Did I say Monday?

Monday? Did I say the first installment of Ishy's story would come Monday? Yeah, Monday. But I have become very much an islander in my perception of time. I said Monday, I just didn't day which Monday.

The truth is this story is proving more difficult to write than I thought it would be. It's really pretty straight forward but it's also an emotional story for me. I keep letting myself get caught up in the emotion and I have to walk away from it. It is coming.

In the meantime a Wednesday Adventure will have to do.

For seven years we've heard about the waterfalls in San Sabastian. For seven years we've been saying we were going to find the waterfalls. Today we finally did.

There are two cascadas or saltos (both are words for "waterfalls" in Spanish) at Gozalandia. These falls are also sometimes known as Cataratas or El Roble or just the San Sabastian waterfalls; I have no idea where the name "Gozaladia" came from.

The lower falls are the most popular - they are closest to the parking area - but the stairway down is pretty steep and at the bottom the stairs give way to rocks for the last few feet. But there are stairs and handrails and the rocky part at the bottom has rope handholds.

The lower falls are a popular playground for families and the somewhat adventurous.

The upper falls are about a 10 minute walk upstream. There are two ways to get there: along the river bank, much of which is actually a series of alternate water courses. Along this route Gozalandia lives up to its reputation of slippery and muddy. The property owners have created new trails a bit off the riverbank that are much easier. These trails are interesting in their own right because of the flora along them.

  

The upper falls are not as popular but are well worth the walk. 

 

The pool is cold and deep, deep enough to be a safe landing area dropping from a rope swing:

Until a couple of years ago to get to the falls you had to park outside a gate and walk across private property. The property owners added a parking lot, restrooms and several other improvements like the trails. It is well worth the $5 parking fee.

After spending nearly three hours playing in the water, we were ready for lunch. The nice caballero at Gozalandia recommended a place on Carra. 111 between San Sebastian and Lares called Manhattan (although not surprisingly  he didn't pronounce it the way we would in English). Ice cold Medallas and great comida crillo - just what we needed!

Gozalandia is now on our list of must-go-to places when anyone visits. Really, it always was - we just didn't know it. We will go back a lot, both to the falls and to Manhattan. Come join us.