Days before our flight, I did some research about the things that are listed in our itinerary just to give me the idea of what to expect. Reading blogs about CDO’s adventures made me so excited that I started dragging the days.
Then came the day of our most anticipated vacation. We took the earliest flight of Cebu pacific bound to Cagayan de Oro at 4:20 AM. We arrived at almost 6:00 AM. It was so cold that the morning breeze of fresh air got us all shivering. Kuya Jovanni picked us up and since it was so early and the places that we will be going to are still closed, he toured us around Dvisoria. We took our breakfast at McDonalds (bagong-bago, wala sa Manila
We headed to Mapawa’s nature park, paid Php50 for entrance fee. The attendant in the entrance explained to us the packages they have. Of course we asked about the waterfalls rappelling, and to our dismay, he said that you need to have a reservation before you could do the whole adventure. So he just suggested trying their adventures in the park which includes Zip line, rappelling, and monkey walk. The package costs around Php350. We went ahead to the park and there the manager welcomed us and started telling us to avail their canyoneering adventure package. We were lucky after all that nobody was booked on that day, good thing we were the first guests to arrive in the park. He showed us slide pictures of the adventures and he didn’t really need to do a lot of convincing because we were so up to it we immediately said yes. (Chinque was a little apprehensive but she still joined). The whole package costs Php1,000 and you need to sign a waiver before doing the activity. While they were preparing the equipment and the transpo that will take us to the site, which was a little long that’s why it’s important that you have an early booking to avoid waiting, we toured around the park. It seems to be fun as well, especially if you’re doing them with a big group.
After 30 minutes of anticipation and waiting, the tractor was now waiting in front of us. We were like, “huwaatt?! Ito pong sasakyan natin papunta don?” The staff just smiled and said, “kaya nga po sabi ni Sir, papunta palang adventure na.” Oh well, we hopped in and settled in our seats. We started the activity with a prayer and off we went with the joyride! It was the roughest road ever that after 5 minutes of trying to hold on my seat, I decided to sit on the floor instead, which was a lot better because I couldn’t sit still on my seat!
It was a 45 minute maalog-utak na biyahe before Kuya Lulong told us to get off the tractor. He introduced us to DAO, the Oldest tree in that forest and we trekked for another 20minutes. The trek itself was another adventure because thanks to Kuya, he mentioned that the forest is abundant with snakes that it got me walking so fast! After that long and tiring walk, we finally heard the waterfalls rushing and before we know it, they were gearing us up for the adventure.
First activity is the 20ft waterfall slide. I don’t know if it was out of anticipation that nobody even hesitated and we were all finished with the slide in just minutes. The feeling while sliding down was unexplainable. Imagine being pushed by the strong current of water and the smooth rocks on your behind and finally being thrown out to the water down below, I don’t know how to describe that feeling. But it was awesome!
Going to the second phase was not easy, you need to pass through slippery rocks and sometimes have to slide again to small waterfalls and swim across to reach the other surface. Thanks to our guides that they were really helpful and patient to guide us crossing through.
The second activity was “THE JUMP” the 25ft free fall, no harness, just your life vest and trust that someone’s there if ever you need to be rescued. It looks easy because from afar 25ft was not high, but once you’re there, you would just realize how high it really was. I was the longest to jump because the height actually scared the hell out of me. I finally understood those people from the blog who also went through a lot of convincing before doing the jump. But since we are also thinking of our 4:30 pm ferry ride, I gathered all the courage I have and uttered a short prayer and at long last, I jumped! It was short yet fulfilling! I became so proud of myself after that.
The last phase is the 65ft waterfall rappelling. It didn’t fright me at all because I have experienced rappelling before. Only difference is that there’s waterfalls rushing in front of you which was way better than rappelling in a dry building even if it’s 30floors high.
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