Most
of the time I think life throws signs at you. I call them red flags to make you
take the right path in whatever you are doing. Nowadays let’s say I am more
aware after working so much on my own self-growth. So when I notice life
showing me the signs, I analyze them and see which consequences can come from
decisions I make. But there was a time when I was not that aware and
consequences were not even an issue.
If
I am not wrong, I think I was probably 22 years old, in college and it was Easter
time. In Peru, it is usually a holiday from Thursday to Sunday, so most of the
people choose to go out of town. I remember everybody had plans except me. I
felt kind of pathetic because for years I would always be doing something fun
around this time. All of a sudden, one of my best friends and I made plans from
nowhere. We planned to go to these beautiful falls that everybody was talking
about. We knew just the two of us would be kind of weird to go alone, so she
asked a friend of hers to go, and I asked a friend too. We were 2 girls and 2
boys in this last minute adventure.
My
mom and I have a very good relationship. She always gave me freedom, and I
pretty much made wise decisions. When I told my mom that I was going to go to
the Palacala Falls (Las Cataratas de Palacala) with 3 more friends, she
actually said, “You shouldn’t go.” To my surprise, my mom was telling me not to
go. I didn’t understand why because other years we have gone camping with
friends and that was never a problem. When I asked her why, she really didn’t
have a clear answer; she just kept saying: “Do not go.”
There
was my first sign, and I totally ignored it. All we knew was that it was a
beautiful hike that would take probably 3 hours minimum. We were excited about
that. While my mom was not really giving me her blessing to go, she respected
my decision. At the same time, my girlfriend told her parents where we were
going; they were not happy either. Her dad was very specific in saying that it
was not a good idea. He even followed us with the car to convince us not to go,
another sign right? But we ignored him. We kept going and started our
adventure.
The
4 of us took a bus and tried to get the closest to the falls to start hiking, but
after so much traffic and not really having a good plan we arrived pretty late to
start the hike and decided to crash in whatever place. We saw this club that
was a train car in a small mountain. I remember it being so cheap, but we were
looking to have some fun. It was Thursday, the beginning of Easter. We all
decided we wanted to go dancing, so we looked for the cheapest hotel around the
area just to leave our stuff so we didn’t have to take it to the club. What we
found was so nasty, but we just rented it to leave things so we thought it would
be okay. I drank more than I should have. My 2 male friends disappeared, and I
will be forever grateful for my girlfriend who was there with me when a guy tried
to take me upstairs. I was so drunk that I thought I was actually going upstairs
with him. My girlfriend just took my hand and told me to stay with her. I will
say that was another sign that I ignored.
The
night ended, and we knew that Friday was the start of our hike. We had to rest
a little bit to have the energy to hike, so we went back to our 0 stars hotel.
But it was closed! Nobody was answering the door, so we just sat by the stairs
waiting for someone to open. All of a sudden, 2 guys from nowhere appeared to the
rescue and asked us what we were doing just sitting there. We explained that
whoever was in charge of that place was not answering. The guy just told us not
to worry, broke in and got us in our bedroom. I guess they also stayed there,
right? Another clear sign for me now that I was not really thinking of the
consequences of what could go wrong.
I
remember being worried that these 2 strangers were in our bedroom, and our 2 male
friends were just sleeping. I remember giving looks to my girlfriend to see
what the heck we could do to get rid of these 2 other guys that looked kind of
creepy. Finally we told them to go and pretty much pushed them away and closed
our bedroom door. We were exhausted; it was already probably like 6am, and we
needed to get rid of our hangover. After some sleep, we went to have breakfast.
It was Good Friday, and as a Catholic culture, we were not supposed to eat
meat. But, come on, we were having an adventure. We ate sausage and started to
get ready for the hike, which we still had no idea where to even start.
We
finally got to the trailhead, and with all our backpacks and sleeping bags
ready, we started to hike. Not having any idea what time it was, and seeing
people actually coming down the mountain, we didn’t have the idea that maybe it
was too late to start this. This was a sign that I will say screamed at me: “This
is not a good idea! Just go back!” We continued anyway.
We
had a lot of fun going up. We also fought because our 2 male friends were
drinking the water and soda too fast, and we were all walking at a different
pace. I remember walking and walking for hours and feeling that sensation of “Where
are the fricking falls!!??” We started to notice that people were not coming
down anymore and that the sun was going away. We tried to hurry, but all of a
sudden, it became pitch black...
To be continued
Me
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