My favorite escapade is what our second blog assignment will be all about. I actually got excited hearing about this from our teacher. It is because, I LOVE ESCAPADES. I love adventures. I love the feeling of excitement and having fun. It is because, I think that the true meaning of living life to its fullest extent is being able to let yourself enjoy and experience the things that life can offer like ESCAPADES. Escapades are not just all about the adventure and the fun, it is also about discovering new things, exposing yourself to the possibilities that you thought were not possible and unlocking the locked gates that you thought do not have keys.
Since I really really love escapades, I’ve had a lot already. I mean, I’ve experienced a lot of adventures already and also, I’ve been to a lot of places already. Actually, I treasure each of those escapades because for me, they serve as the measurement of how far I’ve gone in living my life to its fullest extent. But since this second blog assignment is all about our favorite escapade, I should choose one that made me scream. And my decision is, my first time ever to experience WHITE WATER RAFTING!
Water Rafting is actually a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. My first time ever to experience this kind of water sport was during the break before the start of the second semester for the school year 2010 – 2011 and sad to say, I’m not really sure what the exact date was. But, I’m pretty sure that it was during the break before the start of the second semester for school year 2010 – 2011. I’ve had this experience in Cagayan de Oro City. Again, I’m not sure where that exact place in Cagayan de Oro City was and what’s its name. I’m really bad about remembering details, sorry.
In this escapade, I was actually with my whole family, two girl cousins and my older sister’s boyfriend.
In going to Cagayan de Oro City, we travelled by car, of course. It is because Cagayan de Oro City is just a two – hour ride from Iligan City. We used our own car during the travel from here to the rendezvous point in Cagayan de Oro City with the crew of the white water rafting company where we booked the white water rafting package, who’ll going to be with us during the whole white water rafting experience. From the rendezvous point to the starting point of the white water rafting adventure, we used the vehicle provided by the white water rafting company. The starting point is quite far from the city. On the journey to the said site, all you can see when you look outside are mountains, rice fields, forests, nipa huts and all of those sceneries that you will see in the country side. Take note, ONLY those sceneries and no tall buildings, billboards, etc.
Upon arriving at the starting point, we started preparing for this ride-of-our-lives experience (putting up the gears, preparing the necessary things to bring, briefing, etc.). During the preparation process, I realized that I should have not worn shorts and a t – shirt for this event.
It is because we will be under the heat of the sun during the whole experience. I should have worn something that can cover my whole body except for my head. Having sunburns isn’t that easy you know. Getting your skin burned by the sun is not just all about the itchiness, the damaging of the skin cells, and the reddening of the skin; it will also get your skin tanned, which is dreadful. Getting your skin tone back to normal is never easy alright, unless you’ve got lots of millions to spend for that and I prefer having a light skin tone over a tan one. But then I realized one good thing about having a tan skin tone, it is a mark of outgoingness and being an adventurous type of person. It is a mark of having yourself taken so many risks in life already. So, that’s it. Case closed.
It is because we will be under the heat of the sun during the whole experience. I should have worn something that can cover my whole body except for my head. Having sunburns isn’t that easy you know. Getting your skin burned by the sun is not just all about the itchiness, the damaging of the skin cells, and the reddening of the skin; it will also get your skin tanned, which is dreadful. Getting your skin tone back to normal is never easy alright, unless you’ve got lots of millions to spend for that and I prefer having a light skin tone over a tan one. But then I realized one good thing about having a tan skin tone, it is a mark of outgoingness and being an adventurous type of person. It is a mark of having yourself taken so many risks in life already. So, that’s it. Case closed.
And so . . . IT’S WHITE WATER RAFTING TIME!
During the whole experience, you only have to follow the orders of the guides who will accompany you and help you in passing through successfully each rapid along the way. In the package that we booked, we have to pass through 21 rapids. Just a few moments after sitting yourself comfortably in the raft, you already have to pass through the first rapid, which was exciting! It was like, I haven’t recovered yet from the briefing, the preparations and all, I haven’t even said my prayers yet, and then here comes the first rapid already! What a . . . what a.
Anyway, every time our guides would tell us to get ready for the next coming rapid I get a little bit nervous and excited. A little bit nervous because your life will never be easy if your raft capsizes, especially in the middle of a rapid where the current of the water is very fast and turbulent. And THANK GOD, during the whole rafting experience it did not happen to us. Whew. Passing through the rapid is the most amazing part, especially when a rapid has a lot of stones in it and your raft would move like a roller coaster, which was very fun and heart thumping! Every time you pass successfully each rapid, it gives you a proud feeling because of the reason that you passed, especially when the guide expects that your raft will capsize in that rapid. During the adventure, the guide will also let you swim in the river, not in the middle of a rapid of course. How can that be? I can’t even imagine it. You can only swim in the calm part of the river.
We also passed a once giant coral reef that has now become part of a mountain. While we passed through it, we saw some giant shells embedded on it. We passed through some caves too. We even saw some snake skins hanging on some branches of some trees. We also saw a crocodile! Whoa. Scary. Good thing the crocodile was in the opposite part of the side of the river where we were at that time. The whole white water rafting adventure was four hours I think and those four hours of my life was worth it because of the fun in the water rafting adventure and also, because of the guides we were with. We actually enjoyed chatting with them. They are fun to be with because we like the way they think.
Anyway, every time our guides would tell us to get ready for the next coming rapid I get a little bit nervous and excited. A little bit nervous because your life will never be easy if your raft capsizes, especially in the middle of a rapid where the current of the water is very fast and turbulent. And THANK GOD, during the whole rafting experience it did not happen to us. Whew. Passing through the rapid is the most amazing part, especially when a rapid has a lot of stones in it and your raft would move like a roller coaster, which was very fun and heart thumping! Every time you pass successfully each rapid, it gives you a proud feeling because of the reason that you passed, especially when the guide expects that your raft will capsize in that rapid. During the adventure, the guide will also let you swim in the river, not in the middle of a rapid of course. How can that be? I can’t even imagine it. You can only swim in the calm part of the river.
We also passed a once giant coral reef that has now become part of a mountain. While we passed through it, we saw some giant shells embedded on it. We passed through some caves too. We even saw some snake skins hanging on some branches of some trees. We also saw a crocodile! Whoa. Scary. Good thing the crocodile was in the opposite part of the side of the river where we were at that time. The whole white water rafting adventure was four hours I think and those four hours of my life was worth it because of the fun in the water rafting adventure and also, because of the guides we were with. We actually enjoyed chatting with them. They are fun to be with because we like the way they think.
AND that four hours of my life, I know was WELL SPENT.
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