We realized that the turn the power off a night everyday, so
the power was never really out. Oops. Meghan wanted me to blog about how she
managed to scratch her eye and break the showerhead within 10 minutes. So now,
we have a Meghan in pain, and a showerhead that looks like a wilted flower. We
deck out in sulus and long skirts for church. It was the best service that I’ve
ever been to. The priest talked about the five parts of the human heart,
including who you are and where you came from. It was extremely moving, and I
loved how much feeling they all put into it. We met Angie and her husband right
after church. Angie is a resident of the village we will be staying at next,
and wanted to come on our journey for the day.
Our first stop was a waterfall hike. It was beginning to
rain, but we didn’t let that stop us. The waterfall was gorgeous, even more so
than you would expect. The scenery proved its worth, as we could take a swim in
the lake around the waterfall. The water was freezing, just about as cold as
our showers each night. Here, we had our first attempt at a National Geographic
cover photo; all of us holding the flag in the freezing water, with the
waterfall in the background. We then set out to climb up the cliffs to get
behind the waterfall. It was most definitely a trek, trying to venture up the
slippery slope. We eventually made it, but we couldn’t jump off of the cliff
(for safety reasons). After we tried to make our way down, we had another
attempt at a National Geographic cover photo, with a few of us up on the rocks
with the flag.
Our next journey (after tons and tons of photos) was to a
village an hour away from our last site. It held another hiking trail to a
waterfall, and our place for dinner. Just as we were making our way to our
picnic area, a torrential downpour occurred. We had to make the big decision;
stay in the village and meet the locals, or attempt this three-hour total hike
in the rain to the waterfall. Most of the group chose to hike, so we set off.
The group arrived in clumps, since some were slower than others. The hike was
majorly tough, especially because I almost slipped on every single rock and wet
leaf. It was well worth it though, because of the view. It was a bit daunting
at first, since getting to the waterfall would require swimming against a
current, but it was so beautiful that we couldn’t resist. This is the last
location of a National Geographic cover photo. We swam (myself fully clothed,
since it already rained so much that I didn’t care) all the way to the lake-ish
part of the waterfall. We conquered the current in the river, though it did
take extreme effort, a lot of pulling each other to the rocks, and laughing all
the way. It was a breathtaking view, despite the icy cold water. We hung out
there, watching Angie swan dive off of the rocks into the water, and borrowing
Brett’s goggles to dive deep down. The swim back to land was much easier,
letting the current push us away. The hike back was easier as well, since we
knew the end goal. Jamison and Mariam even met some kids who helped them crack
open a coconut.
Just as dinner was about to be ready, Lisa led us out to see
the beautiful coastline. Some, including myself, couldn’t help but swim for a
few minutes. We then attempted to clean
up to eat a great dinner, and take the two-hour drive back home.
Our nightly meeting started off with our highs and lows of
the day. My high was swimming to the waterfall, and my low was slipping down
the stairs of the suspension bridge. I’ve made it a habit for my lows to be I
falling, so let’s see how long I can keep that up.
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