Today was simply amazing if you ask me...
Eric, Josh and I decided to be adventerous and go waterfall repelling, and I think that might have been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
The day started out at 7 am when we got picked up in the coolest vehicle EVER. Its a big quad-cab Chevy truck, but the bed of the truck is lined with a bench and is covered by a canvas, totally fun. So it was an hour drive to where we needed to be. It was quite a trek into the mountains. I think that I got my money´s worth on the car ride alone!! Once we really got back in to the mountains, we still had about half an hour to go. Ok, the roads in the mountains are NOT roads. They are mud trails. Sometimes, we were driving through shallow river, other times we were stalled, because workers were scooping mud out of the road so we could keep going, other times we decided to take on some rocks, and i thought I was going to fly out of the truck bed!! Eric and Josh decided to risk theirlives and stand on the back of the truck with our guide, I declined the offer.It was an adventure getting there, to say the least. It was one ride that I will never forget because of the sheer beauty. Everything was so perfect, untouched. It looked like it was all done by the bes landscaper money could buy, it was the defintion of beauty to me.
Once we got to the place, they had breakfast for us. Fresh pineapple, watermelon, and arepas (hispanic version of pancakes) overlooking a beautiful canyon is not a bad way to spend your morning! We geared up in our harnesses and helmets and set out to find some waterfalls. There is a bridge that we had to walk over that I was even scared on. Have you seen the movie Shrek? You know that bridge him and donkey have to walk over to get to the castle? Just like that. It went on forever and I was pretty sure that at any moment I was going to fall through, just like that. But I made it somehow. We had to walk a little further, but all the while, our guide was like the guy on the Man vs Wild TV show. He pulled Starfruit out of trees, citronella leaves galore, we ate the heart of a palm tree (i dont recommend!), we felt sandpaper leaves, ate some kind of leaf that tasted exactly like cinnamon, smelled a licorice leaf, smelled a Ben Gay leaf, and I am pretty sure there is more, but I cant remember them all!! Our 2 guides, Eric and José Manuel were an absolute blast. They were super funny and just a blast to be around, they seemed to know everything one would need to know about the forest. We arrived at a little waterfall and swam around in it for a little bit. We scaled 2 waterfalls, but the first one was a little one, even though I didn´t think it was too small at first!! That was the practice one, and when I made my way down to the big one, I think that I might have cried. It was straight down. All I could see was a lot a lot of water and some rocks sticking out here and there.
The tour guide, Eric, knew that I was freaking out, so to calm me down, he just hummed the music from jaws in my ear as he was strapping me in!!! How nice, right? I managed to conquer my fears and I did it. We all repelled down a MASSIVE waterfall. And the feeling we had when we made it to the bottom was unlike any other. It was incredible!!
We headed back up and ate some lunch before we had to start our crazy ride back to reality. The ride was more enjoyable on the way back becasue I was on such a high!! I wish I could paint a better picture for you, but there aren´t words to describe it!!!
