The Philippines: Conquistadoras.

One of my favorite days ever.

It started out in this thing.  

Then we drove and drove past beautiful places like this... 

and shacks like this with the best view ever,

...and past other beautiful sights.... etc, etc, etc,

...complete with a perfectly warm breeze on our faces.

 

And then we arrived and the hiking commenced... through a jungle....

...with some awesome gear on the whole time.

Annnnd don't forget the super cute Filipino kids along the way.

Very hot and humid.  Very worth it.

Suspicious Madeleine.

And then we hiked straight up vertically.  For a long time.

 

Until we got to the top of a hill!!  And it was beautiful.  (surprise.)

 

And the hike continued.

And it's still gorgeous and tropical.

Through massive amounts of thick, soft mud.

Exotic rainforest?  Check.

Fearless explorers?  Check.

Adventure?  Check.

And finally forging streams, jumping over rocks, maneuvering through cracks in the rocks.  With the peace sign.  And a little bit of parkour.

Arrived.  At last.  SO MUCH EXCITEMENT...

...and anticipation...

FOR WATERFALL RAPPELLING!!!!!!!!!

Emma on the first waterfall.

(Ok, so we spent the day doing this.  Down Montaneza Falls.  It was simply incredible and exhilarating.)

Me on the first waterfall

The pressure from the water was absolutely tremendous.  So powerful.  But so much fun going in and out of the waterfall.

First waterfall of the day: success.

Looking up through the canyon.

Navigating in the water through a mini-cave.

 

Emma sipping from a fire hose.  Or waterfall.

I am in there.  Somewhere.  Completely encased by waterfall.

 

Emerging.

 Madeleine is horrified....?

It looks like Mad and I are easily sliding down.  I was actually completely stuck at this point.

Emma documenting her bravery before overcoming the biggest waterfall.

Intensity.

Madeleine maneuvering flawlessly.

THE crazy huge awesome waterfall.

Perspective.  

My shoe ready to go at the top and Emma celebrating at the bottom.

Madeleine conquering a 98-foot waterfall.  Like a boss.

Halfway through the waterfall, the ledge completely drops off, letting you hang freely as you rappel down for the remainder.

Zoomed in from the last picture.  Mad's face is priceless.

Crazy roots.

Mad and Emma urging each other on before jumping down the waterfall.

 

Emma displaying her conquest of heights and free jumping down waterfalls in narrow ravines filled with rocks.

Conquistadoras.  

Smiles were very abundant.

After the waterfalls, we laid in a hot spring in the river (so random, right?) gazing up at this most blue sky ever.

And then we feasted on a delicious, much needed Filipino meal.

Two of the waterfall jumps.... (true story, I didn't realize until now that I could successfully upload videos since my connection in China couldn't handle it... We'll see if it actually works...)

Apologizes for the camera view... I had to use both hands to prep for the jump.