where our feet take us

Up and over - another stop, another walk

They promised us a great walk in Agua Verde. They talked about a cemetery, a beach, and cave paintings. We didn’t need much convincing.

Agua Verde had changed since our last visit. While still a laid-back village, the hazy heat of summer had been replaced with the energy that comes with milder, more comfortable air temperatures. We anchored in the northern bay, a short row to the beach. We could only see a hint of the town from this nook, and that was okay – this time around, we were more interested in following our friends Derrick and Trisha over the hill.

Crooked cemetary

There was a lot to see along the way. After the first hill, we stopped by a cemetery – noticing more wooden crosses than headstones. While a simple rock wall surrounded the small number of graves, it obviously hadn’t kept the water from rushing through during the post-hurricane Paul downpour. Everything was a little askew.

Hermit Crab going his way

When we continued on, we began to see more and more palm trees. I had never walked in a palm tree forest until that day. It was surprising to see their trunks twisting and curving around each other as they reached for the sun.

Eventually, we made it to the beach. There, we came across hermit crabs of all sizes – every beautiful shell Trisha picked up seemed to be home to one. They know good real estate, those crabs.

As we walked along the shoreline, we both noted that Derrick and Trisha have fine-tuned their beachcombing skill to an art; that was obvious. Multiple odd findings were admired or tossed. Derrick added a trolling lure to his collection and made a creepy new friend.

Seriously, his new buddy is creepy

We like HER a lot more!

As we neared the path inland, we left the two of them looking for treasures on the shore and hiked up to the caves. The scenery was vastly different there – tall grasses were interspersed with soft sand patches, and pretty field flowers shared the landscape with Tim Burton-esque trees. The buzzing of insects filled our ears and hundreds of grasshoppers shot in all directions each time we took a step.

View from the caves

On the way back down

Feeling "Tigger" happy!

Small and blurry, but
it's a bat!

Once in the caves, we tried to imagine people living here. The bats didn’t seem thrilled by our visit; we tried not to be too intrusive as we explored nooks and crannies and admired the view. This was a fun walk - well worth it. For a bit of history check out Diane's interesting information on the area.

Ancient handprints?

Directions:

Palm trees, palm trees everywhere!

Head for the narrow sand isthmus at the north of the bay; beach your dinghy out of the way of the pangas. Make your way to the base of the rocky hill on the left, you’ll see a trail that you can follow up and over – as you walk down the other side, you’ll eventually see a cemetery to your left.

Continue a little to the right on a sandy path, and ultimately you’ll find yourself in a palm tree “forest” – a path has been cleared, follow it toward the Sea. (When we were there, water came fairly far inland to our left – the joys of an autumn hike.) 



When you arrive at the beach, turn left and walk along the shore for about two miles.

As you near the end of the beach, look up toward the mountainside ahead, you’ll see two “eyes” – those are the caves.

Look for a sandy opening with a gnarly tree on the left (this can be a little confusing), there you will turn perpendicular to the beach and head inland about ¾ of a mile.

Aim for the base of an obvious ridge that inclines to the right, toward the “eyes”.

Heading toward the ridge

When we were there, there were grassy fields with shrubbery and trees scattered about. At the base of this ridge, you’ll find a rocky trail that will lead you to the caves on your right. Mind your footing on the steep side as you go up.  You’ll arrive at the caves fairly quickly; the climb is shorter than it appears. Between the two cave openings, you’ll see the cave paintings – ancient handprints (we're told) on the rocky wall. The view is fabulous from up there, and there are bats in the cave.

We loved all of it.