An Extreme Photo-Op

Climbing the waterfall is one of the things on the trip that I am most proud of. When we first saw it, I thought, "Piece of cake!" (Not.) The rocks leading up to the falls were ridiculously slippery, and it was really hard to keep my feet on them. In the photo, I am third from the right, clawing to keep my balance. When it was finally my turn, it became much harder. It was deafeningly loud, wet, slippery, and I couldn't see anything. I felt like I was under there forever, trying to get a foothold, but it must have been all of thirty seconds. I finally made it through, and Ray tried to help me find a seat. But getting there, I slid and fell into the water, Hitting my leg on a rock. After completing the whole ordeal again, I somehow managed to sit down and smile for the photo. Then we had to jump off, which was difficult for me. After bruising my leg, I was afraid I would land on a rock. But I didn't, and even though my leg turned a bit purple, the photos were worth it.

In Which I Fall Off A 20-ft-High Platform

Zip-lining at Rios Tropicales was one of the best parts of the entire trip. Not that I was thinking that at the time. I had never been zip-lining before, and I was terrified. Blood chilling, goose bumping terrified. I don't usually like doing things outside of my comfort zone, but I knew if I chickened out I would regret it. So I stood in line, trying to speed-write a will in my head. I was third or fourth to last in line, so I got to watch almost everyone else in line jump off first. When it was finally time, and Ray gave me the okay, I just closed my eyes and fell of the platform. (I did not jump, I fell.) And then I knew what it feels like to fly. The breeze was wonderful, considering how hot it was, and I could see the whole lodge. I finished, and went around again, this time surprised to find Jujaar working the station at the end. (Thanks, Jujaar!) I got over my fear, flew over the river, and added another memory to an awesome trip.

P.S. Thank you to Sarah for the photo!

Sweat, Blood, and Mud

This was the very last step on the stairs portion of our hike, though it certainly wasn't the end. Minus travel days, this seemed to be one of the longest days of the trip. I have done a fair amount of hiking around Seattle, but this was quite different. It was hot. More than that, it was humid. I am the kind of person who gets cranky in extreme heat, so by the last step, I wasn't exactly skipping with glee. Planting trees was fun, though. It felt nice to really be part of something. (Also, we got to name and dance with them.) By the time we went fishing, I was ready to fall over. I did actually catch a fish, though. One of my favorite parts of that day is when we all squished into the truck going to the butterfly farm. (Teamwork?) Lunch was ridiculously delicious, though by that point I would have eaten anything. Butterflies were beautiful as always, and we got to hold furry caterpillars.

That Dam Canyon

This was one of the best moments of rafting for me. Everyone jumped out to swim, giving us time with the people who weren't in our specific raft. We all floated along, and it was fun to finally see the canyon where the dam was supposed to be built. I thought the story of how Rafa gathered his rafters and the native people to stop the construction was really.... brave, I guess. He was just a young adult with a love of rafting and his river. They were a huge company with so much power, and it seemed to me it was a moment of "We need to fight for the things we love, even if the whole world seems to be against us." I really liked this part of the Pacuare and the stories behind it.

Paddling For Food At 6:00 a.m.

I am anything but a morning person. So when it was announced that we were going on a kayaking trip before breakfast, I wasn't super excited. But it turned out to be my favorite day of kayaking! It was beautiful and quiet outside, and we could hear monkeys screeching on both sides of the river. Since it was only 5:30ish, it was also cool, which was a nice break from all of the heat. I was in a double with Mr. Wise, in the front of course. I stink at kayak steering. It was a lot of fun to make it all the way to the river mouth, where we could see the ocean and played find-your-species. On the way back, I saw a T.V. hanging from a tree. I got really tired, so Mr. Wise kept baiting me with the thought of breakfast. Only one bummer of the morning: turns out my kayak was full of sand flies. So many bites. So many bites.

fat "alien" worm/bug that scares people

This bug was the most frightening thing on the trip. All of us were hiking and then Rey saw this thing. We all thought it was a cocoon for a butterfly that fell on the ground. Rey was not exactly sure what it was, so he picked it up and looked at it. We were crowded around him and also thinking of what this bug could be. It had not moved at all so we thought it was dead. As Rey called everyone else to come and look, it started to squirm like a worm and literally jumped out of Rey's hand. Everyone screamed and ran to a safe distance from the thing. At that point my heart had almost stopped. None of us thought that this thing could move because we thought it was dead! 

Swimming the rapids

On the bank of the Pacuare River by the lodge

One unexpected benefit of the very low water level was the opportunity to learn to swim a rapid.  With a safety kayaker in the water, two guides with throw ropes and a third guide ready to swim, we were ready to learn to cross the river.  The strategy was simple enough but required guts and strength.  Jump in, let the current pull you upriver a few yards and then swim like mad straight into the rapid until you reached the guide with the rope on the other side.

This was a great opportunity to feel the power of the rapids and to learn to feel a little more comfortable in the water.  Almost everyone swam that day and I was proud of how everyone attacked the rapid and went back for more.  By the time we left the lodge two days later, the water level was higher and one of our guides told me that we probably wouldn't have been able to swim the river had the water level been like that earlier.  This photo celebrates both our accomplishment in the moment and, in hindsight, our luck!