Stand Under A Waterfall

On my canyoneering trip in Cebu a few days ago, the last stop was the Kawasan Falls, a three-tiered waterfall famous for its surreal blue water. It is also the most touristy in Cebu. The best time to go to avoid crowd is very early in the morning, around 7 to 8 a.m. But because I did the canyoneering as part of a tour group, I reached Kawasan at noon. There were already tons of tourists around, swimming and loitering at the restaurants. Luckily it was a Friday. I can't imagine how packed it would be on weekends. 

It was nice to be able to relax in the water after a couple of hours trekking in the canyons, but I had to keep my life jacket on. Everybody had to wear one, especially those who wanted to go near the waterfall. I don't know if this was because somebody had drowned in the past.

Tied to a post at one corner was a big bamboo raft, where people could get on to rest or take pictures. Usually, visitors could pay a small fee to take the raft to the waterfall, and lie face down on it to get a "waterfall back massage". But for some reason, on that day, this service was unavailable. So, I had to make do with just standing under the waterfall.

Well, technically, I wasn't really standing, because the water was too deep. And I wasn't really swimming either. I was just bobbing up and down, trying not to drown. I held on tightly to the safety rope while the water pounded on my head from above.

So, I did manage to get a two-second head massage before I called it quits. It was not a very pleasant massage. My hair was all over my face. And our guide had already started to call us back, signalling the end of the trip.