10 Years, 12 Nights, 6 Hotels, ONE LOVE - April 2012 Trip Report

[Hubby-man]

Trip Report Continued...

A few half consumed subway sandwiches rolled lazily back and forth between feet and luggage on the floor of the bus. Since the last stop it had gotten sort of quiet. I think a few turtles had nodded off a bit, happily digesting a belly-full of rum cream and red stripes.

The scenery had changed. Majestic mountains surrounded us on all sides, as we rode through a lush narrow valley. Holding hands, Daisy and I gazed out the window becoming one with the view.

Half dazed I felt like the landscape was chanting a thousand-year old melody to me. Big oak-like trees stood at the center of each parceled meadow, their thick branches reaching out far from their trunks. Each tree in turn seemed to carry a forest of its own, smaller species sprouting roots in the furrows of its branches, while horses grazed in their shadow.

The bus rolled to a stop at the side of the road.

“We are here! Ho, ho, ho! Get out!” Chicken’s voice boomed.

A few of us (like Marley) were ready to go, while the majority awoke slowly, like toddlers after a nap: stretching, yawning, a bit cranky and drooling. It took me a moment to re-orient myself.



The entrance building to YS-Falls had a distinctly American ambience: cash registers, roped lines and lots of touristy junk for sale. We must have looked like the mangled tourist groups that get dropped off at the Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco after a three hour visit to Yosemite, confused as to how the beautiful scenery had mutated into a Hard Rock Café.

Groggy turtles are harder to move than fresh ones, so we had time to smoke several cigarettes in front of the ticket counter, which brought some life back in to me. Finally we rounded the building, where we were loaded into tractor drawn carts.

The rumbly ride, slower than a tired turtle, seemed to wind endlessly through the once again majestic landscape and terminated at a little platform in a the middle of village of changing rooms and shower houses.





We gathered around a picnic table and The mood was rising. The crowd became happy, loud and rowdy once again.



One after the other we changed into bathing trunks and bikinis and set out towards the path to the actual falls.

[Hubby-man]

Turning a corner, behind a massive tree, the falls suddenly came into view. Extending from a panorama platform a river stretched straight ahead cascading down several terraces, before it veered off sharply in front of a small cluster of gaping-jaw tourists, clicking away at the magnificent sight.



The water plunged down each of the steps as a white foaming wall of force. Spray rose high from each of the pools below, and as it rose it built glistening rainbows, before evaporating rapidly into the thin hot air.



At the very end of the view loomed the mother of all falls, like a mighty goddess, sprawling a throne while delighting in the spectacle of her own creation of violent torrents and life-giving mist. Dwarfed in comparison, a tiny trail of colorful tourist ants climbed and panted up a jungle path, clutching slippery handrails, while their vacation attire competed with a multitude of otherworldly flowers for attention.

We all stood there for a while, all of us helplessly attracted to the same spot.

“I have taken the same picture in this exact same spot,” Ninja mumbled, camera pressed to his face, “and yet,…” click, click, click, ” … I have to take it again!”.



It was hard to move any further. ‘This is it’, I thought: Real National Geographic coffee-table-book-rain-forest. Just like the watercolors from Disney’s Jungle book, the movie that first made me want to be an artist. I just couldn’t get enough of the sight. This is why I had become a tree hugger. This is why had protested for hours on end in cold German winter weather in front of fast food chains that served billions of rain-forest burgers and this is why I hadn’t washed my hair since 1981 to look the part -to save this experience for future generations.

[Hubby-man]

Without moving an inch there was a life-time of discoveries within reach, it made no sense to go anywhere else. Surrounded by people, for a moment I felt alone and intimate with the force and beauty of nature. I wanted to soak it all in, the rainbow wet, and greedily gobble up the moments with my camera. Even pointing straight up into the sky I found a picture worth taking.





The group began moving and thinned out along the path up to the big one. We were all mixed up throughout the jungle now, Daisy chatting intensely with Sweetie Pie, I was engrossed in conversation with a flower and Sweetness leaned pondering against a handrail overlooking a calm pool in the river.



As we passed each other in little groups, you could feel the group grow together. The boundaries, that formed a protective bubble around the sacred intimacy within couples and the privacy of individuals, were dissolving, with the force of Mother Nature refreshing our being and nurturing a whole new aspect of all of our relationships. Our roots broke through and grabbed hold in eachother, where we found fertile, inviting ground to draw strength in.

[Hubby-man]

When the handrail finally opened up and allowed access to the water, we all were bursting with the desire to dunk ourselves into the river. Let’s get baptized in this experience.

Everyone was already splashing around by the time I reached the spot. Tizzy was swinging wildly from a rope fastened to an overhanging branch 100 feet up. The range of each of the long rope’s swings was enormous and though she moved slowly, just above the water surface, she could not control her trajectory and comically crashed into a laughing group of tourists.





I filmed the whole spectacle from the platform, when Mr. Spottycatz urgently tapped my shoulder.

“Oh dear, oh dear! Look at my wife, she is gonna jump from that ridiculous contraption up there, while I am pissing my pants watching her.” I followed the direction he was pointing in and found Mrs. Spottycatz waving from up above, where she held onto a rope, about to swing over the river and drop 15 feet into the water below. Then she pushed off and disappeared behind a tree. A second later we heard a huge splash over the roaring of the water fall, followed by cheering turtles in the river.

“Man, that looks like fun, Mr. Spottycatz! Let’s do it.”

“Oh, I don’t think so! You wouldn’t do that, would you?” He responded shaking his head, as if this was thoroughly silly idea.

I chose the rope as my entry point into the water and joined the jolly fun in the wet.

We splashed around for almost an hour. Then groups of people explored onward. Marley and Ninja set off to splurge on a zip-line experience, they had budgeted for this reach. Everyone else trotted further up the path, back and forth, mesmerized by their surroundings.

Daisy and I observed Guiriguy, as he struggled time and time again against the current, trying to reach the fall just in front of him. As soon as he got close indeed, the forces of the water overwhelmed him and rapidly washed him some 30 feet backwards. He found his footing and with incorrigible termination set out to complete his Sisyphus task once again, of course with the same result. It was incredibly interesting to observe.

Later, after setting out on a solo exploration, I found my wife and Guiriguy talking at a handrail. I observed them from a platform high up above. The sunlight filtered green through a cathedral of trees and epiphytes. My vantage point was lofty. We seemed to have arrived at the well of life itself and I could see it all from here.



When I made my way back down the slippery stairs, Daisy stood alone, looking across the raging waters, tears streaming down her face.

“Are you O.K., Baby?”

“I don’t know.”, she replied. “I feel so, … so intensely happy. I feel they are all here,… the people that left. The lost ones, I have been missing. I feel like I don’t ever want to leave this spot.” She was deeply moved.

Guiriguy joined from behind. He too was in a special state. He pointed out the strangest things. I followed him to the big waterfall and he urgently pointed out a tiny little trickle of water that ran parallel to it.



“Look!” he exclaimed most excitedly. “Look there! The small waterfall! Isn’t it that most beautiful thing you ever saw?”

It was beautiful.

[Hubby-man]

Then time sneakily made its way back into our lives.

“Shouldn’t Marley and Ninja be coming down the zip-line any moment?” Daisy urged.

“Oh my god yes! We have to get in position to get some pictures.”

We grabbed each other’s hands for stability and ran back down the slippery path. The others were already positioned along the way with their own big and small cameras, so we took position at the remaining spot at the end of the line, where our YS- experience had started in earnest.

My battery was dying and my arm was getting tired, when a tiny little dot emerged far away at the end of the zip-line. I trained my camera on it and used the last batter power to capture the adventure. As the spot came closer I discovered I was filming a park employee, who set out ahead of the two. I stopped the footage.

The suddenly Marley appeared. I pushed my record button frantically.

“Operation cannot be completed. Writing to memory card!” , the screen informed me.

I pushed again and again and finally got it to work as Shauna had already arrived on the platform.

“Ninja then. “ I thought, but focused on not making the same mistake as before I held out to see if it was really him zipping down next. When I could finally tell, my zoom was extended too far and I only got a tight cropping shot of his spinning butt passing over me. – Sorry guys. Oh well.



The group gathered merrily at the familiar picnic table. Everyone was in the best of spirits and hungry for more subway sandwiches, which were quickly prepared and passed about.

Ninja and tizzy got into a giddy martial arts fight and suddenly every one was doing gymnastics. It was as if we had all bathed in a fountain of youth and nothing could stop us.



The tractor pick us up and delivered us back into the care of Chicken for our next adventure, which we were thoroughly ready for.



The above picture is for Marley! - a little gem from the forest.

To be continued
Pelican bar & middle quarters – up next

[Sweetness]

I love you man. You describe things so perfectly and capture photos with poignacy that it takes my breath away. Thank you for sharing this with everyone - Jamaica sweet Jamaica the land that we all love - the beautiful place that brings us all together and brings us all so much JOY. ONE LOVE - one people (so looking fwd to more) Thank you.

[Angel]

Well you've done it again, written a great story and the part about Daisy feeling the connection to lost loved ones made me shed a tear. Now I also want to watch the Jungle Book to see all the characters. Looking forward to more. Thank you!

[TizzyATX]

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

I could talk about this trip all day long. everyday. In fact my friends (the few i do have here at home) are so tired of hanging out with me because of it. LOL

Been missin JA so bad....thanks for taking me back there bud. I miss you and Daisy so stinkin much <3 miss all y'all!!! Mrs. Katz....in case you didn't know....you are one BADA$$ Mamajama

[marley9808]

The above picture is for Marley! - a little gem from the forest.

OMG! I LOVE this....so much! Almost as much as I love the two of you....thank you for sharing this photo. It made my whole day
Wow!
Love it!
<3

[gerryg123]

Really great stuff, Markus. I love it.