Dan’s Place

Dan came to the Columbus School 18 years ago with intentions to stay for 2 years. Before he knew it, he had purchased 162 acres of mountainside at $4000/acre and began work on his dream home, based on sketches he had done in high school. Yesterday, we visited Dan.

Dan called us yesterday around 9:00 and asked if we could be at his house by 10:30 (one hour earlier than we had scheduled). Sure! we said. We walked to a friend’s house and called a couple of taxis to drive the eight of us (and Henley the dog!) up the mountain.

Dan said we should make sure, once we got to the round-about right after school, to take the right exit towards El Riotero, and stop right before the peaje (toll booth). He would meet us at the restaurant on the other side of the toll booth. (So we wouldn’t have to pay extra for the taxi). During the 25 minute ride we were engaged in great conversation getting to know our new friends. When we got to the toll booth we jumped out (leaving our change of clothes in the cab) and started walking through the toll. After about five minutes we all stopped and started to wonder, where is the restaurant? It was then we realized we had missed the turn and had gone 6 miles up the mountain towards the airport in the opposite direction of El Riotero. The good news: we got to walk through the flower country we missed seeing earlier. Beautiful! The bad news: we had to walk six miles down a mountain highway with narrow shoulders and insane drivers. Yikes!

Dan, not surprisingly, was not at the restaurant when we arrived at 12:00. Fortunately, it only takes one gringo to attract a crowd, and we had 8. We heard a shout from across the parking lot and saw a youngish security guard waving at us, asking, “?Amigos Daniel?” Ha, as if there was any doubt.

Dan, the security guard said, had left only 15 minutes before. We dug up Dan’s phone number and a few minutes later he pulled into the parking lot. Heather, Henley, Susan, and I were the first to be ferried to Dan’s finca (roughly translated, a farm or country estate). After pulling off the main road, we traveled up a windy, single lane, just paved road. The plans were to meet 4 others at his house and then go on a hike through his property. Of course, we were a touch late, so the others had started without us. So Dan drove us past his house and pointed out the particulars. Built on a hillside overlooking a beautiful valley, the house is situated near natural springs and a small river-carved canyon. Dan rents his main house out to teachers, and spends his weeknights at an apartment in the city, which is more convenient for night classes he teaches at a local university. On the weekends he stays in a small studio cabin he has built alongside the river, which is reached by following a cobblestone path along natural waterfalls and Dan-built catch basins. The cabin is windowed on 3 sides and has a covered patio on the roof, complete with built in fireplace/grill.

Dan had to run so that he could pick up the others still at the restaurant and make it back into town for a class. So, he sped us up the hill until we met with the 4 others who had started out earlier. This part of the hike was up the previously mentioned just paved road. We walked for 15 minutes or so before reaching a small riverside park with picnic tables nestled between small palm and pine trees. A short walk up the river revealed a magnificent 40 foot waterfall, which Dan refers to as the “baby falls.” We had plans for swimming, but cool temperatures and frigid water kept us dry.

Dan soon pulled up to the park with the others we had left at the restaurant. After a quick snack, we started walking back to the house and he got into his jeep to head into town. As he was pulling by, though, he jumped out again. “Hey, I want to show you this.” He pushed aside some bamboo planted at the side of the road, skirted through some dangerously spiny bushes, and pointed down into the valley. “That dark pool is at least 30 feet deep, and you can take this trail, cross on that rock there, and climb up the other side so you can jump off that cliff!” We started down the trail as Dan returned to his car. Seconds later, Dan’s voice calls behind us. “You know, if you keep heading down that trail, you’ll cross over a tiny bridge. Right after the bridge, look for a black water pipe on your left. Cross under the pipe, then stay right. Then you’ll get to the BIG waterfall.”

Dan wasn’t kidding. After a 30 minute walk, complete with wrong turns and confused looks, we were greeted with an amazing fall, easily ten times taller than the “baby”. With this grand view to the left and open valley to the right, we sat down and took in our fill.

Dan’s place is pretty cool.