Days like last Saturday have to be contemplated post-trip. To really absorb all the wonderfulness that was squeezed into the day. The day in question was when Jenny and I went to the San Ramon waterfalls for the day. With no real plan, and no great ideas on how exactly we would get there, it involved a great deal of luck. Oh and I should mention we finalized our plans that morning. At 7:00am.
We left Totoco to catch what I thought was the 7:45am bus, or rather the 8:10am bus. Upon the realization that we’d have some time to kill, we walked to “downtown” Balgue for some fun. Just kidding, we went for something to do. What we did was sit down and enjoy watching the comings and goings of the locals. There is something really magical about sitting outside a pulperia waiting for your bus watching the kids playing in the street and dancing. Being able to wave at the little munchins while they walk by with their mother. Equally entertaining are the Nico men watching all the comings and goings, donned in their wife beaters.
But by far the mornings greatest gift was during our bus ride to Santa Cruz. What appeared to be a 70 year old (or older) Nica woman was trying to get on the bus ladden with her large satchel. With the bag safely stowed on the bus, the trick was to get this woman and her cane on the bus. The young man operating the back doors solution? To heave her on. How? By lifting her up like he was giving her the Heimlich maneuver. This resulted in this poor woman looking like an upside down turtle, not once, but twice. With her legs kicking and struggling to make a connection with the lowest stair, I couldn’t help but crack a grin and share it with Jenny.
With the plucky old woman in a seat, off we went. Jenny and I departed at the fork in the road that leads to Merida and started on foot to reach our destination. There too was a beauty in watching the scenery at a snails pace. Struggling on the rocky road, seeing the wooden homes alive with fluttering, drying laundry, young children, and animals. Even passing by homes which had the luxury of having a coat of paint, even if it made them look like something from Alice and Wonderland.
As chance would have it, after 20 minutes of walking Fernando, a local cab driver I had met through Cafe Campestre, went by. He stopped the car and asked his passenger if she would mind picking up us poor stragglers. She decided we didn’t look too scary, and thus we had a sweet ride. And where was this lovely New Yorker headed? The San Ramon falls.
During our ride we discussed the same typical tourist things: where are you from? How long are you traveling? What do you do back home? Blah blah. I opted instead to watch the scenery pass by. The petals falling off of the trees onto the shoreline, the old wisened faced men going by on their bicycles, the women washing clothes on soap rocks, and kids playing with toys.
We arrived after our pleasant drive at a gated community. Not quite the oasis of natural beauty you expect. After paying our $3 per person entrance fee, our real journey began. We walked through some stunning scenery of citrus trees and the yellowing grassland around them. With the pure blue sky and pure white clouds, it was an amazing sight. This also included picking three ready to eat limes the size of oranges. These were just the treat I needed on our hike up to the waterfalls.
Walking through the final bits of overgrown jungle with the sounds of the ever present Howler Monkeys, we arrived finally at the falls. We arrived with the sound of crashing water and Jenny and I shared the wonder of the falls with two other travelers. Jenny and I got ready to plunge into the water. While absolutely beautiful, the effect was ruined by something I didn’t even consider, rocks. Not nice smooth rocks but jagged and rough rocks. But the effort and pain was worth it, just to stand under that waterfall and feel the cold water on my skin. After having a bit of a hug out, Jenny and I agreed that today we were very happy and lucky individuals to be doing what we are doing.
Our hike down was without incident and we ended up heading to San Ramon, the town, to get some water to quench our increasing thirst. What we thought would be a quick jaunt turned into a 45 minute walk. Upon seeing the sign for “La Gloria” we knew we had found our place. Not because it was anything special, but it was literally the first place to stop for a drink from the waterfall. We walked up and asked Denis for two waters, grande. After guzzling down a 1.5 litre bottle, I decided that I had enough time to enjoy some food before the 3:00pm bus. In the meantime I enjoyed watching Denis, the most Asian looking Nicaraguan I’ve ever seen, be called “Chino” by the locals. While Chino generally refers to people from China, I still think that he was a local and not a foreigner. But then again, what do I know?
As we waited and waited for our rice with tostones (fried plantains), Jenny became more anxious about the “approaching” bus. I mentioned to her that we would hear the bus before it came. We apparently had plenty of time though. Denis told us that it would be better to walk than to wait for the bus. So we departed on foot. After walking all the way to Merida (about one hour) Jenny and I stopped to get some watermelons and ask about the bus (as it was pushing 3:45pm). At the tienda I asked the local woman about the bus and she said that there was no bus on Saturdays at that time. SO...
Jenny and I sat and ate our watermelon halves while watching this local family celebrate another weeks end. One of the little boys got his first school uniform and was trying it on as his family and us watched. His mother remarked that he was “gordo” or fat and that the shirt just fit. When he had the whole kit on, I made sure to tell him that he looked really handsome, which naturally went down quite well. Overall it was just really wonderful to watch this family interact. The locals who came to purchase milk and pens, the children playing with toy cars, the parents talking about the village gossip, and Jenny and I. Strangely enough it was a really beautiful moment.
Without a ride, Jenny and I set out on foot again. This time Jenny had to endure my whimperings of sore feet. Once finally in Merida, we saw the Rodeo had infiltrated this area. The tourists and locals had gathered to watch the onslaught. Jenny and I passed right by. During our walk, I had pleaded for both our sakes, in both Spanish and English, for some help. For a ride. For a magic carpet. Anything that the Travel Fairy could be so kind as to provide. Well, just outside of Merida, our prayer was answered. A tourism bus that had passed us 30 minutes prior this time finally stopped for us.
On our way back we enjoyed a quiet ride, while the driver and his security guard passenger chatted away as if we didn’t exist. At Santa Cruz we got off and within minutes we were joined by a Romanian traveler walking towards, of all places, Totoco. When he asked us if we knew it, I almost laughed. Yes, we knew it. Very well. To add to our blessings, within minutes there was a broken down bus being replaced by another bus, destined for Balgue. With a few minutes wait we were off.
I stopped by at work to say to Theora, a colleague, that I would be entirely useless. So useless that I needed to go back to Totoco. She knew she could handle the show, and thus I had my night free. To celebrate, I talked to the other volunteers for the first time that week and I went to bed. What a superb way to end a great day!
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