The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Hike to a waterfall

Ruth doesn't like being cooped up, so despite the fact that she was not feeling 100%, she wanted to get some fresh air. So she said she felt well enough to try the hike to the waterfall, and if we had to take our time and rest along the way, then so be it.

She did come for breakfast and get some food down, so that was a good start.

Then, we relaxed for an hour or so before deciding for sure that we would head out on a hike.

It's a pretty easy place to relax. We're not unhappy with the fact that we signed on for two more nights here.

Ruth in her hammock. And our little furry friend.

We set off at about 10:00am. We really didn't know exactly how far the waterfall was, but we knew the direction and there were some signs. We got to a sort of a fork in the road, and we were a little unsure of which way to go.

You take the high road, and I'll take the low road...

Through the gates, the sign said "Tunel y Cascada" (Tunnel and waterfall), but it also said that it was private property. The other sign going to the right definitely looked more like a hiking trail, but the sign said "Bienvenidos Caballistas a la Cascada" (Welcome horseback riders to the waterfall).

We decided to take the trail to the right that went by the river.

Looking for a bird.

We haven't seen many other fancy looking birds. Some smaller red ones and yellow ones, but nothing special. We had been told that the best time to see the birds is if you go out fairly early, like 7:00am in the morning.

The mud is starting to dry up. Two days without rain!

We had to take our shoes off to cross two streams.

And then we came to a house. It said "private property", but the path obviously went right through their place. A woman came out and said that it was 3,000 pesos ($1.45 CAD) to carry on to see the falls. At first I said no, but then we thought about it and it was only about another 1 km (.62 miles) so we paid the money. As we were there, a bunch of people on horseback came through and they also paid the money. But, they have a bathroom that Ruth used and they were selling water and refreshments.

We carried on.

Yep, sure enough...there is a tunnel.

No idea why that tunnel is there. Big enough for a train to go through, yet no other indication that there were ever any tracks in the area. Very strange.

A couple of rickety bridges to cross.

Kevin, almost at the falls.

Waterfall near Boquia. Not bad. Good for a short hike. About 3 kms from the village.

On the way back, we took a slightly different route and came across another tunnel. This tunnel had some horses in it!

Inside the tunnel.

Mom and young one.

It was 1:00pm by the time we made it back to the village of Boquia. We had done 8.0 kms (5.0 miles) in three hours. Slow pace, just right for Ruth but she said she had had enough towards the end.

We came out at the same restaurant where I had been for lunch the past two days, and we like it and the owners are friendly so we stopped in again.

Restaurante Selva Alegre.
 If you're ever in Boquia, Colombia make sure you stop in here!

Owners Rodrigo and Patricia.

Third lunch we've had there, and third lunch we've been happy with! I had a big plate of chicken and rice and potatoes and salad for 11,500 pesos ($5.65 CAD). Great value, even by Colombian standards!

Went back to the hostel and rested for the balance of the day.

You may have noticed we've changed our plans for the weekend. We had originally been going further south to Buga, but with Ruth not feeling well we've adjusted things. The reason we came to Salento originally was to do the 5 or 6 hour hike to the wax palms in the Valle de Cocora, and we obviously haven't been able to do that yet. This area gets quite busy on the weekends as many Colombian tourists come here as well, and our hostel is already booked so we can't stay here. Also, most accommodation in town is already booked.

So I've found us a three night stay in nearby Filandia, which is okay because I wanted to go there anyhow and thought we were going to miss it. It's supposed to be very similar to Salento, but without all the tourists. This way the plan is now to do the wax palms hike on Monday, when it should be a lot quieter and Ruth will hopefully have recovered.

She's much better, the worst is definitely over but not 100% yet.

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Several great deals on Men's Timex watches...today only!




20 comments:

  1. Following these posts with a great deal of interest. Colombia is a pretty place.

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    1. Thank you Peter! We think that Colombia is a very pretty place indeed.

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  2. So interesting - love when you two venture out and about and we get to see the countryside and meet the locals. There are nice people everywhere! So happy Ruth is slowly mending - take care friends!

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    1. That's exactly why we travel the way we do and this time we haven't really made forward plans so when we have just about had enough of where we then we will start to make plans for the next location. You are right, there are nice people everywhere.

      Yes, each day seems to be a little better than than last. Now I just need some really good night's sleeps, the last few haven't been very good.

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  3. wow, I'd never have made it across those bridges! eek! :-)

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    1. Surprisingly enough the bridges were fairly stable. It was a better option then taking our socks and shoes off again to walk through stream/river.

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  4. I'm glad Ruth is starting to feel better. You can't keep a good woman down!

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    1. Little by little I'm getting better. I really hate sitting around but sometimes you just have too!

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  5. Wow Ruth a 5 mile hike when you aren't feeling totally well? That's amazing. And so is 5 miles in 3 hours. We seldom hike that fast since we seem to always find so many things to look at. Love those questionable bridges and of course the waterfall. Beautiful!

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    1. I did better than what I thought I would but there weren't very many uphill inclines. The last mile was done after our lunch. Trust us we did stop quite a bit, Kevin just didn't include all the photos in case we didn't do too much in our activities, it was all dependent on how I felt. Thanks Sherry this really was a pretty area.

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  6. That place is so nice, not sure I would be willing to move on.

    So glad Ruth was able to do the hike. Hope she didn't over do it

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    1. It is going to be hard and we would have stayed one until Monday but unfortunately they are booked up. I am sure that we will still find some more fantastic places along the way.

      It is possible that I did overdo it a bit, so today we took it easier. It was worth it though. :-)

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  7. Did you return from the falls via the "high road"? Otherwise that lady probably would have come out again and charged you another 6000 pesos! Those tunnels were cool

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    1. We did and it didn't make a difference both paths lead through their property but if we had taken the high road to begin with we wouldn't have had to walk through two streams. She only charges the one time. :-)

      We would like to know the story behind them, I guess if we had time we could do some research and we might find something about them.

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  8. Ruth sounds like you are over the worst of it.I have had bouts of it but good now for 3 years which I attribute to using cranberry pills,good for uti prevention.An alternative for you would be pomegrante and jamaica
    I started cranberry after first bout but stopped and got it again,have been taking ever since going on 4 years
    Also the first antibiotic didnt work,Dr gave me cipro and when I got it again told Dr cipro worked.It is miserable and especially when you are travelling,best wishes! Heather

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    1. Yes, I am really hoping to be over the worst of it. I am going to look for cranberry juice when we get to a bigger town and in the future I will look for these cranberry pills as well as the Cipro. In over 8 years of traveling almost fulltime I have never had a UTI, bladder or kidney infection and never realized that it is such a common thing for women. Thanks for the advice.

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  9. Glad you're improving, Ruth. Isn't it fun to think about how fate changes your plans. Who knows what would have happened if all had gone like originally planned. I hope the switch is for the better and you're doing great soon. The waterfall looks so pretty.

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    1. Thank you Grace, we have often wondered the same thing ourselves. Every decission has two choices and you can never be sure if the one you made was the best one, that's what so cool about life. It will be nice to have a change of scenery, although it will be hard to beat the one we have been having.

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  10. The hammock looks comfy:) We happened to hike to the biggest falls in Florida yesterday. Yours might be more impressive.

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    1. I was thinking that the one saw would have been higher than the one you saw in Florida just because Florida doesn't have much high ground but found out the one you saw is just a like higher and it looks very pretty too!

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