold shower for visitors to use.
The hike down to the falls was about 20 minutes. A little steep, but not bad. We did it in flip-flops.
I wasn't sure how big these falls were going to be. I've seen the whole spectrum of waterfalls in CR, so I was just going with the flow. When we got close and rounded the corner where you can finally see the falls, it was breathtaking. They were big. From that point on, we were enveloped in a cloud of cold mist that immediately soaked our clothes.
I was carrying the cooler of food (they let you bring your own food, even though there's a little cafe at the falls) and slipped at the top of some muddy steps. I landed on my back/butt, and I dropped the cooler, which tumbled down the steps. One of the owner/family members who was down at the falls, Mario, helped me and carried the cooler while I picked up the remnants of my dignity. My shirt had a nice muddy smear on the back, so I peeled it off and washed it off in a little creek that fed into the river.
It was fairly late in the day, and thankfully Mario helped us get the most out of the falls in the short amount of time we had before it got dark. He showed where you can slide down the rocks like a water slide (I think everyone did it but Sofia and me...I had bumped my ass enough for one day). He also took us down to a lower area where people can jump off a cliff into the river. Alex and Ramon did it. Daredevils.
Mario needed to go, but he said we could stay longer. We ate our little snack picnic up at the tables outside the closed cafe. A cut-up pineapple, chips and salsa, a loaf of bread and guava jelly.
We enjoyed the water a little while longer, skipping stones, and then headed back up the path. It was getting dark by the time we got back to the car. Some of us showered and changed. I didn't have a dry shirt, so I just went shirtless.
Back on the main (paved) road home, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant. I really didn't want to put on a wet shirt, so I was just going to wear my towel over my shoulders (it was a sit-outside kind of bar/restaurant, and there were almost no other customers, so it was no big deal.) Cristina gave me a scarf type thing instead of a towel, which I guess looked a little more civilized, but still weird. The kids had a good laugh about my attire. When the waiter took my order, I asked if they had shirts. Heh heh.
The food was great and we chatted for a while before completing the drive back to the tree house.
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