River Rafting and Water Falls

Today we booked the river rafting wildlife tour. The bus ride was about an hour and a half one way, and was very interesting. Lots of talk about all that the government does to provide education, health etc. and I have to wonder what all the missions that come here to build schools is all about if the government is as committed as our tour guide says. That will be something worth looking into when I have more time and better internet access. Here it's terribly on-again, off-again.

The raft tour was great, the tour guides were very informative and highly entertaining.  Along with lizards, iguanas, birds and all kinds of trees, we also saw 3 crocodiles, white-faced monkeys, bats, howler monkeys as well as many lovely butterflies and dragonflies. 


The raft ride took about 1.5 hours, after which we headed back to the restaurant we had stopped at just prior to starting the rafting, to enjoy a fantastic lunch that we'd preordered before rafting. The meal was really great.   Salad, main, dessert and ever refilled lemonade. When lunch was over we headed to the waterfall for a view and a swim in the pool beneath it. The walk down to the waterfall was very difficult.  Rough steps carved out of stone, and chiselled in dirt. Very uneven with many rocks and slopes that were extremely difficult in the sandals we were all wearing.  With my experience with disabilities and accessibility, it was one for the books of not a place to send people with any mobility issues. However, that said, the waterfall at the bottom was lovely. 


The area was full of families swimming and enjoying picnics together. We suited up and went to enjoy the clear, cool mountain water. It was colder than any water we've been in yet, including the pool and the ocean But it didn't take long to climatize and enjoy it. We swam right out to the falls. The wind and mist as we got closer to them had an amazing force that I hadn't expected at all. Made it hard to swim and breathe against, but it was exhilarating!


After our swim there was a quick stop at a shopping centre where I purchased some 18 dollar shorts to replace the only tired white  ones i'd brought, then headed back to the resort. A quick stop at the souvenir shop allowed me to get all of that out of the way for the grandkids at least.

When we got home to the resort  we were pretty low key. Cec and I took our wine out to the beach and watched the sunset. There were beautiful colours, full of pinks and violet. It was a lovely way to end the day. We ate supper and were all in bed by 9!  Not too wild, but very appreciative!