Bamboo Rafts and Tropical Amazingness

Our first full day in Moalboal started with a trip to Kawasan Falls. We had read about this three layer waterfall but not yet talked to anyone who had been. It was a gorgeous morning without a cloud in the sky and we hopped in the car without tuna fish sandwiches, mangoes, water bottles and cameras to the thirty minute drive to the trail head. Don't be fooled by the word trail head, we were still surrounded by huts, trash, kids trying to sell us snacks and the occasional pig sleeping in the grass. Our two drivers picked up two assistant guides who just came along hoping for a tip. The walk to the falls was about 20 mins long and along the way we saw a monkey in the trees (an actual monkey in the wild, far better than the caved up Tarsier monkey) and a giant spider. Along the way we passed by huts equipped with karaoke machines, snacks, roosters and ice cream. The river was full of women washing clothes, kids playing and bugs floating.

When we approached the falls we had to pay yet another hidden fee and made our way to the picnic tables surrounding the falls. The water was absolutely amazing. It was the type of waterfall you always wished we had in the US; strong and beautiful but small enough and with warm enough water to swim in. The fall was surrounded by a perfect lagoon for swimming. We immediately were in our swimsuits ready to go. One of our guides grabbed a bamboo raft for us and we rowed out to the falls. He then instructed us to lie down and we slid under the falls just barely. The whole time we are screaming/laughing as we look up at the one inch that separated our noses from the rocks above. Once we made it under the waterfall we were simultaneously in heaven/hell. The water was gorgeous but it was pounding down at us. We went through the waterfall and emerged on the other side. Our guides than instructed us to lie down again as they brought us back under the waterfall for a high pressure back massage.

Of course the waterfall had some amazing (and not too high, mom) rocks to jump off of. Our guides hoisted us up onto the rocks and we jumped multiple times into the turquoise water. We swam around for another half hour just taking in how amazing everything was. More groups continued to arrive but no one else seemed to really enjoy the fresh, cool water as much as our Pacific Northwest blood did. We sat at our picnic table eating mangoes and tuna when a woman came over and gave us a bill for 600 pesos (12 USD). This was yet another hidden fee of merely sitting at a picnic table and using a bamboo raft. Filipinos are tricky little business people.

Next up was stage two. We were so ready. We grabbed our cameras and headed up a trail for another 5 or 10 minutes to the next lagoon. This one was much smaller than the last with only a little waterfall but we jumped right in and climbed up the rock for another round of waterfall jumps. One guide helped us find our footing while the other photo documented blurry action shots of us.

We continued up a bit further to the second large waterfall. This one had more bamboo rafts and expensive picnic tables. We opted against those two and instead explored the falls on our own. We watched as others scurried up the rocks to jump but decided on this one to just wade around and enjoy the water.

On our way down our guides pointed out the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen. Our photos of her were unsuccessful but the men assured us it was a pregnant female spider due to her large size and puffy midsection. Great, now I can sleep at night knowing that many more baby spiders of that giant type exist.

We came back down to waterfall one and couldn't resist jumping in for a last time. We went all the way to the waterfall, jumped off the rocks,went under and through the fall and back out again. When we got back to the resort we were pooped for the first time in a month. It was the first time I felt my adrenaline again since arriving here. This was a good taste of what is to come in Thailand in two days!

I took tons of pics and will post them when I can use Gina's computer!