Day 20: She'll carry on through it all (Ometepe)

I don't know about you, but I love a bit of self-flagellation on my birthday, so what better way to celebrate turning 32 than with a big old hike.

Destination: The 40m high San Ramon waterfall which is tucked away in the hills below Maderas volcano on Ometepe.

Distance: 10 mile round trip from my little home at Finca Mystica. I'd like to point out that 2.5 of those miles were up an incredibly steep incline covered in loose rocks which, as signs kept informing me, I hiked at my own risk. I know, I'm a badass.

I started out pretty early and arrived at the beginning of waterfall trail at 9am. It's $3 to enter - and you know what they say, the best things in life are three (I can hear you groaning from here)!

In hindsight this was a great move as 1) I had the trail pretty much to myself and 2) starting early meant I had about an hour of cooler temperatures at the start (a positively freezing 25 degrees!)

It took me just over two hours to drag myself the 2.5 miles to the top of the trail. I did lose faith at one point that there actually was a waterfall.

I'm also slightly concerned I became delusional as I could have sworn I kept hearing water gushing when in hindsight I was nowhere near the damn thing - worrying!

My inspiration came from George who I met on the trail. He was 86 and hiking with his daughter and son-in-law. Apparently whenever they gently suggested to him that they turn back he said: "I've been walking for 85 years, why would I stop now?" #gogeorge

As I scrambled over boulders, limbo-ed under fallen trees and skipped and slipped over the rocks, I began to furiously check my Fitbit for the length I'd walked believing the 2.5 miles I'd been told was an evil lie to tourists.

Then finally, finally, finally, it came into view, and what a view. Framed by blue skies, water came gushing down the hillside and into a small pool at the bottom.

By this time, there was one couple already there and a gang of Americans turned up just after I arrived. I couldn't wait to get under the water and whipped my hiking shoes, leggings and t-shirt off as quickly as an exhausted person can do while balancing on a mound of tiny rocks.

I made my way into the pool (it was not a graceful entrance) and stuck my sweaty, pink face under the gushing water as soon as humanely possibly. In the end it was less Herbal Essences advert, more 'dear God, have I lost my contact lens?' but still amazing,

I walked up a little rocky hill to get a better view, but as I'd temporarily swapped hiking shoes for flip flops, I ended up slipping and falling quite spectacularly on my arse, right next to this incredibly hot American guy.

Him: "Jeez, you ok?"
Me: "Yeah... this is just...what I do."
Him: "..."
Me: "So, have you been to Somoto Canyon yet?"

I think I styled it out.

I should say here that 86-year-old George made it to the top and the first thing he did was sit down and light up a smoke. He told me later he started smoking behind the barn when he was 12. What a dude.

On the way back down I met loads of people coming up and was happy to see that being a sweaty hot mess was par for the course. I became a little speaking clock, telling people, 'just ten minutes more' etc.

When it got to 30 minutes, people started to look sad, so at that point I just offered motivational platitudes like 'keep going, it's worth it!' to people who looked like they wanted to punch me - a woman walking up there in flip flops (crazy!) definitely looked ready to punch someone.

It was just over two hours to get up and getting down took another 1.5 hours because I was terrified for my ankles. By the time I made it down the sun was on full blast and I still had a 40 minute walk back to Finca Mystica.

I'd taken two litres of water but it ran out at the end of the waterfall trail, so I shloped back home like some scabby looking vagrant, scowling at the people who past me on mopeds and quads.

The last ten minutes of the trail back to the farm is up hill for about half a mile. By this point it was 2.30pm and I'd been on the go for six hours.

To steel myself for the last little bit, I sat under a shady tree by the lake. I even considered drinking the lake water (seriously, I was that thirsty!) but was glad I decided against it when I saw a swarm of flies buzzing around the surface about a metre away (grim).

I was so exhausted I had to have a word with myself, checking my Fitbit, I told myself: "Come on bitch, get up and in ten minutes you can have a Coke."

When I made it back, that Coke tasted like nectar from the Gods I can tell you.

So music lovers reading this may have realised that I borrowed the title of this blog from the Stone Roses' song Waterfall. Here's some more, which I think sums up my solo adventure pretty well:

'Now you're at the wheel / Tell me how does it feel?'

It feels pretty damn good.