Tour Update

It’s been a great time so far! Yesterday we went to a beach about ten minutes from our resort. I have never encountered such crazy waves in my life. They were breaking really close to shore, so they were throwing us all over the place. I kept getting salt water in my eyes, which were irritating my contacts, so I could barely see. Plus, the gigantic waves were rolling in one after another, so I was basically getting beat up out there. Eventually, I had to get out to catch my breath and relax. Morgan and I ended up playing volleyball with four of the guys in the group which was pretty fun. After the beach, we all just hung out and got to know each other some more. There is a bar at the resort that was playing some Latin music, so we danced for a little bit but not for long. For the most part, we just hung out around the resort. Later that night, we found a tide pool to sit in down by the ocean, so that was pretty cool. We were able to see more stars than I’ve ever seen in my life. The sky is literally littered with them—it’s amazing. It’s also pretty interesting because things like the Big Dipper are in different spots here than back home.

Today was an adventure-filled, adrenaline-packed day. First, we took a 20 minute boat ride to a beach. From there it was about a 25 minute hike. While hiking, we saw about 15 monkeys swinging right above our heads in the trees. It was pretty amazing—they were so close! It was actually kind of scary too; I kept thinking of this one scene in Hunger Games with viscous monkeys, so I was freaked out after a while. Eventually we reached this really wide river. There was this little cliff overlooking it with a vine that was tied to a stick, and the guides told us that we could swing out from it and fall into the river. I was terrified the first time, but then back for a second time! It wasn’t too high, maybe like 15 feet. Still enough for an adrenaline rush. Next, we paddled down the river in canoes and kayaks until we got to this rocky section. From there, we swam upstream (which was completely exhausting and difficult for someone like me who is not a good swimmer) to another cliff that we could jump off of. This one was scarier because it was higher (around 20 feet) and we had encountered a lot of rocks on the way up. Despite these obvious safety hazards, a bunch of us still did it. Once again, it took me a good minute to work up the courage to jump, but once I did I came back again for another go. After that, we floated down the river back to our boats. There was a little waterfall type thing, but it was flat, and we were able to ride down it. It was really cool but I hit a couple rocks with my legs. After kayaking back for a bit, we stopped off to hike up to this waterfall. The guide told us it would be a “two minute hike,” but it turned out to be a 20 minute trek up this treacherous terrain—barefoot.  Needless to say, it was excruciating for my feet, but worth it. We had to walk across rocks, climb up steep hills with the help of rocks, and even swim under rocks in order to reach the waterfall. All in all, a pretty adventurous day. After our hike, we returned to the beach to lounge around for a while. They had snorkel equipment there for free, but I quickly remembered how much I hate snorkeling after about two minutes of it so I went back. The water kept getting into the tube and I felt like I couldn’t breathe the whole time. Plus, swimming in open water just freaks me out. Finally, around 3:00 we headed back, exhausted but satisfied with our day.

Now we are just hanging around before dinner. The only bad thing about being here is that for some reason we can’t watch the sun set on the water. I think since we’re in a bay we must be facing the wrong direction. We might try kayaking into the water to get a better view, but I don’t know if that will work. Tomorrow we are going on another hike, two hours long this time, and on Wednesday we are doing a horseback ride. I’m pretty excited because I thought it was extra, but turns out it’s included! Yay!

That’s all for now, more to come later!