Some lovely places in Galipán

I've already told you a little about my getaway to Galipán two weekends ago, in which the first part of the excursion was to hike up to the Picacho de Galipán to marvel at the view from that rocky promontory. A place that fills you with positive vibes.

But Galipán is a small village spread on one of the slopes of the Avila that overlooks the Caribbean Sea, and It has many more places to visit. So let me share with you what we visited that day in the rest of the excursion.

After the hike to the Picacho, we walked back to the area known as Boca de Tigre, where the 4x4 that had taken us there was waiting for us to continue our route.

In Boca de Tigre, there are several food stalls. Also, we could not miss a stall of flowers grown in Galipán.

From there, we went to an area known as San José de Galipán. We stopped to refresh ourselves and eat something at a small rural restaurant called El Rincon de La Cascada.

Once we had regained our strength, the next step from this place was a 15-minute walk to visit the natural pools of San José de Galipán.

After a narrow path that was a bit slippery at some points, we arrived at the natural pools. There were people there taking a dip.

There were two pools separated by a rockfall. The first one, we learned is called the Men's pool, and the second one is the women's pool. The names are because in the old days, when the town of San Jose de Galipan was established, the society was very conservative, and women were not allowed to bathe with men.

I tried to take a dip, but I didn't get past my waist 😂 The water was freezing. And it started to drizzle.

As it was drizzling and we still wanted to visit a waterfall, we went back to the trail. This small stretch took us along the same trail we took to get there but we took a small detour. It was the most difficult stretch I walked in the whole excursion. I decided to do it with water shoes, so as not to waste time changing my shoes. I don't recommend it, I won't say more 🤣

But I did arrive at La Batea waterfall. It is beautiful and impressive.

The waterfall goes down the rocks that seem to be carved as if they were huge steps.

Here after an attempt to get closer to the waterfall and a slight slip, I decided that this was as close as I would get. At this point, suddenly started to rain a little harder.

So we walked back to the restaurant to change our clothes.

But the river was increasing its flow because of the rain.

We had to wait as we could not cross to where the 4x4 was parked. But at the end, the vehicle crossed the river to pick us up and continue with the last stage of the excursion. But before leaving, I took a picture of that vintage typewriter they had on the bar of the restaurant that I thought was very cool.

The next place we visited offered us an incredible view of the Picacho de Galipan at sunset.

It was like the house of my dreams. And we went there because the people who live in the house, also have a small artisan chocolate business called Chocolate Picacho.

The garden was also beautiful.

And of course, they offered us their products and a chocolate tasting. I only bought dark chocolate with more than 70% cocoa for my husband because of the diet we have at home.

We lingered for a while taking pictures of the incredible view of the Picacho and the sunset and soaking up some more of the mountain's energy before returning to the road.

One last stop in Boca de Tigre for a hot chocolate that we bought at a small stand called Sabores de Galipan. By that time the temperature had dropped. And then back to the city.

A pleasant excursion that I would love to repeat with the husband next time.

Thank you for reading.

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