The Skinny Dip in ‘Secret Falls’ and Other Adventures Hi Everyone, As the dark, wet, and cold (along with up to 4 feet of snow in the Dakotas.) return to the northland I thought I would share with you a story about adventures Donna and I had back in 2012 while escaping winter in January. In Costa Rica amazing things await you around every curve in the path. This particular story is about the secret pool I discovered a short hike from the Bed and Breakfast. Please return with me to this special place now in your imagination and again in real life in the near future. I have 3 tours planned for early 2014, if you can, join us then. Whatever the case, I want to give you this warning before you go any further. WARNING-WARNING-WARNING The following letter and attached photos have been rated by the Motion Picture Industry, The Three Stooges, Shakira, and Darth Vader as inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18 or everyone smarter then a rock. So if you are easily embarrassed, shocked, or frightened, delete this now……. Well, you are still here so I will continue. There are a few reasons why you have not heard from me, some of which I cannot relate, but here are a few I can. Donna and I have been moving around a lot. We have stayed in three different locations and traveling by bus the most we ever have. It has been very interesting and enlightening. And as we have been transferring from place to place we have found more fantastic places that are rarely visited by the average tourist but are very interesting and packed with adventure. That is one of the goals of this trip. Besides doing the usual fun stuff, we are seeking out other exciting things to see and do with those who join us in our tours as well as share with you dear reader. Just a quick note about our flight down here from our son Phillip and bride Brenna’s wedding. We caught a flight from San Francisco to Phoenix to connect with a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. Well we got to Phoenix perfect but went to the gate that connected to a flight to San Jose, California. How we both made such a stupid mistake is beyond me but it happened. I had just got a cup of coffee and Donna was checking the internet on her computer when I heard over the loud speaker. “Paging Daniel And Donna Dix, if you do not come the gate for the plane leaving for San Jose, Costa Rica within 3 minutes, your luggage will be removed from the plane and you will be left here with all the other idiots who can’t read.” This lead to a mad dash to the correct gate dragging our carry on bags that were loaded to the max. We both nearly had heart attacks but they held the plane long enough for us to get on board and airborne to Central America. I was mildly disappointed that Donna threw away my cup of coffee in our mini marathon. You know what they cost in air ports these days? Jeeze. But let me jump ahead now to the adventure of the past few days. We are back at Casa Amanecer in San Ramon Costa Rica. After staying at other various places, we are here until we leave in February. This is the same Bed and Breakfast that the group of 8 stayed at last year for the Adventure Tour I led. Chris is my partner you might say in the tour business. I organize things in the US and he organizes things in Costa Rica and together we make a winning team as our tours are fun, exciting, adventurous, and priced reasonable. Chris, his wonderful wife, and two beautiful children have been caring for us like we are long lost and beloved relatives. But besides being treated like kings they have been sharing so many new experiences with us. The one I am going to tell you about now is about the secret water fall only a 20 minute walk from the Bed and Breakfast. Casa Amanecer is built on the outskirts of San Ramon and is surrounded by coffee plantations and jungle. One morning Donna and I were jogging (my latest addiction) and took a dirt road behind the building into the wild. At first the road was wide but rather rough. But it went from that to a smaller and smaller trail becoming just a little more then a path for deer. On the first trip down this trail Donna wisely turned back but I continued because I could hear water crashing over rock somewhere ahead which of course sparked my curiosity. I came to a cliff that was still wet from morning dew and slippery. I fell, slid, and tumbled down the last 6 or so feet to the bottom of a valley which contained a small stream that cascaded out of a small crevice violently over a ten foot fall into a very deep pool. The water then left the pool, went down over many more boulders, then through a channel cut into solid rock, and then disappeared into the jungle. I wish I could say I was the first person to have been in the enchanting place but I know I was not. There was a small amount of trash tossed about including 2 swimsuits in some state of disrepair. It was not much trash but even a gum wrapper would desecrate such a lovely moss covered cove and secluded paradise. I suspect that the coffee workers cooled off there during their long and hard days laboring in the plantation and occasionally left the non edible parts of their lunch and a few particles of clothing It has been my experience that this is a very rare event in Costa Rica. Most Tico’s realize how valuable a resource the natural environment is and that it must be cared for. But obviously there are always some bad apples who are selfish and stupid. But like I said, there was not that much litter. When Donna and I came back the next day, we picked most of it up in about 10 minutes. I digress; I will get back to ‘discovering’ the tiny Shangri-La, hidden deep in the jungle. Since I was very sweaty from my jog and slide down the cliff and since there was no sign of anyone nearby I stripped down to my bare skin and waded into the surprisingly cold water. Being that I was alive and bare, head to toe, I did not venture to far into the pond, not wanting to incur some sort of injury and not be able to climb out of the valley to get help. Therefore I confined myself to water only waist deep and did not swim to the falls. You can imagine how refreshing it was for me to slide into the soft water and paddle about as butterflies fluttered about, tropical birds flew overhead, and the sunbeams were filtered though the dense forest canopy. I sadly left after about 15 minutes of soaking and went back to Chris’s Bed and Breakfast since I did not want to miss a meal (Luisa is a GREAT cook) and he asked where I had been and I told him. He said, “oh yeah, I take the kids there every now and then. It is very nice. There used to be a rope over the falls that you could swing on and plummet into the pool, but it broke.” I castigated him for not telling me about it earlier and he said it just slipped his mind and I have forgiven him. The next day Donna came all the way to Secret Falls with me. She found a safer way to get to the pool so no falling was necessary. We also brought a trash bag and cleaned things up. She also took photos of me in the water. She declined joining me in the swim. And the very happy ending of this story is that now, when we have tours that include a stay at the most hospitable Bed and Breakfast that is located in the friendliest and happiest place in the world, we will also take a short walk and play in a ‘Secret Waterfall’ (with our swimsuits on, and the rope swing reattached of course) just minutes from Casa Amanecer. Your Friend, The Crazy White Man P.S. I have since returned to this special place alone and with friends and will be again soon. Please join us.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 13:57:48 +0000