Hi everyone!
Today I am going to do a recap of my last two days in Cairnes. I would say these were my favorite two days, but I honestly loved my entire time there.
On Sunday morning, we woke up for a Barefoot Tour. We weren’t really sure what this entailed, but we knew that the group that came here earlier this year absolutely loved it. Before boarding the bus, Shannon and I walked over to a small market to pick up something quick for breakfast. I found a little paleo section where they had home-made apricot, coconut, and walnut muffins. I grabbed one of those and a banana before I headed back to the bus. I’m definitely looking for a recipe for these muffins once I get home! They were so healthy too – gluten and dairy free!
The bus that we boarded looked like something out of That 70’s Show. It was an actual hippy van, complete with flowers lining the entire inside ceiling and fake grass rolled out as a carpet. The driver/tour guide came running over to Shannon and I as we walked towards him and picked me up and swung me around in a giant hug before doing the same to her. The first thing that he said was “We are all family here and today, if nothing else, I want you to just blurt out anything that comes to your mind.” We laughed and boarded the bus, not really sure how the day was going to turn out…
Once we got going, our tour guide Josh let us know that we would be going to all of most popular waterfalls in the area over the course of the day. He said there were no rules and the day was all about relaxing and having fun.
The first place that we stopped at was a big lake.
It was pretty secluded and there was one big tree branch hanging out over the water that we could jump out of. I didn’t jump, but I did go in the water for a few minutes. It was freezing and it really wasn’t anything special.
While we were swimming, Josh and the other guide got morning tea and coffee ready for us. They had two huge fruit platters complete with all types of exotic fruit. I could not stop eating it. While I am loving the food here, my stomach has been bothering me because of all the junk I have been eating. I was so excited when I saw bananas, mangos, lychee, passionfruit, and other fruits that I had never seen before. I ate my fair share and loved all of it.
After morning tea, we loaded back into the bus and took off to the first actual waterfall.
As soon as we arrived and I saw this, I knew that the day was going to get infinitely better. I wanted to dive right in and swim out to the waterfall. Unfortunately, the water was probably the coldest I had ever been in. We all agreed that we just had to suck it up and swim out there!
Shannon and I honestly thought that we were drowning as we got close to the falls. We were shaking because we were so cold and swimming against the current. Of course, the fact that we were laughing our heads off didn’t help our efforts either.
Once we finally made out way over, the swim was worth it. It was so cool to just sit and look at the sun reflecting through the water that was falling over us.
We attempted to take a group photo but it was really hard with all of the slippery rocks. At this point in the day, all of the guys in our group had started drinking bags of wine. They actually insisted on carrying them out to the waterfall during their swim so that they could say that they drank wine under the waterfall… The girls wanted no part of it.
After making our way back to shore, we took some more pictures and sat down to eat a few more snacks. We stopped at a grocery store on the way to this location, so I had some cheese and crackers with trail mix. We only stayed at this location for about an hour before heading off to the next.
Josh told us on the bus that if we liked that waterfall, we would be in heaven with the next one… and he was right.
This waterfall was enormous!! We had to hike for about 10 minutes to get down to the bottom of it, where we put all of our things and began exploring.
Some of us took on the challenge of trying to climb up behind the falls. It was really tough and I spent most of the time walking with both my hands and feet so that I didn’t slip.
Once I made it to the top, the view was amazing. I could have sat up there all day.
I stayed in the water the entire time, even once I was back down at the bottom. I just couldn’t get enough of how crisp, clear, and fresh it was. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and hanging out!
Our last location of the day was where we spent most of our time. It was a publicly known waterfall, so there were quite a few people there. It was still a blast. There was a huge rock that you could climb up and slide down. I was a little nervous at first, but once I went down once I couldn’t get enough.
We went down in groups…
and some of the guys were trying to stand going down it… I thought for sure there would be a trip to the ER, especially after all the wine that they drank…
We had a really fun day! Overall, the Barefoot Tour was awesome. I would highly recommend doing it if you are ever in Cairnes!!
After getting back that night, we were all pretty exhausted and went to bed early.
The next day, Monday, was the only day that we didn’t have an adventure planned and it worked out perfectly. It was nice being able to sleep in a bit and have a low key day at the lagoon.
After breakfast the next morning, we headed over to the lagoon and laid out our towels. It was almost 95 degrees, so we were in the water almost the entire day. Being with a group of 10 guys gets a little rambunctious though, and before we knew it we were providing entertainment for the entire pool. There was a group of three guys around our age trying to do a three person shoulder pyramid across the pool, and of course we had to challenge them.
I was really impressed that we were able to do this! We had a solid four person tower, that we mastered after some practice, but were really struggling to get five. Even the lifeguards were cheering for us. Luckily, I was on the top so I didn’t have too much work to do. 🙂 The counterpart to that though was that I did biggest belly flop of my life from up there at one point when we fell over. Lol. One of my friends even got it on video.
Around 5pm, we went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for our flights back home. We had an awesome weekend full of laughter and what I am sure will be life-long memories! I am so grateful to have experienced this with such a fun group of people.
xo,
Jaclyn
