Words in Progress: February 2010

Paradise, part 1 of 6

A while ago the Tumbes crew met up and went on an awesome day hike to a little known laguna called Pozo Azul. This is their story....

They started up the day taking a bus into the wild. No road was needed as they trundled through streams, into the bush. The bus was blasting cumbia, everyone was bouncing up and down over the rocks and generally in good spirits.

Steve and I making our way across the stream

After an hours bus ride we could go no further and set out on foot. It was a beautiful day, and for the first time in a while, we were surrounded by green. It was a completely different world in comparison to the drab landscape of the coast. It was a three hour hike but I enjoyed every second of it. Our rations consisted of bread, mangoes, crackers, apples, and cheese. We should have brought more...

One of the interesting trees found here.

Laura Croft getting ready to kick some ass.

And so it was, after we had dropped our bags and put on our swimming / jurassic park trekking gear, we found ourselves hiking through the ravine.

Paradise, part 2 of 6

We set off hiking into one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

We were still at a loss for words at this point as to just how cool this place was. If Lord of the Rings is looking for another awesome, seemingly otherworldly place to shoot, look no further, this place is good for at least one scene. The freakishly large spiders that lined the slick rock walls were certainly an interestingly element to the trek. They definitely made you not want to slip and have to use a hand on the wall to balance your self.

Climbing over one of the obstacles using vines on the walls. That's right, we were climbing jungle vines...be jealous.

Paradise Found

After about an hours hike through the most beautiful nature imaginable we made it Pozo Azul. It is a laguna with a waterfall or cascada running in and a stream out of it. It is deep, about 15 to 20 ft as far as I could tell. The water was cool, but not cold.... refreshing

Me jumping in, graceful as ever.

Paradise, part 3 of 6

Taking a dip.

Climbing up the waterfall, sl
ipp
ery

Astounding photo! Pictured here is the never before seen Estebanicus Ridiculous in its natural habitat. As you can tell it is a happy and surprised little creature...