Day 3: Jungle Hike

Our first full day in Indonesia, we went on a hike in the jungle. We actually took a short boat ride to another small island (there are so many!) to do the hike.

We hiked about 5K in until we reached a waterfall and a black(!) pond. The girls and guys went separately, so that we could set a pace for each group, and so that our guides could show us things along the way.

These were little, hairy berries that tasted like blueberries. We saw some really big spiders (thankfully from a distance), a lot of termites (that we did not taste), and a lot of rubber.

The girls did a lot of screaming (basically any time they saw one of the above-mentioned insects--or even an ant) which made it difficult for us to see any other types of wildlife.

We saw cows, chickens, cats, and dogs, as well as banana trees and palm trees outside some of the houses in the middle of the jungle. There was even a mosque out there!

By the time we reached the waterfall, we were ready for the refreshing water! The kids immediately started lining up to jump off the rock.

The water was so deep that I just kept going down after jumping off the rock. It took me a while to realize that I was never going to touch bottom and have something to push off of. By the time I started swimming upward, my ears were popping! When I finally got to the top, the kids were all talking about how long I had been under the water. I didn't feel the need to do it again after that. One experience was enough for me!

The trip back was pretty uneventful, though the girls were tired enough to be quiet and we got to see some monkeys swinging through the jungle near the end. That was exciting, but I don't have a good enough lens to catch a picture of them.

Many of the girls took a nap on the boat ride back. I sat back and enjoyed the ride through the mangroves. It was a very fun hike and it was so nice to be back in nature and out of the "concrete jungle" we call Seoul!