The sound of water pounding rock as it was cascading down the mountain grew from a distant sound to a deafening roar. The thickness of the jungle though blocked our view of the river until we reached the top.
As we were strapping on our gear, a couple of us peered over the edge….
“We are going down that?”
I was quickly second guessing my decision to do this. I mean lets face reality, I’m no spring chicken, and having a busted leg was not part of my holiday plans in Belize.
As we all slowly made our way across the river towards where the rope was tied to a tree on the other side, people were already slipping on the moss covered rocks and falling.
Not a good sign as we hadn’t even started yet!
The descent was one hundred and twenty five feet. After a quick tutorial on how to safely descend ( lean back, move slow, legs spread apart, don’t panic! ), the guide asked who wanted to go first. I volunteered. The rest of the group breathed a sigh of relief.
As I started to go and the waterfall spray soaked my body, adrenaline took over. Panic disappeared. I felt like it took me forever, but I rappelled Bocawina Falls without falling once!
As it turned out, I was the only one in our group to do so. As one guy later told me.. “You made that look easy”.
My back, legs and arms were twitching from the strength it took to get this completed, so I’m not sure about how EASY it was, but it certainly was exhilarating.
