White River
This is the place that motivated me to undertake the project.
One year ago today, we decided to make an expedition to the white river to look for the great cataract that Pablo had told us about for the first time through his low resolution nokia cell phone ... "She's the tallest in here!"
I always return to this mountain, I love to go and see her. I even visit her alone!
It was extremely difficult to contact Pablo, "the man from the mountains". Pablo is a human being equivalent to Tarzan. He is able to survive in the forest for two days without food, without water or anywhere to sleep. He is extremely tough, never feeling cold or scared. He leaves with his machete from his house and always returns home. In the village he is famous and respected for his knowledge of the ancient routes that cross the dense jungle of Braulio Carrillo. This man guards the secrets of the carrillo and the old route to Turrialba. He is the person who teaches me all that I now know to help me survive the nights in the rugged jungles. Pablo remains a key element of motivation to my project.
Pablo is my baquiano in white river. The rains had changed the landscape which makes access difficult, but after four and a half hours of trekking, I arrived at the waterfall. I am accompanied by Giancarlo, Felipe, Natalia, María, and Laura. We forged a great friendship of teamwork.
After a year, I returned to this magical place, this time it was only Roberto, Luna and I. As always the walk was exhausting. We hiked with thirty kilos of food and equipment weight on our backs. We passed a pair of toucans, a snake and beautiful landscapes of crystalline pools before we finally reached our destination.
We set up camp, installed the production equipment and all had time to explore the waterfall before we fell asleep within the waterfall under the incandescent light of the moon.
It's something special to be there at 4:30 pm. Thousands of birds live in the waterfall! At this time they all return though the cloudy morning light to their nests iand burst into a celebration of songs.
"There are times when you can not take photos," says Roberto.
I hold my camera on my forearm and observe through the lenses of my eyes the Braulio Carrillo's forest at its very best.
"LUNA!" Roberto and I shouted. "LUNA, IT'S BECOMING DARK!" ...there's no answer. I hurry, grab my machete and begin my search for Luna. Roberto and I are very worried about the fact that it is getting dark and there are many snakes in the river. After forty five minutes, we finally find her.
"Luna ... what are you doing?!"
...we found her on the bank of the river, cast in a trance as she gazed at the mountain, watching the monkeys and birds perform their show. Her smile was contagious and we laughed.
Night fell and it did not stop raining, absolutely everything was wet, the equipment, the clothes and the food. The night was long and cold by the wind of the waterfall, but its sound was amazing. In the night, the forest comes alive and you can hear very loud exactly how dense the jungle is in Costa Rica.
We woke up to watch the sunrise from the waterfall, it was breathtaking. We had breakfast and departed. We were the first to sleep in that waterfall, the locals now hold great respect for us, and we, likewise, for them and this mountain.
No matter how long the night is, there is always a great sunrise.