Just Call Me Miss Adventure

That's me!



Last Saturday, I had the adventure of a lifetime.  My friends Nick and Mandy were visiting me from Wisconsin, and we decided to do something “extreme” while they were here.  We settled on a rappelling/ziplining adventure that took us to the Carite Rainforest on a hike where there were certainly no manicured paths to follow.  It’s an experience I will never ever forget!

The day started at 9:30am, when the tour company picked us up in the Walgreens parking lot in Caguas.  From there we drove maybe half an hour through winding, mountain roads—with beautiful views!  Then we parked the van at an abandoned school , harnessed up, and got our helmets.  Next it was off to hike up a steep road for maybe 10 minutes (I thought this was the most physically taxing part of the day…though my back muscles argued differently the next morning). 

We came to a mountain stream and waded in.  Our guide, Marco, told us, “Get your feet wet, and get used to it…this was the last time they’ll be dry on this tour.”  He was right…we waded upstream through the stream, stepping carefully on the slippery rocks.  Usually the water was less than knee deep, but in several occasions it was a little deeper.  I only fell once—landing softly in a sitting position, water up to my waist.  How refreshing.  J 



We came to several small waterfalls and climbed up them with the help of ropes the company had tied there before, and instructions from the guides about where to put our feet.  (It was this part, pulling myself up with the rope, that had my back complaining the next morning). 



After a while, we left the river and climbed up the muddy mountain side.  Again there were often ropes secured on the path to help us pull ourselves along, but no paved or gravel “paths” to follow. 

At the top of the hill, we came to the lip of the 80 foot waterfall we would rappel down.  Standing there, we couldn’t see over the edge to see how far down it was.  They briefed us on what to do, and then one at a time, we made our way over the edge.

When I finally DID see over the lip, the view was completely invigorating!  It was high…but in a thrilling, not petrifying, way.  The rappel down was fun, though I doubt I managed it gracefully.  J  And landing in the water at the bottom was an adrenaline rush in itself, looking back up and thinking, “I just did that!!” 

Nick on his way down.

After rappelling, we hiked to the ziplines, and took 3 lines, each cutting over the river canyon and providing breathtaking views of the canopy, the valley, and the surrounding mountains.  I took a video of Rachel on the zipline.  



Then it was a hike back downstream the same way we’d come in, and back down the hill, until we reached the van again.  We had a chance to change into dry clothes (yay!), and then we went to “Grandma’s house” for lunch.  …It really was the home of the grandmother of our guide, Christian.  Like, really.  I used the woman’s own bathroom, along with about 10 other trekkers.  It was such a homey, comfortable feel!  And of course the food, authentic Puerto Rican and home cooked, was amazing. 

"Grandma's House" with Grandma's family sitting
out on the porch with her.

Pictures don’t really do the day justice.  You’d have to experience it.  In fact, I encourage you to!  Come visit me, and we can go too.  J  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cambodia: Reflections and Highlights

Image
I was really excited to visit Cambodia for a few days and hit up Angkor Wat and the other temples in the area.  Cambodia felt like my kind of adventure--and I can’t even really say why.  But I was excited.  I was excited for our hotel there--a full-out boutique hotel (not a hostel), with AC, a swimming pool, breakfast included, and airport pick-up for free--which cost us a scant $20 per night.  And we’d read about a lot of great tours we could take with local guides.  Flying in and flying out, this leg of the trip would be a breeze, and hopefully everything would be as cheap as the hotel.   The Mango Rain Boutique Hotel Our flight to Cambodia was unlike any other I’ve ever been on.  There were only about 20 of us on the flight--which would not have been strange, except it was, because we were on a full-size plane that could have seated 200.  The 20 of us were mostly grouped together towards the back of the plane.  Second impressive thing was that as soon as the plane got to al
Read more

DI Globals 2016: A Tale of Two Teams

Image
For the past 3 years, I have acted as a team manager for Destination Imagination at my school in Guatemala, and each year, my team has earned a trip to Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee.  This school year, I was blessed to manage the exact same team I had last year—the Aguaguates, the most wonderful group of kids any DI team manager could wish for.  This group, all 7 th graders this year, has everything needed to not only excel at DI, but also make a team manager’s job almost unnecessary.  They have amazing team chemistry, and they understand the importance of teamwork.  They’re crazy creative and hilarious and amazing actors when they get on stage.  They push themselves to improve their performances.  They know what they need to get done for DI, and they create their own practice schedules.  In short, they are a DI dream team, not to mention really, really great people .  This year though, I took one look at the school calendar and decided that if the team qualified for Glob
Read more

Yearly Update: The Journey to 30

Image
Over a year has passed since my last “update.”  And the year I was 29, despite the fact that I lived close to home rather than abroad, was anything but boring, so there’s no real reason for the lack of blog posts.   The year I was 29, I survived what may have been my most difficult year of teaching yet.  Many overseas teachers say, “Teaching in the States is so much different than teaching abroad.  You’ll see.  That’s why I went overseas; I’d never go back to teaching in the States.  It’s just...too much.”  Well, they’re not wrong.  I admit, I thought that with five years teaching experience under my belt, my first year in the US, my first year at the high school level, would go rather smoothly.  While in a sense it did (no concerns about the quality of my work from administration or complaints from parents), it was mentally and emotionally very taxing.  Even this year, my 2nd back in the States, I’m still adjusting to and coming to terms with the fact that as a US teacher, I wil
Read more