Coca-cola Waterfalls

Cachoeira da Capivara

Coca-cola waterfalls- that is how to summarize my trip to the Chapada Diamantina mountain range in
inland Bahia. An hour onto our first day of the 3-day trek, our guide brings us up to a river and shouts out, "Coca-cola!" There it is, acting just like coca-cola does in our stomach, as it erodes the rocks into different shapes and sizes. Rich in trace minerals, it is the color of coke too, making it difficult on our depth perception of the waterfall lagoons. What looks like 100 feet deep is actually just shy of 3 feet, imagine. Okay so maybe other people have already experienced some nature adventure as such, but this was my first time. You could imagine the ohhhs and ahhhs coming from my mouth for three days straight. Figuring out the puzzle of what rock to step on while still making sure to stop and take in the scenery, eating our guide Flor's delicious home-cooked meals from a makeshift rock formation stove, and with no wifi, thus every excuse to be detached from this keyboard, I was in heaven.

Yup, we drank that coke water

Hopping from one Coca-cola waterfall to the next, I sunk into an inner peace that defined my month of July. My parents came and went, same as my friend Raha. A few close Brazilian friends left for the States on their own adventure. In the past months I have had many people come into my life and then I've had to say goodbye. Let me say, packing may get easier but goodbyes never do. That being said, the one person we don't say goodbye to is ourselves, right? Alone in your own skin, what more is there? Lately I have been at the brink of feeling whole alone, which I don't think I've ever fully felt before.

Cachoeira da Fumaça: Smoking Waterfall

What is shocking about the waterfalls is their prominence in nature. Out of nowhere, we would see one in the distance. Rushing water, one whole entity, alone in nature. Or, we feel its mist well before we would come up to the base of the waterfall. Loud, boistrous, charging water, washing away trees, crushing rocks, and singing nightly lullabys to those dosing off nearby. Supported by its environment, and yet sprung across a cliff, these waterfalls have a mind of their own. Forever thinking in metaphors, these coke falls got me thinking about my own feeling of whole alone. To be whole alone is an empowering feeling with intoxicating potential. Whether or not what we give back to our environment is made of something toxic like coke or of something nurturing like trace mineral water is up to us. Depending on how we nurture ourselves, how we develop our individual characteristics, and how we act when we are alone will form what we share with the world. Wholly alone. Seek out this peace and share with me what you find. I'm dying to learn!

Can you see the monkey face? Morro de Macaco