Waterfalls in Costa Rica: playing at the end of the rainbow

View of San Ramon region < than an hour from San Jose

We woke up today in Costa Rica after having spent a month back in Washington (more on that another day. For now we can only say we miss our friends and family very much and the snow was spectacular).

We have become a family of six for the next couple of weeks as "Onion" (J's 11 year old good friend) joins us. But, what we found out today is that Onion is not joining us, we are joining him. He's given us the gift of seeing Costa Rica through fresh eyes and ears. 

Turns out we were always less than an hour from a humongous waterfall. It's near the small town of San Ramon located at a 'waterpark' called ecomusas. Without Onion, we may never have known it existed.

 To get a sense of how big this waterfall is see if you can pick out the kids in the lower left corner of the following picture:

That's a whopping 300 feet of water coming down the mossiest cliff you've ever seen. 

Ecomusas has cut out a terrific hike through the surrounding 'jungle,' it led us to leaves bigger than ourselves.

Baby-O was our leader: she guided us between massive banyan trees



over gates

and bridges. It would turn out to be the highlight of our day.

Gigi dubbed the following shot 'the Jesus'. 

We captured the precise moment when J sliced a piece of his ankle off and left it behind in San Ramon.

There was swimming and sliding of course because it was a waterpark after all.

Along the way we talked about carbon neutrality (Costa Rica has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2021)  as well as coffee and bananas. Onion delighted us with his visible shock when we turned on the radio and it was churning out English music When we stopped to buy some excellent fruit in the picturesque San Ramon, we laughed again to see that the stunning school building from a different era was named 'Jorge Washington.' My biggest laugh came when we were checking out green mangoes and Onion managed to ask the fruit salesman 'what is it dude?'  without realizing he was going so slang- he can thank our slang-fluent J for that. 

 Onion and J gave me permission to include poems they wrote about the day

The grass so lush and green

Gives me so many options for the mood I choose to be

So many gates for me to open

Leaves me so many paths for me to explore

Glistening waterfalls spraying mist into our faces

A courageous leader and her "Dear Kids" have seen all of this and boy

It is so d'lish

Bright, vibrant flowers everywhere we go

Gives us oh so much more to enjoy

You could describe it as a horrible experience or as I think it was

a way to open your eyes to see all of the good things in life and nature

or,

maybe your life is

nature

"Water"

Water, such an irrelevant factor in man's life. Only until a man has recognized and experienced the true nature of water, only until man feels the cold fingers of this special liquid, it is then, and only then, that a man knows what water is. It is as small and delicate as a deer's nose yet has the power to destroy and cause misery to whom underestimates it. It gives life graciously and takes lives viciously. It is the element in our lives that keeps us alive every day. So after this poem think about what the world gives you and how much you give the world 

for the world is always there for you, why aren't you there for the world? 

Jack

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.” - Marcel Proust