The Waterfalls

First off, y’all are amazing. Noveltea has been exploding with visits this month! Currently, we are over a thousand pageviews above our previous record of pageviews in a month. That’s just hard for me to comprehend. Thanks for all the encouragement, y’all! 
And second off, some of you commented about it when I mentioned how here in Indonesia they have rows of meat sitting out in the heat, so I snapped this picture for y’all when we were shopping earlier today. Sorry I couldn’t capture the smell for you as well. Just imagine the nastiest smell you’ve come across recently, multiply it and close your eyes and imagine you’re shopping with us. 🙂 (There are a lot of other smells that add to the indistinct odor, including but not limited to: live chickens, horses, motor bikes, and lots of people.) 
Now that we’re done with that, shall we move on to more beautiful subjects? How about a breathtaking hike along a narrow, winding path leading up the mountain to a gorgeous waterfall? Factor in the rice fields and brilliant varying shades of green we pass along the way, plus colorful fruits and flowers I’d never even heard of before, and you get a little glimpse of how we spent our afternoon. (Run-on-setence-alert!) 
Out of the 163 pictures I took today, I could only post a few, due to the slowish Internet (which is being really fast today, allowing you to get these five!), hopefully y’all find these pictures as startling, amazing and exotic as I do. I haven’t been carrying my phone around a lot since I got here, but I was happy I brought it along today. 

Today I saw the kind of pictures I used to see in The National Geographic. It still seems wondrous to me that I’m actually here, experiencing it for myself. And on the other side of the world, no less. And, speaking about being on the other side of the world… My blogger dashboard is in Indonesian, which means I can’t read what the different buttons are and I have to push them from memory. When we had a layover in Qatar, my dashboard was in Arabic. I know, that was random. I just thought y’all would like to know. Anyway, back to my adventure.

Isn’t it delightful? The cooling mist felt so nice after our warm hike. Plus, there was a little pool at the bottom, probably about a foot and a half deep, before it moved on down the mountainside in smaller waterfalls. Several of us got venturesome and sat down in the water. Burrr it was cold! And then a few of us (me included) went even further and dunked ourselves totally under. It was great. 
After that, we ventured a little higher up the mountain side and saw another, smaller waterfall. On the way down, we were slipping because the path was all wet (from us) and it was quite steep. So, two of the guys found a long piece of bamboo and held it, one at the top of the slippery area, one at the bottom, so the rest of us could use it as a railing. Wasn’t that smart and sweet of them? 

Notice that these four guys are carrying a really big rock, tied to bamboo poles they’re carrying on their shoulders.
They are walking on either side of a narrow water channel that they use to bring water to their rice fields. 

After we got out of the trees and into the sunlight, we found a huge rock and all clambered up on it to let our clothes dry and eat the fruit and snacks we had brought along. It was lots of fun (and quite delicious!). And then we rode back down the curving, twisting roads and safely home.

What about you? Does that sound like fun, or not really your thing? 

9 thoughts on “The Waterfalls”

  2. David Mabe says:
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    If I was there, I'd have to climb up on one of those beautiful mountains with a guitar and a digital recorder. That's songwriting territory there. I looks like such a beautiful place. However, as I said on Facebook, their version of a “meat market” would turn me vegetarian. The pictures are awesome. It's enjoyable reading about your time there. Be safe while you're there. Looking forward to hearing more about your time there. Have a great day or night depending on when you see this. Or for that matter, have both. 🙂

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