Water Falls

No matter where you're traveling there always seems to be an encounter or two that remind you about just how small the world really is. Vanessa Pridmore, a gal who I've recently gotten to know this last spring through the Microfinance Club and Business Law class, is spending five weeks down in the Dominican this summer as well working with a Nazarene church. She had a free weekend so she decided to take the four hour bus up to Puerto Plata for a visit. It was pretty strange to be spending a weekend in a foreign country with an Point Loma aquaintenance that was totally unexpected. We had a great time though. The highlight of the weekend being the waterfall adventure. Forty-five minutes outside of Puerto Plata lies the town of Imbert. If you continue into the countryside and take a 10 minute hike up a dirt road you arive at the 27 Charcos (pools).

Along with our guide, Wild Bill, Vanessa and I began heading up a narrow river gorge. We swam across ponds and then ascended small waterfalls by rope or just climbing up w/ the assistance of Wild Bill, who never seemed to stop shouting “Arriba! Adelante!Arriba!” in a frustrated tone. Yes…. thank you…. Willy. I understand we are probably going that direction, but this moss is pretty damn slippery and gravity and downstream water are going the other way. But, overtime Wild Bill kind of grew on me, despite his negative attitude and lack of patience. How could somebody be upset when they’re in the middle of a tropical paradise like that? After we reached the top of the 27 pools, the fun part began. Coming back down was one successive jump after another. The green water seemed almost surreal as we bobbed along before hopping down the next small cliff. The way up probably took two hours while the way back down probably only took an hour. As we walked along one of the trails Wild Bill earned bonus points by finding us some fresh mangoes at Vanessa’s assistance. Mangoes have become my new favorite fruit. Dominican mangoes are special, I don’t even know how to explain it. They are the sweetest, juiciest thing I’ve ever experienced. A little messy? Yes. Get stuck in your teeth? Yes. But well worth these small hindrances for such a nugget of ambrosia. Wild Bill did well with the wild mangos, but really proved himself by snapping photos of us along the way, while only keeping my camera wrapped in a grocery bag. I cringed as I watched him plunge off the first waterfall with my camera in hand. He just kept telling me to trust him, trust him, never letting me see if he had destroyed the camera. How was I supposed to trust a guy that kept telling us that the next time we came back we could go for free if we brought a woman to him? Nonetheless, Billy swam on, leaving the camera unscathed. Once, he even dove off of a ten foot cliff, headfirst, bending his arm awkwardly and spinning as he hit the water in order to keep the camera above water the whole time, unbelievable. Anyways, a good time was had by all. I’ll let the Pix do most of the talking.