It's raining heavily the morning of our second day in Costa Rica. As we head out to meet our forest tour guide, the rain ceases. Jorge is a kind man, no taller than me, sporting a smile and a large machete. We meet him at his home near the forest and are greeted by him and his brown-eyed, white-furred husky, Theo.
Jorge leads us along the path to the forest as he tells us that his backyard is filled with artifacts the ancient natives left behind hundreds of years ago. "Nadie conoce este lugare, solamente yo," he tells us: "Nobody knows of this place, only me." As we trek deeper into the forest, hiking through the river and up tree-covered mountain tops, Jorge tells us of the different animals of the forest: the tepezcuintles, the cherengas, and capuchin monkeys to name a few. We see an abundance of green and white layered rocks. Jorge tells us its a quartz and other-rock mixture, and can only mean one thing: Gold.
We finally arrive at a large fallen tree, adorned with moss, purple flowers, and luminescent panellus (bitter oyster fungi). We've reached our destination: It's a beautiful waterfall enclave. Forest surrounds us and above us us a green canopy of life and beaming light. The water is cool and fresh: A refreshing treat after a long hike in a dense jungle. The feeling you get from the forest, the cool water, and fresh mist of the waterfall can be described as none other than magical. You are in a dense forest, untouched by man; it feels as if you've walked out of real-life and into a fairy tale where everything is vivid and alive.
After our hike back through the forest, we bid our farewells to Jorge and thanked him for our wonderful journey. Although it was our last day in Costa Rica, we couldn't help but feel that one day we would once again return to the magical forest of life, water, and color.
