Cascada

We have returned from Apoala, where we spent then night in a cabin and swam in a waterfall and hiked and hiked, past cows and goats and pomegranate trees that looked like red polka-dotted trees on the landscape. We also spelunked. Nana and Papa are here with us.

We drove through Nochixtlan and went to a mercado there, where there were firecrackers that kept surprising us and making us jump. Aviva hated it. She walked around covering her ears. We went another hour and a half on a bumpy dirt road to the town of Apoala where we had a little cabin to sleep in with bunkbeds. They told us that they'd serve breakfast at 8 in the morning, (and not before) and we could have a guide take us to the waterfall and the cave. The guide could take us, at 8:00. Hmmm. Another problem - when we got there at 8 the next morning, there was no one around. We knocked on doors and looked around... Finally around 8:30, the main ranchero guy biked along, smiling. We asked him what was the story with the time, because he'd said 8:00, and he showed us his watch, which said 7:30. The town of Apoala has their own time zone. They don't do daylight savings. 

So we saw some caves, and to get there we walked across a little stream thing and past goats and lots of fields of corn and beans and other things. We put on headlamps and had flashlights. Aviva was frightened but did pretty well and we saw a bat. Then we walked about 45 minutes or an hour, scrambling down stone steps and different paths, with our guide, to the waterfall area. It was beyond beautiful and empty except for us. We went into the water up to our knees but Josh jumped in. There was another pool nearby that our guide (11 year old Kevin) said is called Blue Lagoon.

On our drive back, on the bumpy road past the fields and villages, there was a goat on a leash, blocking the road. No person. Just the goat. Nana got out and shooed the goat away.