Yes I know I am a bit behind on part 2. What can I say except that I am extremely busy sitting at the pool and just being retired. It's hard work let me tell you! So back to Nessa and Benny......the visit is coming to a close and we are all trying to pretend we have all the time in the world but we know we don't. We decide to go to the waterfalls or Cascades as the locals call them. We got on a van with 6 other adults and a little girl and off we went for our next adventure. We drove on winding roads for a little over 2 hours and got to know our fellow passengers and driver along the way. The other folks were actually on their holiday or vacation as we call it. None of us had any idea what we were headed for. Vanessa saat next to the two Claudia's and their laughter rang throughout the van the whole trip. those were two of the happiest people I had ever seen. The road we traversed was quite interesting due to the recent rains. These are not paved roads but dirt and when it rains you have a road that suddenly has small valleys in it. Was it bumpy? Oh yes and then some. It seemed like we were out in the wilderness and yet at the same time every so often we would come to a town filled with houses, stores, schools and more. How could this be? We are in the jungle for heaven's sake. Yet here was proof that there were actual communities in the middle of nowhere. Yes with electricity, phones and cable T.V. Our driver Francisco was a very good guide and proved to be even more so once we reached the waterfalls. He would stop and show us different things along the way such as the coffee trees that were actually plantations but to us looked like they were growing wild. Finally we made it to our destination! Well I should say the parking lot. Now we hiked. Not far but it was uphill and a trek especially with a baby on your back. Well Dave's back. This is a very popular spot as we found out once we reached the pool area of the falls. Lots of tourists had already beat us there and were playing on the falls and in the water. There was a rope swing too. guess who went right to that? Nope not me but Dave was on it in a flash! You'll have to check out the photo gallery for more shots of that. Dave talked Ness into walking up the rocks beneath the falls to swing off them. She did but they weren't through yet. Francisco talked bth of them into walking up the rocks to the top of the falls where apparently another pool is. Not a biggee except I kept waiting for them to come down and swing off the rope like they did before. Made me a tad nervous when they didn't come back into view for over an hour. Finally they showed and I could breath. Of course while Benny and I were waiting for them all the Hispanic people loved to go by Benny and touch him. I think they thought he was made out of porcelin since his skin was so white! We left the falls and went down to the restaurant and had one of the most fabulous meals in Mexico that we have had. We had chicken mole, BBQ'd pork, rice, beans, fresh homemade tortillas and even tequila! Ok some of us had tequila. And we could eat as much as we wanted. Then we went and watched the coffee beans roasting before they took us to taste test the flavored tequila. Actually it is Mezcal which is the first distillation of the agave plant. Soome people think it is the rotgut tequila but I am not a tequila drrinker and I actually like it. They had cafe, fruit and coco. I tried them all....of course it was a quarter of a shot so not too much. We also bought fresh coffee to take home with us. Then we were off for our four wheeling trip home. Oh but wait we stopped along the way and tried bananan bread with hot chocolate, or sugary tortillas if you preferred. Needless to say this was money well spent. Since Nessa and Benny were going home in two days we decided that the next day will be a stay at home kind of day. Of course it was a great decision given the fact that Hurricane Carlotta was heading our way. Some of you may remember in our previous posts that we already had Bud, he landed way up north though. Dave and Nessa decided to jump in the car and head out by the water to see what they could see. (Nope no blind mice). The we were all just hanging out at the casa waiting, for what we weren't sure, when the electricity went out. Whoops no candles or flashlights. Dave jumped in the car and headed out in what was becoming quite the storm with the wind picking up and the rain stating to come down in buckets. We were a little worried while he was gone but he came back with candles and we were all safe and sound. He had seen trees coming down and people hanging in the grocrey store waiting for the downpour to let up so they cold get home too. The electricity came back on and Dave checked the weather only to find out that Carlotta wasn't landing where we were but further north. So no worries except would Nessa and Benny get out the next day? The airport (60 miles north os us) where they were leaving from was right in the path of Carlotta. We tried calling to find out but had to go through Whitelock Travel to get info on what was transpiring with the flights. For those of you that aren't familiar with that travel service it is my brother Kevin....he was awesome! Kept us updated that day and the next. So we decided to head out the next morning as they were telling us the airport was open. Dave even went to the bus terminal to see if the roads were open as Carlotta hit about 10 miles from the airport. They said it was a go. We all got up early and got in the car and headed out not knowing what to expect ahead of us. The roads were open but it was an obstacle course to the airport and as we got closer to the airport it got worse. Power lines and trees down all over the road making it a one lan road most of the way. This was nothing compared to the devastation of family homes alson the way and plantations of bananas and palms comletely razed to the ground. The hard thing to see was that these poor, and I mean poor, people had nothing to begin with to speak of and now they were left with nothing. It was a sad trip not only because Nesssa and Benny were leaving but nature had taken from those that shouldn't have been taken from. We got Nessa and Benny to the airport finally only to find out that the flight had been cancelled and they might or might not get on the 3pm flight. So we hung out waiting to see, part of us hoping that they didn't get on and the other part knowing that they needed to get home. 3pm and they got on the plane. :( Bye Nessa and Benny. It was a wonderful time had by all.