This weekend I got the opportunity to take part in two fun adventures. On Saturday we went Kayaking in the Jamao and Yassica Rivers that pass through the northern mountain chain of the Dominican Republic. I was a little worried when I woke up because it was pouring out but I still really wanted to go. We had to drive about a half hour to get to the river and by the time we got there the sun had come out. We had to walk down a very uneven, slippery, and muddy path to get down to the river. It was tricky to navigate so I'm so glad that I didn't end up falling on the way down. I was in a two seater kayak with my friend Shannon. She was the navigator since the only kayaking experience that I have is in my high school swimming pool. Kayaking was easier than I expected and the scenery was breathtaking. So much vegetation and animals to look at along the way. We got to go through some rougher parts of the river too which was my favorite part. The guides were right there to help you navigate. This was a good thing because I ended up getting stuck in shallow water four times. Whenever I got stuck I would just shout Frank Frank (one of the guides names). Frank would come over and I would say lo siento Frank and he would say no problema and move my kayak onto the right path. In the middle of the trip we brought our kayaks to shore and got to go swimming in the river. There was a little cave near where we stopped so I got to swim around in there too. It was so refreshing. We kayaked a total of 5 miles and at our ending stop we had to walk up a muddy hill to a Dominican woman's house where chicken, rice, beans, and fried plantains were waiting for us. The meal so was delicious. The fried plantains were by far my favorite. While eating I saw that some of the boys that lived at the house were carrying the kayaks up the muddy hill that we had to climb up. I was so impressed because I could barely walk up the hill and all I was holding was the paddle for my kayak. After having this experience I defiantly want to do some more kayaking when I get back to Buffalo.
The excitement continued on Sunday when we visited the Monkey jungle. We were lead into this big area where the squirrel monkeys live. I was getting excited as I saw all the monkeys climbing around and eagerly volunteered to take a plate of food. As soon as I had the plate in my hand I had probably about 10 monkeys on my arms and on my head. I loved it. They were so small, cute, and soft. When I was done feeding them a lot of them still loved to jump and sit on my head and shoulders. I think they really liked my hair. I could have stayed in there forever. Then we went down to see another type of monkeys that were caged (because their behavior is unpredictable). We had to stand behind a yellow line and watch as the guide fed the monkeys. My one friend was turned around taking a picture of someone in our group and she didn't realize that she was too close to the cage so the monkey grabbed her bun and started to pull it. Luckily he let go quickly.
Next it was on to zip lining. There were seven different lines. One of them was a vertical drop! I was so excited. The only thing that I was nervous about was not stopping on time or stopping too soon becuase I didn't want to end up being stuck in the middle of the line. The workers were amazing they were so helpful and made the experience so much fun. The first line was a slower one which was nice because it let me get used to what it is like to break. I had no problem breaking in time for the first two lines. The scenery was breathtaking. The third line was the fastest one. I loved this one but I got a little nervous towards the middle because I started to slightly spin so I was scared that I was going to spin around and come in backwards but I ended up spinning back around. On the fourth line, just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, the guide told us that we didn't have to break much so I came in hot and I mean hot. I waited too long to break so I almost crashed into the padding at the end of the line. Luckily the guide caught me and made me stop before this happened. One of the lines was a vertical drop which was very unique. I had to sit down at the end of a ledge and then just jump down and we ended up landing in a cave. It was amazing! I did well on the other lines and didn't end up crashing at the end of any other lines. I was sad when we got to the last line because I was having so much fun. This experience really makes me want to go try the high ropes corse and zip lining in Buffalo. I know it won't be the same but it will still be fun.