A Force of Nature- San Luis Waterfall

Yesterday I was able to go on an adventure with 2 children from my family and the other 2 students staying at my house.  We decided we were going to the San Luis Waterfall.  We had to walk 8 km from the house down to the entrance of the waterfall and to get there we had to walk down a huge hill down into the San Luis Valley.  We stopped along the way down the hill to take these pictures looking out across the Gulf of Nicoya.  It was a very beautiful view and it seemed like we could see forever!

This is another picture that we took from the lookout point.  We we actually able to see the San Luis waterfall from this point and I tried to get a picture but it is kind of hard to actually see the waterfall.  

Once we actually got to the waterfall "welcome center" we had to walk an additional 1.5 km to get to the waterfall which was a beautiful hike through the forest.  The entire time we were right by the river and could hear the power of the river and the waterfall.  We also had to cross the river a couple of times on boards put across the river and here is one picture from me standing in the middle of the make shift bridge.

Here is the welcome to the waterfall sign and we were sure glad to see that after walking almost 10 km!

 Here is the first view that I had of the waterfall.  It is a very tall waterfall and has two very distinct parts.  We could only see a small portion of the top part of the waterfall where it forms a pool before coming down the bottom half of the fall.  The falls itself are approximately 100 meters tall.  

Here is me after our long hike standing in front of the magnificent falls!

We were able to get into the water and swim around.  The water was FREEZING but you got used to it once you got in.  We were not able to actually get underneath the waterfall like many of the others due to the sheer force of water coming down which is very dangerous to be underneath.  It was also hard to swim close to the falls because the current and force of water was so strong.  You can see though how large the falls are with me standing next to it.

Here is me, Surya, and Gudari sitting next to the falls getting our picture taken.  We had a great time swimming around and playing in the freezing cold water, it felt so good after our hike in.

Once we swam around and played around for awhile we decided to break open the snacks so I choose a rock to sit on in the middle of the water and took this photo from that rock.  I was just so amazed by this beautiful force of nature and even though Surya and Gudari were only about 10 feet away we couldn't talk because the falls were so loud!

Here was my last view of the falls before we began the hike back.

Here is one of the make shift bridges going across the river that just consisted of a board with other boards across to provide traction as well as a rope that you could hang onto.

Here was a little crab friend that we found along the river, I was very surprised to see such a creature along the river bank.

Overall we all had a great day and the 13 km hike was well worth it to see the beautiful waterfall.  Too bad it isn't closer to us so we could go there anytime we wanted!  Today I am just trying to catch up on the projects that I am working on and I have 3 meetings this afternoon!  Hope everyone is doing well back in the  States, I only have 3 weeks left in this beautiful country.