I will never forget Pulhapenzak falls. (Nor will I forget what it feels
like to almost drown) First off, we went zip-lining over the
falls. The canopy tour took us to eleven different stations. We started
upstream of the river and made our way down. The first time was the scariest, especially
since I am afraid of heights, but it was sooo worth it. The view of the
waterfalls was incredible. We were so high up. Then we went on a
waterfall tour. When I first heard of the waterfall tour I had no idea what was
going to happen. Little did I know we that we would be going behind
this big waterfall and getting soaking wet.
When we got up to the falls it was misting, good thing we didn't bring our cameras. We ventured over tons of slippery rocks, the guide was readily available to give us a hand. We approached the river and the guide gave us an option to jump in the little pool or wade through it. Since I am afraid of jumping in I decided to wade through it, glad I wore my Chacos. (That was only the beginning of how wet I got) As we continued on we got closer to the falls and it became a lot harder for me to see anything since it was misting so bad. Then came the scariest part, we got to the base, the water was pounding on the rocks and I could barely breathe or see anything. I had an intense fear building up in my stomach, my heart was beating so fast. The air was so full of water that I could barely breathe. I can only imagine that is what drowning feels like. They tell you that you get wet, but this, this is something different entirely. At the base of the falls, we slithered down into the river that was waist deep. With the water pounding I still could barely breathe and I could not see where I was going so I started to panic The guide told us to wait, then instructed us to hold hands, close our eyes and breathe through our mouths. It was quite the experience, I don't know if I have ever gripped someone's hand that hard, knowing that I had to trust the guide and the person in front of me to get us to a safe place. Even if I had opened my eyes I would not have been able to see anything at all, which would have caused me to panic. I kept my eyes closed and remained as calm as I could. Already behind the falls we were almost to our final destination. We had also waded through the river. The guide led us to a cave which was completely dark and told us to climb up into it. We got inside where it was dry and much easier to breathe. Sitting down, we took a moment to calm down knowing that we had to venture back through the waterfall once again. Once we crawled back out of the cave it seemed like we took a shorter route back. Although we still couldn't see much we waded through the river and clambered back over the rocks to the little pool we had first encountered. The guide once again gave the option to jump or wade through. This time, I decided to try jumping. I climbed up the rock and looked down in the water. I was about fifteen feet above the water, my heart pounded and I was asking myself why I had decided to do this. The guide told me to jump into the white water and that I would be fine. It was scary, but I took the leap. I landed in the water completely fine and I barely touched the bottom. At that point we headed back over more slippery rocks and back to our cabins.
When we got up to the falls it was misting, good thing we didn't bring our cameras. We ventured over tons of slippery rocks, the guide was readily available to give us a hand. We approached the river and the guide gave us an option to jump in the little pool or wade through it. Since I am afraid of jumping in I decided to wade through it, glad I wore my Chacos. (That was only the beginning of how wet I got) As we continued on we got closer to the falls and it became a lot harder for me to see anything since it was misting so bad. Then came the scariest part, we got to the base, the water was pounding on the rocks and I could barely breathe or see anything. I had an intense fear building up in my stomach, my heart was beating so fast. The air was so full of water that I could barely breathe. I can only imagine that is what drowning feels like. They tell you that you get wet, but this, this is something different entirely. At the base of the falls, we slithered down into the river that was waist deep. With the water pounding I still could barely breathe and I could not see where I was going so I started to panic The guide told us to wait, then instructed us to hold hands, close our eyes and breathe through our mouths. It was quite the experience, I don't know if I have ever gripped someone's hand that hard, knowing that I had to trust the guide and the person in front of me to get us to a safe place. Even if I had opened my eyes I would not have been able to see anything at all, which would have caused me to panic. I kept my eyes closed and remained as calm as I could. Already behind the falls we were almost to our final destination. We had also waded through the river. The guide led us to a cave which was completely dark and told us to climb up into it. We got inside where it was dry and much easier to breathe. Sitting down, we took a moment to calm down knowing that we had to venture back through the waterfall once again. Once we crawled back out of the cave it seemed like we took a shorter route back. Although we still couldn't see much we waded through the river and clambered back over the rocks to the little pool we had first encountered. The guide once again gave the option to jump or wade through. This time, I decided to try jumping. I climbed up the rock and looked down in the water. I was about fifteen feet above the water, my heart pounded and I was asking myself why I had decided to do this. The guide told me to jump into the white water and that I would be fine. It was scary, but I took the leap. I landed in the water completely fine and I barely touched the bottom. At that point we headed back over more slippery rocks and back to our cabins.
I still cannot believe the adventure that we just had. It was surreal. I will never forget the feeling of the water pounding down around me, along with the beating of my heart. Even though I was very scared for many parts of the waterfall tour I can confidently say it was one of my most amazing experiences. Looking back, I am realizing how crazy it was. We couldn't see anything at all. We had to put our lives into the hands of our guides to lead us through the dangerous parts. If I had known what was going to happen on our hike I probably would not have gone, but I am still very thankful that I did. It was the experience of a lifetime. It is a reminder that we are called to go outside of our comfort zone. Even though it seems like it will be a scary experience we need to trust God. We do not always know what will happen and it will not always be easy, but we should trust God to get us through it.
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