In Which Amalia And Chelsea Go Swimming, Are Right, And Arrive For The Tour.

We left the hostel at nine and spent the morning swimming in a waterfall. 

The Spanish word for 'waterfall' is catarata, which is fun to say.

The first was enormous. I climbed into the spray and it felt like I was being thumped in the head with heavy pillows.

We got confused and the Canadian boys moved slowly, so it was a while before we made it to the second, smaller waterfall. Off of which we wanted to jump.

I asked a swimming man how to jump it, and he said he didn't know, but a boy nearby seemed to. We asked for his help. Actually, what we said was,

Tu primero.

Darling Juan is probably 14. 

He swam Chelsea and I to the base of the falls (boys were still onshore, drinking and pretending they weren't nervous about jumping).

Juan climbed and helped pull me up. Chelsea decided to wait a while.

Juan and I jumped from low, then a little higher, but when I asked about the top, he said,

Es peligrosa.

He looked scared. 

The Canadians swam out and immediately stormed the top rocks. Juan hesitantly followed.

They jumped.

I jumped.

Finally, with much trepidation, Juan jumped.

We cheered, and he grinned.

Later, we saw him with the man from earlier.

Es tu papa?

Silence. A confused nod from the father.

Chelsea said,

Wait. I think you just called that man a potato.

And indeed, I had.

The final stop of the day was Ocotal Beach, black sand bordering the Pacific. Renowned sunset views. Long, long car ride. 

In the end, there were too many clouds to see the sun. I went for a walk along the beach. The sand felt like velvet. I played chicken with the waves.

When I came back to the group, a fight had broken out.

I'm just saying, no one needs to see a full-grown man in a tutu. 

Chelsea is a human rights activist and the Canadians were saying very stupid, illogical things. It was messy. Finally, Steve called a truce and we drove home in some kind of silence, the Montreal boys speaking rapid French in the front.

Later, on our bus ride to the eerily posh hotel where we meet our group tomorrow morning, Chelsea said,

I really didn't start it.

But I would have been proud if she had.

Tutus for everyone.