27 Charcos

What a fun day! I’ve been looking forward to the trip to the 27 Charcos for weeks, but I had no idea how awesome it would be! I was expecting to walk around the edges of some beautiful waterfalls and just see nature. Boy was I surprised.. I ended up hiking up a mountain in the jungle, jumping off cliffs, and sliding down the waterfalls. It was amazing! Oh did I mention that it is finals week back at CMU? So while everyone is studying this weekend, I have been fortunate enough to be a part of this great program that takes me to jump off waterfalls! How cool is that?!

We left bright and early at 5:30am to drive to Puerto Plata. We were the first trip out to the waterfalls today and we had two really fun guides, ChiChi and Moreno. We had about an hour hike to reach before getting to the waterfalls, which was great because it warmed me up because it was pretty chilly.

We made it to the first pool of water, and that was kind of a test run. We swam a little and jumped off a small ledge. I was terrified of even that little jump, but I had no idea what I was in for next.

When we got to the big waterfalls we had to either jump or slide, there was no walking around it. Sliding was fun, it was crazy seeing these natural waterslides made by water!

When we got to the biggest drop we could choose to slide down or jump off. At first I was going to slide. Jumping from 30+ feet into deep water sounded crazy. But then I thought that I should jump because a) I wanted to say I did it (and hopefully have a cool picture!) b) it would hurt less than the slide and c) jumping would be faster than sliding. So I jumped. After they counted uno, dos, tres about 7 times, I finally made it off the ledge. Clearly I am terrified, as you can see me flailing about in the picture.

I’m so glad that I did the big jump, it was a lot of fun! There was a little more sliding and jumping and then we reached the end of the waterfalls. After a short hike back to the buildings we were greeted with a delicious buffet, which was necessary after all the hiking and adrenaline rushes.

I thought it was interesting that admission to the Charcos, including a helmet, life jacket, and guide was only 500 pesos (about $12). It would be at least $75 dollars to do something like that in the states, I’m sure. And there were no waivers to sign, that would never happen in the U.S. Luckily no one got hurt, because our guides were so helpful and kept us safe. I am covered in bruises, but they were worth it! I have a trip all planned out now because I would really like to take my family to the DR. We could stay at Olga’s house in Las Terrenas and visit the waterfalls. The only expensive part would be the plane ticket!

On the van ride home I was reading the Hunger Games while everyone tried to nap, and I made a little friend.

This teeny tiny baby lizard crawled onto my finger and was just the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know what to do with it, but luckily we were stopping for a baño break so I gave him a new home in a potted plant.

It was a fantastic day, and we have another interesting excursion planned for tomorrow. We spent the evening making sandwiches and filling a piñata with candy to take the the children at the sugar cane fields tomorrow. It will be a very new experience.