Little foot goes to the waterfall



View from the balcony in the main building of the Soltis Center



This morning was amazing! I woke up around 7:30 for breakfast, which of course included rice and beans just like every meal has, and after a short class lecture where we talked about what we were doing for these 2 weeks in the rainforest, we went on a hike to a waterfall! All of us got geared up in our zip-off pants, backpacks, and hiking boots and went on our first adventure through the rainforest. One of the directors of the Soltis Center lead us along with our professor down a 3.2 km trail (about 2 miles) through the forest. This definitely was not an easy hike by any means. The humidity here is about 100% at all times so as soon as I stepped out of my bungalo, I was already drenched with sweat... I guess I'm going to have to get used to that because it is 9:40 at night and it is still super humid. Our hike was on a small muddy trail that went up, down, around, and every other way you could imagine through all the plants and streams. On the way to the waterfall we surprisingly didn't see too many creatures. We saw poison dart frogs, a couple of lizards, and the normal flying bugs that get really annoying.

So... the name "little foot". This was a nickname given to me by one of the guys, Brandon. Him, me, and another guy (John) decided that we didn't want to hike as fast as everyone else, so we took our time and fell pretty far behind the group. There was only one trail to take so we weren't afraid of getting lost, and we actually had a lot of fun going slow. We laughed the whole time and enjoyed all the scenery more than everyone else... at least that's what we kept telling ourselves. Brandon, being the funny character that he is, decided to tell me to hurry up by calling me "little foot". The name is kind of self explanatory. Obviously this was a short joke and it just stuck for the rest of the day because it made us laugh every time someone said it.

 

After over an hour of hiking we finally reached the waterfalls! There were two of them right next to each other and we walked up almost underneath them and took tons of pictures and had a grand ole time... for about 20 minutes. All of that hiking to be there for 20 mins and then we made the trek back. It was definitely worth it though and we plan on going back sometime.

I am definitely wishing that I had a pair of choccos for this trip or another pair of sandals that strap on to your feet. I've been wearing flip flops around the center and it would have been much more comfortable to have a good pair of walking sandals. I guess I'll have to remember that for the next big trip that I go on! After our hike we actually had to do a bunch of classwork womp womp. I'm still getting used to the whole waking up early and going to bed pretty early thing. We are pretty much on a 12 hour day/12 hour night schedule with the sun coming up around 5:40 and it starting to set just after 6. I absolutely love not having a watch though so I don't have to really worry about what time it is. It is now time for me to go try to magically rest my legs for tomorrow because as of right now, they are killing me. Maybe I should have ran a little more before I came here so that I could have been in better shape!

Until next time, watch out for the huge toads that wait for you on your front porch step!

~Little Foot