"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in
its net of wonder forever."—Jacques Cousteau

Feb. 9 - Charco El Pilon Waterfall

“To the tourist, travel is a means to an end; to the traveler, it’s an end in itself.” — Marty Rubin

Yesterday we took it easy. We hung out around the house and enjoyed our beach. I'm glad we did because the wind picked up today and the waves were so large they completely took over the beach. The water literally was up to the house. It has been fun to see how much our beach changes from day to day. 

Since it wasn't a good beach day, we decided to be a little more adventurous and do a hike around San Germán. I had read that the Charco El Pilon trail took you to a beautiful spot with crystal clear water and a beautiful waterfall. The hike goes upstream along the Rio Cain. We had to cross the river 15 times before we reached the falls. All along the trail there were amazing places we could have spent the day playing in the water, but we trekked on to the waterfalls and then up to a slot canyon, called Charco la Iglesia (Church Puddle) above the falls. Each place was more spectacular than the others.

Our morning entertainment.
We came down this road from the parking area. The true trail began here.
Here are a few pictures of the trail to the falls.
Here it is...Charco El Pilon Waterfall.
The best part of this hike...we had the place to ourselves.
The safest route to the top of the falls was up this old stream bed.
Once we were above the falls we had to repel back down to the river. It was a work out but well worth it.
Our first glimpse of the Charco la Iglesia.
Looking upstream above the waterfall and slot canyon. 
I walked through the water towards the top of the waterfall. The pictures don't show how truly spectacular this place was.
One of the many pretty butterflies we saw on the hike. This one is a Siproeta. (Stan took this wonderful picture.)
Since we hiked over three miles today we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at Peña Blanca this evening.
Stan took a short video of me swimming in the pool.

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