MD-20

El Charco

A visit to El Charco del Ingenio, Jardín Botánico y una Reserva Natural. We got a late start, and it was hot as we made our way there on a very bumpy drive. The stone roads are an endurance test. On the topic of stones, I suspect that no-one has kidney stones here - they would get shaken out before they could form.

I remember looking at a house for rent near El Charco online, it was lovely. I'm glad to put it into context. The houses up here are all big and beautiful, and its also way up on the hill. It's a steep climb. We passed a truly massive Jehovah’s Witnesses compound, and lots of giant houses with Sotheby's 'For Sale' signs.

We walked around a bit, it was baking hot, and we eventually split up, I wanted to see the conservatory up the hill, Arif was curious about the weir at the bottom of the presa. I had my shirt over my head for the sun as I made my way up. Coming into sight of the conservatory with workers tending the plants around it, I felt the first small drops of rain. The mixed sky suggested it might just pass us by...

I was wrong.

The rain grew and grew in strength to became an unbelievable deluge. The workers scrambled away and just in the nick of time, I made it into the conservatory. It was under repair and leaking like a sieve. I found a tiny section on the far side of the wind with one dry-ish spot to stick it out. Vertical torrents of water, thunder, lightning, hail. I couldn't go anywhere so I started filming. I was stying relatively dry - and I just hoped that Arif had also made it back to some shelter from the bottom of the hill where he had been headed – I had his rain jacket in my backpack, because it had been so hot.

I was wrong about that too.

He was trapped by the deluge in mid-walk and had tried to find shelter under come large cactus trees. As he told me after, he got completely soaked before giving up on that no-shelter sheltered spot and booking it up the hill in the full bloom of the rain and hail.

When the rain eased enough to head out , I made it to the entrance and found him there with a smile and beyond soaking wet. He had bought himself a t-shirt, and luckily I had some extra shorts and a pair of socks...

By the evening we were back to a beautiful sky as we went out for a tasty pizza at Napoli 39, in Independencia ...

Here's a video of the deluge

As always, thanks for reading and indulging!
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