Field Trip - "El Chorro de Giron" Waterfall

Dear Family and Friends,

My Spanish school, Estudio Sampere, took a field trip on Saturday to El Chorro de Giron. El Chorro de Giron means "The waterfall of Giron. Giron is located about 30 miles southwest of Cuenca. This beautiful waterfall is a day trip from Cuenca and is well worth the effort.

The school was kind enough to let Chuck join us in this trip since we are living here.

We were met at the school by a tourist van. The drive to the town of Giron was beautiful. We drove through the Yunguilla valley and the views were so nice.


Although we took the bypass and did not go into the town of Giron, I snapped this photo of a statue welcoming visitors to Giron.


The roads to Giron were in excellent condition. After we turned off to go to the waterfall, the roads were not very good. The van driver, however, was very experienced and all went well until we got to a very muddy part of the road and the driver pulled over and informed us that we would have to hike the rest of the way.

Luckily we were almost there, but the hike was uphill all the way. I lagged behind, going at my own pace. Eventually, we were all at the base of the waterfall.

Here is a picture of my classmates. They hiked to the top of the falls - approximately 230 feet high.


This is were they were heading....to the top of the falls.


Our teacher, Olympia, Chuck and I chose to only do the lower falls. It was still a climb but it was not too bad. The view was fantastic. It reminded me a little of Multnomah falls near Portland, Oregon.

We followed the trail up to get a closer look at the top of these lower falls.


After our adventure we went back to the restaurant and had lunch (trout) while waiting for the young people to return.

This is a typical trout meal in Ecuador.


We ate and drank beers and had a great time visiting while we were waiting.


According to the man who prepared our lunch, the rule of thumb is: "Your Spanish improves with each beer you consume."

We had a great time and highly recommend this trip if you are visiting Cuenca.

Love,
Nancy