Directly behind the crowded neon streets of Jaco, wedged between sharp mountain, lay the rice fields of Herradura, They sparkle and sway in the sunlight like a jade carpet. We drove through them on a muddy clay road, the original road to San Jose prior to the highway, with our guide Josue. We were headed up to the mountain peaks.
We slowed and drove around 5 vultures pecking on a flattened Boa - not a good omen for what we were about to do. Josue narrated our trip, pointing out teak forests, mango groves and the odd Toucan sitting high up in the trees.
Two Americans, twenty years back, bought a large chunk of mountain for almost nothing and were letting people like Josue take visitors in, past their large gates, for eco tours.
When the 4x4 could no longer handle the slippery roads, we parked and made the rest of the trek on foot. The rain storms from the previous night had turned the clay to a slippery goo,
We took the series of stairs at the end of the road, down 200 feet to the bottom of the valley.
Josue pointed out the plant used to make Ben Gay and pulled up some wild ginger for us to smell. This spiky tree is called a "poison fish tree" strips of which are used by the locals to beat against pools of water. The bark has a poison that blinds fish and makes them jump out of the water where they are caught and later cooked, I presume.
Down we went towards ground zero.
Here we are. At the bottom of a series of 14 waterfalls. "Escalando una catarata" means "scaling a waterfall", which is what we were about to do - back to the top, 200 feet above.
Even with our special water shoes, which we bought from the local supermarket, the task seemed daunting. The water was raging and the recent rainstorm had turned the falls from the usual crystal clear to a brown clay stew. Josue did his best to sell us on the benefits. "This clay is really good for exfoliation of the skin - it's like you're getting a hike and a spa treatment all in one." We laughed and then waded in behind him.
You couldn't see where you were stepping and it was rocky and slippery. Thought of the Boa came back into my mind. Josue went up first, followed by the Dough and I took up pole position. All I kept imagining is Jean's mother with me at the hospital yelling at me "How you let my daughter do this? Aiyoooooooo!" I was more worried about her falling than I was about falling myself. I shouldn't have been. She is way braver than I, doing a 15 foot dive into one of the deeper pools on the way up. Watch the video for yourself.
As we scrambled up we swam in some of the pools. The water didn't feel slimy at all to our surprise.
This is a shot of us behind a waterfall at the top of the trek.
After drying off we jumped in the 4x4 and drove to a hilltop restaurant. Josue promised us the best empanadas in the country.
They were pretty good. We dipped them in salsa lizano, a condiment made from onions, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, spices, pepper, mustard and turmeric.Kind of tastes like steak sauce - it adds a nice sharp ping. After lunch Josue drove us back into Jaco where we jumped in our car and headed back to the shroom.
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