Look Ma, No Hands!

For a trip that had a lot of pre-departure drama, it was a roaring success. Two weekends ago, we explored another side of Cagayan de Oro I never knew existed till recently. There we learned to let go and let live. There, for the first time for most of us, we succumbed to the glory of extreme adventure sports.

First there was the 15-minute walk (okay, 30 minutes including the picture taking galore) down the sky bridge, 150 feet above the ground, at Makahambus Adventure Park. Below it was a dense habitat of what must be century-old trees and what-have-you forest creatures you can only imagine. And if only I wasn’t too busy gripping the side ropes for dear life (this despite the harness securing me to another rope above to prevent mishaps), I would have scared myself silly with my overactive imagination. The guide told us “down there” used to be a cave with bats and all until Mother Nature decided to uncover its head and shower it with some light.

Then, there was the zip line going back – now THAT was amazing and absolutely my favorite part. At first, while waiting for my turn to be released, looking at the distance and the high drop, I couldn’t help but ask—no, torture—myself for the nth time, “Wait, ayin, why is it you’re doing this again? Why, in fact, are you paying 500-fuckin-pesos just to take that dive to nowhere (possibly) when you didn’t have to?”

Then I heard myself answer back for the nth time, “Because it’s something different, it’s something beyond you, the opportunity is here, right now, and if you don’t do this now, you may never experience this kind of rush and one-of-a-kind freedom in your life.”

And you know what I found out? It was only the letting go part that was hard. Because once released, the feeling is so-so cool. You actually hear the wind rushing by your ears and that full-blown scream you release is so-so liberating. Then mid-way, you learn to let go of the ropes, just hang in the air with only the harness securing you through the thin line, and then you look up to the sky and somehow you wish you could just go on like that forever—so light and so cool, maybe not so brave yet still so safe. It was then I realized why, in life, many times, we just need to let go and let God. He sets us free.

Somehow, after the skywalk and the zip line, the thought of whitewater rafting, the main event which came after, did not scare us that much anymore. In fact, it was actually less scary than we imagined and prepared for.

Three hours of rafting on Cagayan river, which splits Cagayan and Bukidnon translates to P1,100 per person (less if you’re a group of 10). Before launching, we suited up – helmet, vest, and paddle, and were given a briefing on the safety measures while on river, which comforted me a bit.

Our main guide, Mael, who we absolutely loved for his comic deadpan anecdotes, directed us to “forward!” paddle, back paddle, and lock our peets (feet) when necessary. Because the water was high (thank God), we experienced about 14 to 16 ORGASMIC RAPIDS (normally 12) and every time we conquered one, the group celebrated the team effort with paddles in the air and a loud “high-five!”

It was amazing really… it’s like being in a big whirlpool bath with bubbles. Some rapids were mellow, some surprising, some amazingly fast, some wild, some long and deep – oh, I said orgasmic already, didn’t I? My favorite was what they named as the “Rodeo”. As we approached this particular rapids, Mael told us to stand, lock our peets and paddle rodeo style. We could barely keep our balance but still nobody fell off and it was exhilarating.

When it became too hot, our guides allowed us a couple of icy dips on still waters. It was murky, perhaps deep, and perhaps filled with unknown creatures or snakes from what they call the “Snake Mountain”, but what the heck—at that point, we were just glad to be alive on water.

Getting us back on the raft took all of our guides’ efforts. Mael bemoaned that we must have gained some pounds after we wiped out lunch. Who could blame us with that very sumptuous meal of mouthwatering prawns, fresh crabs, spicy chicken, puso and very juicy and sweet pineapples that our guides prepared for us? Yummmm. For me, that was the best lunch ever.

After the whitewater rafting, we went back to Makahambus park for the rappelling. After everything, it was a bit tame. You just release and control the rope by your butt to set the pace you want going down. Yes, going down that “dense habitat of what must be century-old trees and what-have-you forest creatures you can only imagine.” It was okay. What was not okay was going up the very steep steel and almost rusty staircase on our way back. I almost lost my breath completely in my bid to reach the top so fast in fear of crawling creatures that might spring up any time and of being left behind. I never felt so happy reaching the top in my life.

I admit I went to Cagayan intending to run and perhaps to let go. And I did. But not for long. For FG followed and managed to catch me along the way. They say love is the greatest adventure. Call me senseless, but I'm inspired enough to give it another try.

To FG, here's a high-five and bottoms up (!) this time 'round!