10 Years, 12 Nights, 6 Hotels, ONE LOVE - April 2012 Trip Report

[Hubby-man]

Trip Report Continued...

A few half consumed subway sandwiches rolled lazily back and forth between feet and luggage on the floor of the bus. Since the last stop it had gotten sort of quiet. I think a few turtles had nodded off a bit, happily digesting a belly-full of rum cream and red stripes.

The scenery had changed. Majestic mountains surrounded us on all sides, as we rode through a lush narrow valley. Holding hands, Daisy and I gazed out the window becoming one with the view.

Half dazed I felt like the landscape was chanting a thousand-year old melody to me. Big oak-like trees stood at the center of each parceled meadow, their thick branches reaching out far from their trunks. Each tree in turn seemed to carry a forest of its own, smaller species sprouting roots in the furrows of its branches, while horses grazed in their shadow.

The bus rolled to a stop at the side of the road.

“We are here! Ho, ho, ho! Get out!” Chicken’s voice boomed.

A few of us (like Marley) were ready to go, while the majority awoke slowly, like toddlers after a nap: stretching, yawning, a bit cranky and drooling. It took me a moment to re-orient myself.



The entrance building to YS-Falls had a distinctly American ambience: cash registers, roped lines and lots of touristy junk for sale. We must have looked like the mangled tourist groups that get dropped off at the Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco after a three hour visit to Yosemite, confused as to how the beautiful scenery had mutated into a Hard Rock Café.

Groggy turtles are harder to move than fresh ones, so we had time to smoke several cigarettes in front of the ticket counter, which brought some life back in to me. Finally we rounded the building, where we were loaded into tractor drawn carts.

The rumbly ride, slower than a tired turtle, seemed to wind endlessly through the once again majestic landscape and terminated at a little platform in a the middle of village of changing rooms and shower houses.





We gathered around a picnic table and The mood was rising. The crowd became happy, loud and rowdy once again.



One after the other we changed into bathing trunks and bikinis and set out towards the path to the actual falls.