Esta Cali-ente: Things Were Going So Well

3 July 2016

We moved sites, deeper into the forest, today. It was about an hour-long trek ascending 2 peaks & descending into their corresponding canyons. It says something about the restoration of this cloud forest, now in its 15^th year of secondary forest growth (after being converted back from a cattle ranch, with some barbed wire still visible) that even as we passed over these peaks, you could see open sky and sunlight above you, but could not see through the trees (the vegetation has come back nicely on its own) to the horizon or to the river below, though you could hear it, which was nice. There are no vastly large trees yet (not enough time for their growth just yet) but the forest has rebounded back to a decent extent. And while the larger cloud forest animals have yet to really move in & repopulate the area (tapirs, spectacled bears, pumas, ocelots & sloths – though I’m told there are a few here somewhere, not that we’ll have the luck/opportunity to see any of them), the vast diversity of vegetation growth & the myriad of insects & birds is a good sign (though I could do without the diversity of parasitic invertebrates).

Sunrise over Valle del Cauca

View from cliff-top station

Station on the cliff

However, as we were descending into the second canyons to set up camp, we had to climb over a rather large, smooth, slick boulder. And if you can’t guess where I’m going with this, I fell off the cliff. Not sure how it happened but being smooth & wet, I was having a hard time finding my footing over the boulder (not that anyone else had problems, as I was the last one to cross & everyone else had made it over just fine) & lost (or never really had) my footing. I was lucky that Mario was on top of the boulder having just received the supplies I handed up to him & quickly grabbed my arm while I was frantically trying to find a hand hold on the rock. So Mario saved me. I’m not sure how far I would have fallen, as you couldn’t really see what was off the edge of the cliff other than more trees. I can only hope some vegetation would have broken my fall or that the canyon wasn’t that deep in that spot… But as it is, I was able to grab Mario’s hands in the melee & we slowly swung my lower half off to the side, where I was able to find a foothold on a tree limb & scramble back up onto the trail on the other side of the boulder. Of course the first thought that went through my mind was “well, shit”, quickly followed by “how is Mario going to be able to hold my weight, he’s half my size!” I really was concerned about pulling him over the edge with me but thankfully didn’t & all is well.

White-sided flowerpiercer

White-sided flowerpierce

Or almost. Other than nearly giving Mario a heart attack, I somehow twisted & slammed my left leg against the rock & seriously bruised it. I’m not sure what a bone bruise feels like but it was pretty hard to move my leg after that. But there’s bugger all I could do about it since we still had a ways to go to make it down to the camp, get everything set up for the next day & then climb back up over the 2 peaks (crossing the infamous boulder once again, albeit WAY more carefully) for the hour-long trek back to the station. Thank goodness I didn’t break anything because I would have been shit out of luck that far away & with only a first aid kit to hand. But it was a pretty brutal trek back to the station that night. Being muddy just made things worse as each time I would slip, my knee would get twisted in a different direction, immediately followed by a searing pain & English cuss words (oddly enough, the most English I’ve spoken here so far). But I hobbled & made it back to the station – not much else I could do – & proceeded to assess the damage. I can’t tell if I’ve torn anything on the inside, it definitely feels painful to the touch but that may just be a serious bruise. The knee is very stiff & hard to move in any direction but that may just be from the swelling. Sadly, ice is a luxury we don’t have here without electricity (though, I learned that if I leave my hand outside my sleeping bag long enough, I can use it as a temporary ice pack) but I did have some ibuprofen. So I took that & made my way into the shower, which turned out not to be the smartest idea. With my rickety knee shivering from the freezing cold water, I (perhaps expectedly) slipped in the shower & totally ate it – it was a full on body slam, slip & slide onto the soapy tile floor. Thank goodness I didn’t hit my head but I didn’t help my bruised knee any. Peeved at myself & beyond embarrassed, I quickly replied to my roommate’s inquiry through the door as to my safety by saying I was fine, I had just dropped the shampoo.