Since we’re in the Caribbean, most of our world race adventure days so far have been beach days, and since I’m not much of a beach person, I haven’t gone to most of them. But this week, our squad had the chance to visit “27 Waterfalls”, one of the Dominican’s top attractions. Jumping and sliding and swimming down clear blue waterfalls? Now that’s my kind of adventure day.
Thirteen bucks got us life jackets, helmets, and a tour guide who told us that whatever went with us up the mountain had to go down the waterfalls with us. Which meant no phones.
Which meant no photos.
Life jackets and helmets strapped on, we were about ready to begin thinking this would be an easy and fun adventure day. That’s when our tour guide told us it was a 45-minute hike up the mountain. Or, five “Dominican minutes,” our tour guide said.
So off we went up the mountain with nothing but our helmets, life jackets, and water bottles, which we’re required so we don’t pass out. “We can just toss them off the waterfalls,” our tour guide said. We hiked up several flights of stairs through beautiful jungle scenery, while our tour guide kept yelling “five more minutes”. But, I didn’t get any photos, so you’re gonna have to take my word for it.
When we finally made it to the top, we swam into a little cove with deep water where our guide pulled us up one by one onto a rock and told us to jump. Our guide was moving so fast we didn’t have time to be afraid. So we each cannonballed off the rock into the cove. Our first jump. It wasn’t bad at all, it was actually really fun. But, I didn’t get any photos, s you’re gonna have to take my word for it.
“Okay everyone, that was our practice jump,” our guide said.
We didn’t know what he meant by “practice jump”, it seemed pretty real to us. That is, until we walked up to the first actual jump. The first waterfall. A straight down jump, or freefall, off the edge of a waterfall into the water down below and no other way to get there. My stomach dropped. But again, our guide didn’t give us much time to chicken ourselves out.
“On the count of three, you jump. One, two, three.”
I came back up to the surface with a nose full of water and the feeling that I couldn’t believe what I just did. Now that’s what you call an adrenaline rush, I thought. But, I didn’t get any photos, so you’re going to have to take my word for it.
One waterfall down, twenty-six more to go.
“Is that the biggest one?” We asked as we swam to the next waterfall. Our guide laughed.
“No, not even close,” He said.
The next waterfall wasn’t one you jumped off of. Instead, we were going to slide down it, like a real-life waterslide made of rocks. As soon as we approached it, our guides pulled us up by our life jackets one by one and told us to cross our arms and lean to the right. Then off we went being pushed by rushing waters through a winding path cut in the mountain until it shot us out into another cove. It was the most fun “waterslide” I’ve ever been on. But, I didn’t get any photos, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
We hiked (and swam) down the mountain, jumping off and sliding down each waterfall as we came upon them. It never got less scary, and it never got less fun. In between waterfalls, we got to swim through these coves hidden in the cliffs of the mountain, and the sun breaking through the trees and shining on the clear blue water was one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen. I wish I could show you guys. But I didn’t get any photos, so you’re going to have to take my word for it.
Finally, we made it to the biggest jump. I think He said it was seven meters high, but it felt even higher. We had to climb up these wooden steps to even get to the ledge where we jumped. As soon as I got to the top, our guide started counting down again. This one is going to hurt a little, I thought as my feet left the ledge.
I came out of the water and looked up to where I had just jumped. That was the most fun thing I’ve ever done, I thought, out of breath. I wish I got a photo. But, I didn’t. You’re just gonna have to take my word for it.
I hope you guys liked this story! I wrote this blog because this adventure day made me think of my generation’s dependence on taking and posting photos. If you didn’t get a picture to put on Instagram, did it even actually happen? I’ll call myself out: world racers are some of the worst at this. It makes sense, we’re on this crazy adventure, why wouldn’t we want to show everyone? And don’t get me wrong, pictures can be a great way to show the world what the Lord is doing here. But I feel like there’s an unspoken pressure to have an Instagram-worthy experience to validate what we’re doing. Throughout this adventure, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much it sucked that I couldn’t take any photos. But in the end, I was able to be more present because I wasn’t taking photos the whole time! This goes for ministry too. My squad is doing a type of ministry right now where it isn’t really appropriate to be taking pictures most of the time. But that’s okay, because it’s still ministry and the Lord is still moving and I still have so many stories to tell.
You’re just gonna have to take my word for it.
