We woke up, as one often does in Mexico, with roosters crowing away merrily. After a healthy breakfast, John and some of the women in our group went to San Blas to go shopping. I stayed back at the hotel to do some work. I am not quite sure what they were looking for in town, but they came across a celebration of Benito Juarez Day.
Juarez, a Zapotec Indian from the southern state of Oaxaca, was the reform-minded leader of the nation in the middle of the nineteenth century. He helped expel Maximilian and the French from Mexico, confiscated much of the holdings of the church, and provided greater rights for his fellow indigenous people. His birthday on March 21 is a national holiday here in Mexico.
Jim organized an outing for our group today to a waterfall up in the mountains. It took us about 45 minutes of driving to get there.There were several cars already parked at the trailhead. Jim explained that it is usually empty, but because this is Semana Santa and so many Mexicans have the week off work, we would have more people there than usual. After a few minutes of hiking, we caught our first glimpse of the waterfall.
Unfortunately, at least for a few of those in our group, we had about 240 steps down the trail before we made it to the base of the falls. We paused for a moment at the beginning of the descent for a group shot.
Not longer after this, a couple of our party were not in the mood to smile. But somehow, even with a couple of spills, everybody made it to the end. Most everybody was willing to jump right into the water and cool off!
None of our group, however, were quite as adventuresome as some of the Mexican boys who climbed up onto the cliff and dropped 10 or 15 feet into the pool below. I caught a picture of this lad just before he splashed into the water.
It almost looks like he is heading up instead of down, doesn’t it? Fortunately, none of these boys were injured despite all the rocks. But after swimming for a bit, everybody came out of the water and had some lunch.
After lunch, we walked around a bit. Rebecca and Rochelle climbed a tree to pose for the cameras.
John is also not too camera shy.
But, to paraphrase the old saying, those who hike down must also hike up. We walked up the trail, some a bit faster than others. But we all finally made it to the top. Along the way we were rewarded with many views of the waterfall.
We returned back to El Encanto. John and I share a rooftop with Ellen and Mike.
We have some of the funkiest rooms here, but it’s nice to have the family together.
