Waterfall Hide-and-Seek

I promised a while ago that I would post one of my Pucon adventures, so here it is: Waterfall Hide-and-Seek!

In Pucon, Katy and I befriended a young German couple named Pia and Julian. They were really awesome, and as such they offered to let us tag along with them for the day! In the early afternoon we visited the Playa Blanca (White Beach) and hung around by the lake for a while. After stopping back at the hostel, we decided to check out one of Pucon's many waterfalls before the sun went down! Armed with some rudimentary directions and a map sketched on the back of a piece of paper, we set off in a little white rental car with the horsepower of a miniature pony.

We quickly exchanged the paved roads for dirt paths, which was not uncommon for Pucon -- our little white car bravely tackled the dirt mountain roads to make it to the lake in the afternoon. We were told to take a left at the fork, so we came across a fork and took a left. It was a lovely drive, and we rolled all of the windows down to enjoy the fresh air and the forest view.

As we continued to drive, the path began to get steeper, the ruts deeper, and the rocks bigger. Julian was an excellent driver, and our poor little car prevailed against all odds, but as the trees began to disappear and the area around us converted to grassy rangeland, we began to wonder if maybe we had taken a wrong turn. This did not seem like waterfall territory. Besides, we had been told that it was possible to bike to the waterfall in about an hour -- we agreed that any biker who could make it this far in an hour was probably Superman in disguise.

We stopped periodically, but we were all certain that we could hear water ahead of us, so we kept going. However, after a while (and a really foul-smelling collection of manure) Pia tentatively suggested that maybe we should turn around. Julian insisted that it was just a little farther, and we agreed that since we had made it that far, and the sun was beginning to set, that we may as well find a nice spot to watch the sunset.

Our car finally made the decision for us by getting stuck in a particularly deep rut. We looked out the window -- at this point, the road really wasn't a road anymore, and we were surrounded by farmland and a herd of traumatized cows. Pia turned to Julian and said, "Now do you think we took a wrong turn?"

Julian stuck his head out the window and looked around. "Maybe....this may have not been the right way," he conceded.

We could still hear water -- we just couldn't figure out where it was coming from! So we parked the car and got out to walk a bit. After a few minutes, we came across the source of the water, and the result of all of our driving, walking, and the considerable effort we had put into getting lost. As Katy said, she's seen better puddles in her driveway.

Although we never did find the actual waterfall, getting there was nevertheless an adventure, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with Pia and Julian. Getting lost can be quite the bonding experience, and it gave us something to chuckle about for the next few days!