Today, I’m going to keep it light with y’all and talk to y’all about the highlight of my entire trip to the Philippines: canyoneering to Kawasan Falls, Philippines.

I think it’s only right to start off by saying that I cannot swim. Went to swimming classes, was too afraid to let go of the wall. My parents ended up taking me out of classes since they were basically paying someone by the hour to watch me hold onto the ledge. So, I was fairly nervous, to say the least. But I suffer greatly from FOMO and felt the need to convince my anxious father that I could do cool adventurous things. I was helped into a life vest and helmet, then I hopped onto a motorcycle and some guy drove me and my friend to the starting point. All in all, it was a very strange start. I’ve never ridden a motorcyle and sharing my first experience with someone I cannot understand was definitely uncomfortable. At that point, I felt pretty adventurous already.

As we arrive to what looked like a rocky ledge, I saw a group of people, similarly fashioned in helmets and life vests, peering over the edge. When we joined them, I could see that they were looking down into this beautiful blue river. Our two guides, one guy possible my age and another boy who looked to be about 12y.o, pointed at the water and simply commanded us: jump. Without thinking, I stepped over the edge, landed straight on my butt, and accidentally inhaled some water. Clearly I was a beginner canyoneer. A couple of more jumps and I was starting to get the hang of it. Basically, pinch your nose, close your eyes tight, and jump without thinking about it. Then, float down the river until you hit another place to jump. The best part about canyoneering is that you get to spend 4 hours floating/hiking in the valley between two canyons. The views are absolutely gorgeous and the area is practically untouched. Because you’re floating your way to the water falls, you have the unique opportunity to lean back and soak in the natural  landscape surrounding the river. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll find yourself separated from other tour groups. My group included my two guides, my sister, and my friend. Since we’re all fairly spritely, we were able to speed ahead of other groups and enjoy the float to ourselves. After about 3 hours, we reached the pièce de résistance: the water falls. They’re quite high, and me being a non-swimmer, incredibly daunting. I opted to walk to the bottom instead of jumping off what looked like a 40ft cliff, but the people that did jump said it was invigorating though frightening at first. Although this waterfall was amazing, it was actually not the final waterfall we’re suppose to end at. A short float away came the actual waterfall that’s in every travelbloggers picture. You know, the ones where they’re sitting alone of a wooden raft facing a huge waterfall. Unfortunately, as most things on Instagram are, it’s completely staged and you actually have to get in line and pay to sit on that raft for a mere minute. It’s probably worth it, but having just floated, swam, and jumped our way down I kind of just wanted to sit and relax for a bit. Although this was the major attraction of the area and it was quite beautiful, it wasn’t really my favorite part of the experience. If you don’t want to canyoneer to the waterfall, you can just take a bus to the last waterfall, which meant it was packed with people and tourist. It reminded me of the hike I did to Machu Picchu where after 4 days only being around a couple of people I suddenly find myself in a sea of people at the destination. It wasn’t that getting to the end wasn’t special, or that I wasn’t impressed by both Machu Picchu or this waterfall. Just that (and as cliched as it is) the journey was definitely what made the experience so magical. Also, at the final waterfall I think there’s a restaurant so there was some pollution in the water, which is incredibly off-putting. I believe they actually closed this attraction for a bit because [1] it’s closed during rainy seasons and [2] they needed to let the land breath while they cleaned up all the pollution. So, I’m quite pleased that they addressing this concern.

If you get the opportunity to go canyoneering to the waterfalls, I highly recommend it, but do keep in mind the time of year. There have been instances where the water was too high and people have gotten injured and even drowned as a result of the fast currents.