| It's an area of the world still intact to its origins; where | | | | The tour shared breakfast with Lulo's family before |
| zones of jungle and lush greenery exceed the resorts | | | | saddling up to follow a trail that would quickly disappear |
| and clubs; where horns and the fervent chatter of | | | | into a small parting in the trees. As we ventured |
| countless conversations subside to a steady Baru | | | | further, the path would dip into waist-high mud, only to |
| River wind. In Costa Rica, popular fare of its tourism | | | | mount back up to rocky hill, and I couldn't help but |
| does not revolve around Spring Break or the number | | | | appreciate the confident footing of my horse. I could |
| of bold-name celebrities the country draws in; its | | | | tell that it knew the land as well as Don Lulo. Even |
| tourists are ecologically-conscious and visit to embrace | | | | when it was up to its knees in the thick mud, it would |
| the natural attractions. | | | | choose every step, exactly-certain. |
| One such vestige of our devolving planet is hidden an | | | | When we arrived, we tied up our horses and |
| hour, by horseback, into Costa Rican jungle-Nauyaca | | | | surveyed the scene, the building sound of rushing |
| Falls. Hidden in the hills between San Isidro el General | | | | water as we approached the falls was finally revealed |
| and Dominical, it is the highest and most expansive of | | | | as the thick channels of water exploding on the |
| the country, with furious channels of water careening | | | | surface of a pool at the base of Nauyaca. When our |
| over the top lip, crashing over three levels of rock, and | | | | guide, without hesitation, dived in, we all followed suit, |
| into a number of different pools at the base. Engulfing | | | | eventually climping a rope up the falls to a ledge where |
| Nauyaca are towering walls of trees and vine and | | | | the bravest of us, me included, leapt into the serene, |
| bushes and the sounds of animals native to the area. | | | | tepid jungle air. |
| Getting to the Falls was not as much of a commitment | | | | Somewhere between noon and one, a consensus |
| as I had assumed. The commute to San Jose from | | | | vote sent us heading back to the tour office. It wasn't |
| my room at the Paradisus Playa Conchal was an | | | | that we had tired of the place, but all of that swimming |
| hour's bus ride and from there, another 30 to the | | | | and diving can incite the most unruly of hunger pangs. |
| Nauyaca Office. It was there that I was introduced to | | | | Following lunch, I thanked Don Lulo and his family for |
| Don Lulo, the tour's guide, well-versed in both English | | | | the experience and vivid memories that would follow. |
| and Spanish, the horses, and Costa Rica's jungle. Lulo | | | | The falls, I had decided, would be something of tradition, |
| and his family have been guiding ecotourists like me to | | | | and an apex of future Costa Rican vacations. |
| the Falls for over fifteen years. | | | | |