Snapshot: Terrero Colorado

This past Tuesday Jean, Jamie, and I stayed overnight in an aldea called Terrero Colorado. We have been visiting weekly the same family in Terrero, and I’ve really taken a liking to the people there and the gorgeous views that surround the aldea (it’s up in the mountains). We decided to stay overnight so we would have plenty of time to hike up and explore the mountains in the early morning, before it got too hot. That night we slept four people in a queen sized bed (pretty standard), but despite the crowd I slept so well in the pitch black night. There is no electricity in Terrero so it was not only one of the darkest places I’ve been but also had the best stars ever. Anyway, the next morning we awoke early to climb the mountain with the 80 year old grandfather as our guide. There was barely a trail through the woods in some places, but luckily he brought his machete to blaze a path. After about 1 ½ hours walking up and down hills, we reached a small natural pool. Unfortunately no waterfall and it wasn’t deep enough to cliff jump into but it was still really fun to play around in the water among the rocks and forest. After that we hiked another half hour to find a hidden cave. All over the walls were drawings and art from centuries upon centuries ago by the indigenous people of the region. Jamie had seen a special on Discovery channel about the indigenous art of Central America, and it highlighted the practice of chewing petals or the whatever the dye was made of and then spitting it at walls as the person held his hand up, thus making a hand print on the wall. There were so many of those, it was so awesome! I’m having such a great time getting to know the people here, and am so grateful that they are willing to share their lives, not to mention hidden pools and cave with us.

Our leader:



The cave drawings:



The view: