We started are weekend kyaking through a beautiful lake that flows through the jungle and local farmland in Cabarete. I never seen water so blue, it was such a beautiful sight to see. At the start of our kyaking tour I began to cry because I remembered how fortunate I am to visit this beautiful area and do something I would never expect to do in my life, The water and the areas that we flowed through in our kyak was so beautiful and breathtaking. I was so nervous as we stirred the kyak because I never done anything like this in my life because I do not know how to swim, While in the kyak, my Domincan Hermana, Violeta (Morgan) kept me calm and made my trip very enjoyable because she knew how nervous I was. Thankfully she is a life guard so i was very comfortable sharing my kyak with her.
Half way through our five mile kyak, my real fear was tested! My fear of swimming!!! Ahh the time was here... We had about a 30 minute break where we rested at a beach like area. We gathered comida y agua (food and water). Some people even jumped in the ocean and practiced paddle boating, I stared timidly, hoping everyone would enjoy swimming enough to forget about me standing on the side. After a few minutes all of the girls screamed "Jasmine, come swim with us" I repeatedly replied "NO, I can't swim" Then our kyak instructor along with my kyak partner, Morgan grabbed me and tried to comfort me enough to jump in the water, I still screamed no as I walked deeper into the water. After a few minutes of screaming and i realized how far i was in the water. Morgan tried to persuade me to swim on my own, I quickly panicked and squeezed her arm so she wouldn't let me go until Kaitlyn said "Listen to her, she's and experienced life guard, she knows what she's doing" I immediately calmed down as my senses were relieved. I also remembered I had a life jacket on, I began to swim and enjoy more water adventures.
Sunday was a more than amazing day! I played with monkeys and watched them jump all over me and my cohort as we fed them fruits on a plate. This experience was so fun, watching the monkeys up close and live in action. After the monkey Jungle, it was time to conquer another fear, my fear of heights by zip lining. I was so scared to perform this task but I was ready to face my fear. As we hiked up a mountain my nerves began to go away because there was no way I was walking all the way back down the mountain. Soon it was my turn, next in line, I had to go. But I was so scared, I told myself I would do it because I could see where i would land. I screamed the whole way through the zip line that I teared up towards the end in shock and disbelief because I actually did it. I zipped again on the next line. On the third line I became very nervous because the instructor said it was a point in where we had to "break" to slow down. I was so nervous that I would break the wrong way or forget to do so that I asked the instructor to go on the zip line with me. After this time, he insisted to go with me a few more times, I've now made a new friend!
P.S. I'm excited to conquer more fears on this wonderful adventure
-Jasmine, a brave adventurer