The Bull, the Backhoe, and the River
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| Photo Credit: Bernard Dupont I did not get a photo of the bull in the river. |
The other day, we received an urgent message through Mario that an escaped bull was staked out by the river. We were told he was very aggressive towards humans and advised not to go to the river. If we did encounter him, we were told to lie down and not move—and, most importantly, not to run, because he would charge after you!
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| Bull Poop |
Apparently, the bull had escaped from a farm many kilometers away. We were told he was living in the bat cave next to the river. A day later, we were asked to leave our gate unlocked because men were coming to capture the bull. I got the camera out and waited for the excitement; however, nothing happened. Three men did go to retrieve the bull, but they were unsuccessful.
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| Looking down river from the bat cave. |
The big question in my mind was: How did he get down to that part of the river? Did he travel through the river and through the narrow gorge at the waterfall? The bigger question was, how were they going to get him out? I couldn't imagine them dragging him up the gorge at the waterfall. Downriver, at Buddha Head Falls, there are huge boulders the bull would have to somehow navigate, which I thought was impossible. They could try taking him up our shortcut trail to the river, but there are parts of it that are almost vertical and narrow. Again I didn't think this would work.
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| The Waterfall |
A few more days passed with no message about the escaped bull. The weekend passed with no word. On Monday, I heard someone whistling in the river, whistling as if giving commands. The next day, we learned they had managed to get the bull out with the use of a backhoe. I could barely imagine how a backhoe was used. Did it actually go down to the river? I had to go investigate.
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| Narrow gorge to the left of the waterfall. |
Smiley sensed an excellent adventure was about to happen. Her enthusiasm was broadcast across the street, and Copanita appeared. I decided to take a small point-and-shoot camera, which made the trip easier for me. We took the shortcut trail to the river, and I immediately found a few hoof prints. More prints were found on the way to the bat cave.
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| Bat Cave |
I entered the bat cave, expecting to find a lot of prints and some poop, but I found no evidence of the bull having gone into the cave. We walked more up river, and I found the trail the men used to get the bull out. A backhoe had not come down to the river. I imagine they walked the bull up the steep trail, and the backhoe was waiting at the top with a rope to help navigate the final, very steep part. I also think this was the way the bull accessed the river in the first place.
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| Rio Viejo, Puriscal |
I continued to the waterfall and observed all the changes since the last time I was there. The swimming hole at the foot of the waterfall was still filled in with sand and rocks. It's the middle of the dry season now, and both the waterfall and river were low. The vegetation was also showing the effects of less rain. I did not see where the bull was eating during the week he was there. I bet he was getting hungry and lonely.
Here's a compilation of videos I took while on the exploration.
