Wednesday, 2 November 2022: A Gorgeous Waterfall and Hopeless Roadblocks

I wake up about 5:30 this morning as per usual and find the shower to be almost warm enough.  I have decided to hike to the Vegas Grande, one of the waterfalls recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide.  Actually, the guide’s information about access appears to be B.S.  They say that the trail begins behind the apartment blocks in the village of El Chorrito.  That can’t be right because that would put a hiker on the wrong side of the Río El Colín.  From the general map of the area that I saw yesterday at the national park visitor’s center, it looks like I need to follow the trail behind Rancho Bee Hole (the one I took on Monday afternoon).

So I head down that same trail/primitive road and at the top of the hill beyond where the trail skirts El Colín, there is a trail heading off to the left in the direction of the falls or so I think.  I follow the trail through a gate, then along a ridge.  In the valley on my left is El Colín and in the valley on my right is what I assume to be the Rio Carbarí below the confluence of the two rivers.  The trail descends to the left.  This must be it.  But when I get to the bottom, I find El Colín lazily meandering along the valley and no falls.  Hmmm.

Out of nowhere, on the opposite bank of El Colín a farmer appears.  He wonders what I’m looking for.  I explain.  No, the Vegas Grande is further down the road I was following.  Now I realize that the river I saw on the right as I was walking along the ridge was still El Colín which makes a loop around the ridge.  It sure is a challenge finding your way in this terrain when you don’t have a good map or a guide.  The farmer leads me back to the road and points to the left.  Sure enough, a couple hundred meters down the road, I see a sign which indicates that the trail to the falls is 500 meters ahead.

In a few minutes, I arrive at a developed park area which I had not anticipated.  Shit, there is a booth and a young Cuban guy wants my ticket.  I explain the situation including my discussion at the information center yesterday.  No dice, so I plead.  He calls the park office.  Tells the guy on the other end of the line that I speak Spanish and hands me the phone.  I repeat the story and add that I’m staying at Rancho Bee Hole and walked all the way here, and you’re telling me I can’t see the falls!  He gives me the same story about credit card payments but it sounds like I can see the falls, then go back to the information center and pay.  Then he talks on and I can’t catch what he’s saying so I say “No entiendo” (I don’t understand) and hand the phone back to the ticket taker.  He talks some more with the guy at the parks office, hangs up, and tells me I can go.  He shows me the route on a big map on a sign at the entrance. 

I can’t believe that after all this hassle, I’m going to actually be able to do the hike.  I’m not as much excited as simply relieved.  

The trail is a loop with a stem to a mirador (view point) and then to the falls.  It first goes through a big cave with no stream flowing through.  It’s maybe 150 meters long, open at both ends, and the “ceiling” is maybe 15 to 20 feet above – no need to duck my head and no stalactites or stalagmites.  I almost need a flashlight but there is just enough light to see the way through and any obstacles are obvious.

 

From the mirador, the trail heads down.  There are initially water bars across the trail but it soon steepens and becomes a series of switchbacks with an irregular rock surface resembling steps but wet and treacherous.  I take it slow and carefully and it seems to take forever to get to the bottom (maybe 45 minutes).  When I’m almost down, there is an opening in the trees and several hundred meters in front of me is a beautiful 2-ribboned waterfall.  Near the top it is one large ribbon, then it splits about ½ way down with one ribbon much larger than the other.  The falls are broken by several ledges during their descent and plunge into a large pool at the bottom.  When I get closer to the bottom of the rocky trail, the view improves and is stunning. 

For a few minutes, there is no one else there but my solitude is lost when a young couple comes up behind me.  Soon two more young couples arrive with an English-speaking Cuban guide.  The people appear to all be Europeans – probably Germans from the sound of their accents.  The couples all continue to the edge of the pool.  I decide that the trail to the pool is so rough and the view so good from where I am, that I don’t follow them.  Besides they are very chatty – let them continue their noisy party without me.  One of the women is wearing a two piece bathing suit so skimpy that I think at first it’s her underwear – WOW!

I follow a path to a view point a bit further to the west and now see that the falls actually start even higher than first appeared.  The total drop must be close to 100 meters.  I can’t see the river below me very well but it looks like steep, rocky rapids.  The sound of the falls and rapids is not a “roar” but a loud splashing.  The 20 to 30 minutes spent here feels like the highlight of my Cuban trip.

I’m not looking forward to the steep hike back up the trail but actually it’s not that bad aerobically and is technically easier than the descent.  I get back to the top in 30 minutes but am humiliated as one of the young couples glides past me along the way as if I’m a slow old man which I suppose I am but I hate to admit it to myself.  I’m drenched in sweat – interesting, because I hardly sweat at all when I hike steep trails in the dry air of Colorado or Utah.

As I arrive back at the trail head where I had to deal with the ticket-taker, there are a number of tourists young and old starting the hike (most appear to be Europeans).  There is one group of 22 people with a guide.  I suspect they came part way here by tour bus from the large government hotels near the park information center.  I’m glad to have gotten an early start.  I get back to Rancho Bee Hole about 40 minutes later for lunch than I had planned.  Three women (German, I assume), two of whom were the ones I ran into at the falls, are having lunch at the rancho.  They aren’t staying here.

Pedro Antonio and Carlos at Rancho Bee Hole don’t seem to be aware of the credit card problems for American travelers.  I doubt they have many American guests.  Carlos walks with me over to the main road and helps me find a ride with a 60-something Cuban man driving an old Russian Lada.  For $5.00, he will take me to the Information Center where I hope to be able to work something out about tickets including paying for my hike to the falls this morning.  The driver will then take me another mile to the trailhead for the Sendero La Batata which leads to a small cave with an underground river (I’ll need a ticket for the hike).  I also want to get a ticket to hike to the Salto Carabí tomorrow morning.  This falls is higher than the Vegas Grande. 

The driver waits while I go into the information center.  Unfortunately, the two people I spoke with yesterday about the ticket problem are not there today.  A different employee gives me the same story about paying by credit card and he won’t budge.  I ask if I can see his boss.  No he’s at lunch.  I tell him I was told this morning to come here to pay for this morning’s hike.  I show him a wad of dollars and pesos thinking maybe the color of money will change his mind.  No go – he can’t accept my cash.  What a cluster fuck!

I go back to the car and tell the driver he should just leave me here.  I will talk to the supervisor when he gets back from lunch.  Just then, the guy I just spoke with comes out of the information center.  It’s hard to catch all of what he’s saying but he has apparently talked with his boss who gave him an emphatic NO.  What if my Cuban driver pays for me with his credit card and I reimburse him in cash.  Nope – foreigners must pay with a foreign credit card.  This is hopeless.  No La Batata and no Salto Carabí for me.  Well, is there anywhere else I can hike close by that does not require a ticket?  Yes, I can go for a short hike through coffee trees near the Museo del Café.  I ask the driver to drop me there.  He starts off but his car stalls every time he stops.  As we make the turn just ahead of the information center, we pass a drab, soulless, multi-story hotel where the European, Canadians, other non-US foreigners, and well-off Cubans stay.

The driver drops me off at the museo.  The walk through the coffee grove is a big nothing.  There aren’t even any signs identifying the different types of coffee trees.  I look at the map that Carlos drew for me.  It looks like the Plaza de las Memorias where the La Batata trail starts is a few 100 meters down the road.  Maybe I can sneak around the trail head.

I walk into the small plaza and see a sign pointing to the trailhead.  However, before I can turn around and look for detour around the plaza, an old employee asks me if I have a ticket.  Fucked again!  I tell him the story.  No, I can’t go to the cave but he can show me the various species of trees and flowers along the trail.  Might as well – not much else to do.  The old fellow, named Pule, knows his trees and plants quite well.  He speaks very clearly and repeats the names of trees and flowers several times.  He tells me a little about each species including their uses while I take photos and notes.  After walking about ½ mile, we wind up at another road which in mentioned in the Lonely Planet hike description and is shown on Carlos’s map.  Now I see where the trail to the cave continues on the other side of the road.  I could get to the trail on this road avoiding the ticket taker at the plaza.

When we get back to the trailhead, I give the old ticket-taker a small tip which he seems to appreciate.  He recommends I try an herbal tea infusion in the small café in the plaza.  A woman brings me a cup with a sweetener (honey?)  It’s very good.  After finishing it, I ask the woman, “¿Cuánto le debo?”  (How much do I owe you?)  “Dos pesos.”  I must have heard wrong.  “¿Dos pesos?”  “Sí.”  I hand her two one-peso bills which are worth less than one U.S. penny each.  She accepts them – I’m astonished that the price of the tea was less than two U.S. cents.  So, I leave her some extra bills under the cup.  The café has a display on several walls of slices of tree trunks of several hundred local species.  It’s a testimony to the rich diversity of this tropical forest.

I continue down the road for the two mile walk back to Ranch Bee Hole.  At the bottom of the first hill is an attractive restaurant named La Represa (The Dam).  There is a small dam next to the restaurant and a trail through the forest across on the other side of the stream.  I follow the trail which leads up to the road that would take me back to the Sendero La Batata where I could avoid the ticket taker.  Naa, I’m hot and tired and don’t want to risk getting caught without a ticket.  I’ve fought enough battles for one day.  Thus, I head back to Rancho Bee Hole and another great dinner.             

© Will Mahoney 2022

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