ADVENTURES By Molly Jan. 16
Today, we went on a big adventure. We decided to go to a place up in the hills where you could take a tour of a coffee plantation, see a butterfly house, and hike up a trail to a really cool spot where you could swim by a waterfall. It was a long ways away, so we set out in a rental car with worn front tires. When I say it was far away, I mean it. After about an hour, the paved road turned to dirt, and went on, bounce after jolt after bump, for at least two hours more! When we finally arrived, we were asked what we wanted to do first: see the waterfall, or have lunch. We chose lunch, and they told us to wait a few minutes while they got a table ready. They showed us where the restrooms were, and we looked around while we waited.
There were a lot of chickens strutting around, and there were also ducks, geese, and young ducks with funny hairdos and colorful bills that liked to peck your shoelaces! There were also two lovebirds in a cage, and what I thought was a goat and a big turkey in an enclosure near the birdcage. On closer inspection, I found it to be a turkey… and a small deer! As we walked over, the turkey fluffed itself up and tottered away, but the deer got up and came closer. We held out our hands to it, and we were soon giggling as it licked us like a dog would! We had wondered why it was penned up, but then we saw that it had a hurt foot. When we came back with the camera, it wouldn’t get up again, but we got a good picture of it.
After seeing the animals, we had a delicious lunch of black beans, rice, shredded cabbage, pork, and chicken with vegetables, served family style. Then it was time to go to the waterfall. We needed a guide to go with us to show us the way, so we squeezed three people (Jessie, Mom, and me) into the back seat of the rental car, and our guide sat up front. It took about five minutes to get to where the trail started, driving up and down steep hills on a rough dirt road. When we arrived, our guide gave us walking sticks and we followed her down a beautiful trail by a river. It was amazing: the deep, clear river, all of the different plants and flowers, and the butterflies that fluttered around almost anywhere you looked. The walk was about twenty minutes, and then we reached the spot where everyone was swimming.
The river streamed over huge boulders and made a very large swimming-hole. There was a platform from which you could swing over the water on a rope attached to a tree, and then drop into the river, and you could jump off a big rock into deep water. The water was really cold, but we got used to the temperature and had a great time. We hadn’t brought goggles, but I opened my eyes under water anyways. I had a lot of fun jumping off the rock and the rope, and I even went behind the waterfall! It was neat to watch the water running down from behind. Sadly, we had to go back sometime. I think we were the last group to leave, but I still wish we could have stayed longer.
We hiked to the car, and then drove back, and the guide showed us the butterfly house. The butterflies were beautiful, and we saw the building where they raised them. We didn’t see the coffee plantation, but Jessie and I were worn out, so it didn’t really matter to us.
That was pretty much the end of our day, unless you count the l—o—n—g drive home and the fact that the front tires nearly wore out. Also, once, when we were looking at the tires (which were worn down to the wire reinforcements), I found a Weaverbird’s nest on the ground. Don’t worry, we made it home safely!
See the media gallery for pictures!