The magical stairs into the clouds...

In conjunction with another, very, busy weekend we finally climbed, as the kids call them, "the magical stairs". These stairs reside on the road from Tembagapura to Hidden Valley (from the lower town of the highlands to the upper town of the highlands). Theses stairs' purpose and intent is unknown but I do know they pleasantly feed the imaginations of my little angels' minds.
Blessed with amazingly, gorgeous weather, after a bumpy bus ride up, we walked down part of the road to get to the stairs with buses and mine equipment passing by. The stairs came into view and the kiddos were super excited yet a little nervous with the unknown adventure that was about to commence! We climbed over a tiny stream at the base and up we went. The stairs look like they came from a wicked movie. The slats of the stairs are made up of tiny 4x1s, unevenly spaced and unevenly placed side to side. They are nicely slicked with black, tar-like moss with one rope on the right side laced with invisible slime. We all became more aware of our balance and focus, Mason especially. The staircase tips, bends and climbs into an overgrown jungle full of singing birds and scurrying lizards- "Lizzie the Lizard" and "Frank" followed us all the way up.
Hannah bravely lead the way with immense confidence! She communicated the necessary navigations of the wooded route. Up and up we went until we came to a building. An old guard shack, we assume. Tattered with graffiti, litter, old clothes and a haunting essence of something not right, we moved on. Shortly up from the building is a random platform- a site-seer's paradise that overlooks the many peaks and waterfalls of the towering local mountains (thanks to good weather). A few pictures later Hannah took the lead once more.  
Very shortly an "uh-oh" was uttered by our fearless, little, leader- a large tree had fallen and destroyed our only path. Mike stepped up and ushered us over the obstacle and another tree was encountered, again with his help, it was safely succeeded by the Gines family.
Finally, we reached the beginning of the top of the staircase. A flatter area there was more evidence of the local villagers' existence. The grounds were flattened, groomed, an old burned-out fire pit of used wood lay quiet, trash, gloves and clothes- all empty and left behind. We finally made it up to the top and civilization came into view. Our jungle trip came to an end and we walked to our next adventure- a one year olds' birthday party. All just apart of living in the jungle. It was a great adventure!
It has been a fabulous weekend.