I'm sitting in the middle of a stream, yanking at the leg of a wetsuit, praying it fits. We hiked up and around a mountain, trying to get to the top of the waterfall, only to rappel down. As the two guides tighten the harnesses of everyone around me, I squeeze the teeth of the zipper as one of my friends guides it up to my neck. The guide with two earrings in his right ear tugs at one of my harness bands, and we are off, trekking down stream, stepping only where the water rushes. Traction is better where nothing grows. As the kid with the GoPro strapped to his helmet tells me to be careful, I slip smack on my butt, bruising my fall, and he catches it on film.
An hour later, I'm staring over a 90 foot water fall, watching a girl dangle, clutching the knotted rope at the end of her carabiner. The guide hardly watches her, lowering out of habit, and the man next to me lowers himself into the water while waiting, sings a song in Italian and splashes himself with water from his shoe. I think about how I'm going to trash these shoes after this.
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