Spanish Steps Hike

Beautiful Spanish Steps Beach

Today, we hiked down to a lovely spot called Spanish Steps at the tip of Orote Peninsula, where the Spanish created a steep, cliff side trail to bring water from the well down in the jungle below. We drove from up the house, after my morning coffee with Kurt and Mary and raisin bran for breakfast, with the kids eating also.

After changing into my swimwear, I applied copious amounts of sunscreen on my person and await for the family to get ready to leave. After a false start, we were soon on the way, all of us crammed into the Acura MDX. It only was about a five minute drive to the trail enterance. There was a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean from the trailhead.

I really did not need the sign to know the path was STEEP!

Soon, the trail dropped so steeply that there was a rope that would run most of the hike down.  We grabbed onto rope and began cautiously making our way down the 30 meter descent into the jungle. It was slow going, as we had to be accurate in our footsteps and grab onto the rope with both hands so if we fell, we would would not plunge over the cliff.

It was worse than it looked!

Shortly, we made our way down a final steep ledge and down we went into the jungle, passing by the old Spanish Well. After seeing the Well, we continued through the lush rainforest, which looked exactly like rainforests in South America and Africa. After a ten minute hike, we made it to the beach and the ocean.

While we were there, we found a propeller blade.  It appears to be from either a Douglas SBD or a Japanese Zero.  That is not as odd as it seems, the Zero used a license built version of the same propeller the SBD used.  Sometimes a commercial success can come back to bite you like an eel.After examining the propellor for markings, we carefully returned it to the jungle

SBD or Zero?

We swam in the water for about an hour or so, relaxing in the nice warm water of the Pacific and swimming around. However, the fun came to an end, when an eel six inches long, white and spotted, came out of the water by Emerson.

Spotted eel, good for scaring girls (and me)

After Kurt and Mary confirmed Kristyna's eel tale, we got out of the water and prepared to hike up the steep precipice of the cliff back to our car.

At the top, we got in the car and headed home. When we arrived, a friend of Kurt's (Chris) who works with him came over and I was introduced to him. Then Kurt had the kids take naps, and as I type this, I am resting in my shared room, and Kristyna has gone to babysit possibly.

Jack

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