Thursday, February 11, 2010

Agasthyarkoodam Trip - Part III


Luckily the wind came to soothe our fears a little bit. The breeze brought us relief as we were soaking wet with sweat from walking with our backpacks (as well as fear too, I believe). The wind also provided some much needed noise through the swaying trees. We continued walking and the sound of the breeze grew bigger and the forest grew thicker.

Suddenly Pakaran stopped and said “Listen carefully!” We stopped dead in our tracks. “What? What is it?” He said “It is not the sound of the wind getting stronger. It is the sound of water. Falling on rocks. A waterfall!” We listened carefully now and realized he was telling the truth. We ran straight ahead. We could see a clearing in front of us and we ran together and came out from behind the last tree to see the most breath-taking view of a wonderful waterfall nested right there in between lush greenery, the spray from the fall drawing a rainbow in front of our eyes! This was paradise! And not another single soul in sight but us! A small lake had formed where the water fell and the rocks right below the fall was raised like a platform and we immediately slipped out of our clothes and those of us who knew swimming swam there while the rest of us waded through the side between the rocks to reach there. And we stood there right beside the water falling from such a height with so much power. We held our hands together and shouted like we had conquered the world. All our tiredness and exhaustion had disappeared like a bad dream. This was certainly the closest place to heaven on earth.

Pakaran told us that this time the water was less since it had been a couple of weeks without rain. Usually the water falls from the top to much farther so we can actually stand on the platform behind the waterfall. We could see the place where water usually fell was deep though it looked shallow. Even then it was an amazing sight. The pit formed from the waterfall was colourful like nothing I had ever seen before. There were designs on the smooth rocks below, presumably algae, in different colours – green, blue, red, yellow. You couldn’t stop looking – it seemed as if a magical world existed down there. So alluring and so deadly too for we were warned it was much deeper than it appeared. And with the ice cold water someone not an expert would be in real danger if he tried to swim cross.

(To be continued ...)

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