Catarata Los Murcielagos is a steep but easily reachable waterfall found in the heart of Monteverde, Costa Rica. It took about 20 minutes for Peggy and me to hike to it. Catarata translates to cataract and Murcielagos to bats. So we have a cascading waterfall with bats. We didn’t see any bats but the person-wide, shaky bridge and the gaping mouth of the ficus tree roots made up for it. Bright sun overwhelmed the bridge and made the ficus tree root tunnel look pitch black. The tunnel jogged to the left and deposited us close to the base of the waterfall where we enjoyed the water and took more photos.This is another bridge over the small creek that we crossed before reaching the waterfalls. I’m not sure whether the green, plastic walls were to protect people from falling off or to provide a sense of security! Probably a bit of both. The wall was flimsy enough that I wouldn’t have wanted to fall into it.Peggy provides a good perspective on how flimsy the narrow the bridge was. Between the bridges and the Ficus tree, it felt like we had ended up in an Indiana Jones or Lara Croft movie. Peggy is maneuvering a bit more carefully than Indiana or Lara would have, however. (I did too.)The top of the waterfall.And bottom. Peggy had been to the waterfall before with our son Tony, his wife Cammie and their three boys. The waterfalls provides a small but enjoyable swim. She had waded out to the waist-high middle.Top, bottom, in-between and pool. The whole shebang!
While I was wandering around taking bird photos and exploring jungle trails near our VRBO in Monteverde, Peggy went out on another waterfall hike with our son and his family. Know as El Tigre Waterfalls, it was an up and down 5-mile self-guided walk through a cloud forest that included more rustic bridges and four waterfalls. I urged Peggy to take good photos. And she did! Following are the results.
Tony, Cammie and one of the four waterfalls.A narrower but still gorgeous waterfall.A close up catching the right side of the waterfall.Peggy with our grandson Chris.Trees provided an interesting screen for the waterfall from another perspective. A smaller waterfall can be seen in the background.This was a first. A zipline for bicycles. Our grandson Connor is making his way across, looking quite serious.“Look, Mom, no hands.” Our grandson Cooper at the beginning of the zipline.When I think of a waterfall cascading down a mountain, this is what I picture.Photo of Tony with some really big leaves!I’ll conclude with this photo. I think of Cammie saying, “Another photo, really?” It was a steep uphill. Peggy may have been taking photos as an excuse to stop. Either that or to fulfill her responsibility as a mother/grandmother— not to mention my request to bring back lots of photos!
Peggy and I are off journeying through Greece, Scotland and Ireland over the next several weeks, so there won’t be much time for blogging. Initially, I decided to put the blog on hold, but I’ve decided to republish some of my favorite posts that may eventually make it into UT-OH!.
On Wednesday my dog Socrates and I head off into the wilderness on a guy’s trip. It’s the 70s, so I am carrying a book by Carlos Castaneda and meditating while Socrates digs holes and downs Milk Bones. Strange things happen.
Wandering through Time and Place 