I went on another tour today, which took in another bit of the rainforest and also a glass bottomed boat ride over a coral reef which was next to the island on which Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond books. Beat that! You can't. Your life is humdrum. You almost certainly haven't been in a rainforest today. The rain maybe. A forest, possibly (but probably not - going into a normal forest in the rain is about the most exciting thing you can aspire to, but I can go in a real rainforest anytime I like - for the next day. Then backl to humdrum Shepherd's Bush, which isn't even a real bush and has no shepherds in it.
This tour was much better than the one on Monday. The guide was a lot funnier and more knowledgeable and we saw loads more cool stuff from nature - no crabs, but you can't have everything.
There was no man hiring out wellies here either (and I had brought socks with me to avoid the fart issue) so I had to risk my cool trainers in the rainforest mud. We were heading for a waterfall up the hillside, but half way up we found out why the rainforest got its name, when the heavens opened and a torrent of warm water poured down on us. Luckily we were right by a little stall selling handcrafted stuff that was improbably in the middle of the forest. The man making and selling the stuff could not have got the timing better if he tried. I guess that maybe fifty or so tourists would go past him a day (maybe more when the proper holiday season is upon the island) and it's amazing to think that people here can make a living off such sparse pickings - like the man hiring wellies at a similary unpromising location. I noticed there was a dirty mattress under the counter displaying his wares. The man must sleep up here at least some of the time. I can think of worse places to be.
The rain stopped and we carried on with our walk. Finally we reached our destination - an impressive waterfall with a big natural pool of murky green water beneath it. We were invited to go and swim. After a half an hour walk in humid conditions this was a welcome refreshment. I swam around in the cool water (and it was very fresh as I discovered when I accidentally swallowed a couple of mouthfuls) and then I tried to get beneath the waterfall and let it pour down on me. The current was too strong and I lost my grip on the rock behind me, but it was still an exhilirating and amazingly relaxing experience. When I got out I felt as happy as I have all year. Swimmig around in a natural lagoon underneath a spluttering waterfall in the middle of a rainforest is about as good as it gets. I think I have a problem relaxing (and not just my shoulders) and little things have continued to stress me during this holiday, but being beneath that waterfall washed all my pointless cares away and reminded me how important it is to have fun and experence the unusual. You have to love nature.
To remind me of the day and as a reminder of the importance of chilling off, on the way down I bought a little leather wrist-band from the rainforest artisan. I could have hired two pairs of wellies or listened to two rubbish songs on a small steel drum for the same money, or in the UK bought a large banana caramel frappuchino light.I think this was good value, but hoped that the man was ripping me off from his point of view.
I'm not the kind of person who usually wears wrist-bands, but that seemed a good enough reason to get one. I can look at it when I am back in my humdrum life and it will serve as a warning against stress and stupidity and make me think of sheltering from the rain and swimming in clear water. You know, until it inevitably falls apart in a fortnight.
