5. El Soberbio Day 1

April 28, 2018

A new weekend, a new weekend getaway. With Pauline (from Jardín) and Luna (who is doing her volunteer year on a biodynamic farm in Ruiz de Montoya), we set off towards the Brazilian border. Originally, we only wanted to visit the Moconá waterfalls (the widest in the world), but then many beautiful things happened. Since Pauline had her camera with her and was snapping away, I will divide the weekend into 3 posts.

Through acquaintances of acquaintances, Luna had heard about a cultural festival that was happening in El Soberbio, the city near the waterfalls, on the same weekend. We decided to go there.

When we arrived, we walked along the Costañera with a view of Brazil (Image 2). Our contact person, who had told Luna about the festival, owns a biodynamic farm himself and had invited us to his home to rest. However, when we arrived, we only met his friends. Matias himself was not there, but we were welcome to sit on the terrace and relax. They were going to their purple house on the other side of the street and told us to let them know if we needed anything. They said this to us, 3 completely unknown girls. We gladly accepted this invitation (Images 3-8).

Matias had also recommended a hostel for us, 3 km outside of the city. We didn't understand why a hostel so far away would be recommended. But that changed immediately after we arrived. The 'Buena Vista' hostel ('beautiful view') consisted of small wooden cabins, was located on a mountain in the middle of the jungle, and actually had a very buena vista of the river that meandered through the valley (Image 1). The hostel owner told us that we could hike down to the river and swim in it. So we made our way through the greenery. I will not forget the images that greeted us when we arrived down there. Swimming in this river, with the jungle shooting up into the sky on both sides of you, while the sun slowly sets, was a dreamlike, completely surreal feeling (Images 9-14).

We ended this day cooking, singing, and strumming the ukulele in the hostel kitchen (Images 14,15).