Life: Idiotropic

Sometimes advice isn't specific enough, but then there's Google maps.

A couple months ago I heard about the beautiful waterfall at Navajas where young couples like to go to swim, so early this summer I tried to find it.  Navajas isn't far away.  It's just a small town 30 minutes up the highway past Segorbe.

The town itself is really pretty with unusually palacial homes for a town its size, so I wonder what the history is.   It was Moorish before 1238, but so were all the towns in this area up to that time.  It is known for the river that runs around it and many wealthy Valencians have built their summer homes there, so those might account for some of them.

Our first attempt put us west of the town where the water was pretty, but irregular in depth and not safe to play in for my little ones.  Today we found it... the "Salto de los Novios" or Lover's Waterfall not because I'm particularly brilliant, but because I looked up another town on Google Maps and accidentally checked the box that overlayed geotagged photos from Picassa albums onto the map.  It was amazing. Instead of looking at a simple map, now I was looking at thumbnail photos of exactly what I'd find there.

I scrolled down to Navajas and found the waterfall.  Beautiful.  So today, knowing now exactly where to find it, we headed into town.

We could have stopped at the parking spot overlooking the river at the end of the roundabout, but my driver decided to take the two-way "horse and buggy" road down the beginning of the trail while I prayed that no one would be coming up the road in that moment because there was clearly no room for two.

The trail begins along the soft red rock cliffs with caves in the sides and a fountain at the base where the water comes out and makes a short falls into the river there meeting with the other part of the river at the bridge and following it down.

The path itself is extremely well groomed - an easy one for young and old, so the girls enjoyed skipping on it.  The water is cold and crystal clear.  Just past the bridge large flat white stones  jut out into the river making platforms for people to stand on and a narrow path for the water to push through.  There it pools into a large calmer place with the waterfall in the background.

A smaller bridge crosses again to an area with large built in lights.  They look like concert lights.  From there you can see more on the hill, so they must have concerts or events of some kind there.

Families filled the large grassy area.  There are a few picnic tables, but most sat on blanket and threw balls to tiny dogs.  My girls ran across the bridge, climbed on a rock, and nearly slipped into the water. 

We followed the trail for a while.  I'd hoped that it would hug the river and give us more photos ops for pretty water and dramatic falls, but it didn't.  We heard the water, but could only get small glimpses of it.  The rock formations there were stunning though, so we found ourselves touching the rocks and discussing how they might have formed that way.  We found crystaline structures and hard white veins through the cliffs, perfectly striped areas with differing textures and colors, shards that looked like California's Devil's Postpile and some that could have inspired the Alhambra's ceilings.  Luci reached up to touch a white smooth rock.  It looked rounded.  She pulled her hand away covered in soft white powder.

We found an old bridge, some interesting trees, and a grove of bamboo.  I found a grasshopper and a butterfly, so I was happy.  Bugs are cool.

We let the girls play in the shallow water with their Barbies before heading home.  A few Spanish kids came and played with them.  They all spoke Spanish together.  I wasn't listening, but they were able to communicate.  That makes me happy.