the hike

since i talked about half of our trip i feel like i should include the other bits. probably the most interesting part of our trip was the hike. i have described it already but it really was tough. the north coast trail was the hardest i have done thus far but this was a different kind of difficult. many inclines, tremendous heat and humidity played huge factors when we were trekking along. not to mention some fear factor bits when you look over the edge and see the steep declines right in front of you. what can i say, we worked hard.

the beginning of the trail. blue skies beautiful day

crazy roots on crazy trees

look at that ocean...sigh.

smiles. just passed approximately 3miles

due to the heat we stopped at many creeks just to cool off. at one said creek my camera happened to pop out of its waterproof case and take a dive into the refreshing water (oh the irony). needless to say i took that hard. i had taken 200 pics on the trip thus far and none could be seen in my broken camera. those last 3 miles were rough for me! :) i have since found out that everything was recoverable.

long way down.

the end point was the beginning of our adventure. we passed about 20 "residents" (and we have heard there are close to 50) who have set up camp to live there permanently. they are not living there legally but living there nicely (again, we have heard that people live in this area for roughly 1000$ a year). they plant various seeds and because of the climate things grow with no problems. just us looking we saw arugula, tomatoes, salad greens, limes, plantains, lemons, basil, and oregano BUT apparently there are papayas, mangoes, oranges further up the hill.

included within the residents are the nudists. so many times i wished my friends and family were there just so i could hear the funny witticisms they would say. case in point: getting water from the creek we look over and see a girl perched on a rock playing a ukulele. look over again...completely naked playing her ukulele. seriously it was like we entered the twilight zone and all that was in my head was "age of aquarius". its probably a good thing my camera broke...

one of the more hysterical aspects was how they get food shipped in. this is an 11 mile hike into camp therefore the residents need some supports from other places to bring in food. cut to the motor boat. looking over at the ocean, where professional surfers were surfing for the waves, we see a motor boat jetting into the surf.  next thing you know we see garbage bags being tossed into a wave from just behind its breaking crest and the boat zipping out before the next set could swamp it. INSANE! lol

in terms of us we were both pretty happy for other reasons ;) but it was cool to be immersed in a culture that was so different than the hiking culture.

our camera phones saved the day capturing out last images as we head out.

i don't know how it is possible but i am already dirty before even leaving. lol

love