Let's go see a water fall!

Before we moved to the island we talked about hiking. We bought the kids backpacks so they could carry their own water and we bought them sturdy sandals so that their feet would be safe. When we arrived on the island Ben asked when we were going to go hiking. For a mother of 5 small children it was a little overwhelming to think about taking them all on a hike into the rain forest. Luckily, the university offers free trips at the beginning of each semester so that people can see some of the island before classes start. I decided to take Marissa and Ben with me on the hike to Syndicate Falls. I had heard it was easy and I thought the kids would enjoy it.

Ben stayed with me as we hiked, really just walked, down the trail and crossed the river twice. We were the tail end of more than 150 people who had come to see the falls. He was very interested in the river and the trees around him. Due to the recent rain the ground was a little wet so we had to be careful when it got a little steep.




Marissa was off with some friends. It wasn't until the first river crossing that I noticed she had moved up the line and made friends with a male student. I hollered up to them and made sure he was watching over her. She had so much fun just walking with him. She loved the water and I'm sure the student was very challenged to keep her with him.


As we made our way toward the waterfall the people who had already seen it were coming back. Unfortunately the path really wasn't wide enough for two-way traffic so it became a little more difficult. By the time Ben and I got to the falls everyone else had turned around and were heading back to the buses (some people were probably already sitting and waiting in the air conditioning). Marissa was headed back but came upon us and wanted to go back to the falls so we were able to get a couple, not so great, pictures together.

The fence is there because you can't actually swim in the pool of this particular fall. There are some that you can swim in and I hope to make it to those while we are here. I'm hoping that we can go as a family during the breaks so that I will have Kevin's help with the kids to hike and swim and enjoy the beautiful island.