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Monday morning started like every other beautiful morning in Costa Rica. We sat by the pool waiting for everyone to wake up and see what was in store for the day. Most of the group decided to stay at the house and relax for the day but that's not what we were going to do.
A smaller group, Derrick, TJ, Jenn, James, Dave, and I decided to go hike Nauyaca Falls. We were going to horse back ride up to the falls but couldn't get the reservations together in time. So the plan was to drive down to where the horses would normally be to start the hike but park. We started up to the falls and it was a pretty steep uphill climb for 2.5 miles. The cicada beetles were so loud and there were so many other insects and birds in sight. It was so funny to see the assembly line of ants. There were little worker ants carrying pieces of leaves and putting them in a pile while larger ants were walking alongside the worker ants. The assumption was that the bigger ants were the drill sergeants yelling at them to move faster :) On the other side of the pile was another set of worker ants carrying them away from the pile. This was a very interesting process.
There was a restaurant that is usually open when the horse riding tours are going about a mile away from the falls. We stopped there to drink some water and look at the animals around the grounds. There were lots of white faced monkeys, a few peacocks, and a large red macaw that almost hit TJ in the face when it flew by.
After a break, we continued to hike the steep hill that led to steps down to the falls. The waterfall was beautiful. There was a top fall where you couldn't swim so we headed to the bottom falls. The cool water and wonderful views was the best reward after the long hot hike. We were able to swim up to the bottom of the fall, dive in to the water, and there was even a mini cliff to jump off of. The taller cliff wasn't accessible because the water levels were low but another guy tried to access the higher cliff from the top falls with lots of rocks to clear. He was obviously a dare devil and if he was going to do something dumb, we were going to capture it on video. He looked and raised a thumbs up asking us for validation to jump. We all yelled "no no no" and thumbs downed his question. He looked at the cliff, started to run and bailed on the plan. We were all glad he didn't jump as Dave and TJ would of had to save him. On the edge of the water were tiny frogs and lots of fish. The rocks were slippery but it was all worth it to be part of nature.
We hiked back down another 2.5 miles back to the car and headed back to the house. We got back just in time to watch the sunset while swimming in the pool. That night Edith made shish kabobs with rice and beans on the side. We blended fresh bitter orange margaritas, socialized, and played card games until the end of the night.
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