Chasing Waterfalls

We walked along the river and balanced on rocks on a random Monday morning

to get to Tangadan Falls in San Gabriel, La Union After the hour-long trek, this is what greeted us: the majestic 40-footer waterfall!

I was soooo not prepared for the hike--only wore my Havaianas! :P It was definitely a struggle especially while crossing rivers and stepping on smooth, slippery rocks, but they (& I) survived!

Video posted by PJ Lanot (@pjlanot) on Jul 18, 2016 at 10:15pm PDT

Of course, PJ (our very own ninja warrior), did not miss the opportunity to jump off the cliffs and rocks :P

We swam in this gorgeous cyan pool just in front of the waterfalls. Water was so cold, but it was suuuper relaxing. I could have stayed there all day. THIS is exactly what we need. Regularly.

I realized then that my life is way too fast. Days are counted by ticks off my to-do lists. Multiple meetings are scheduled in an afternoon, and it results to everything being a blur. What happened? Who was I with? When did it happen? I hardly even have time to journal anymore.

There, a few quiet minutes to myself, was when I promised that I would be present in each moment, and to take in each experience.

To be present, and to be grateful.

The flowers I painted (and cut) above are Banaba flowers, from the Banaba tree. Going up the top of the waterfalls, the rocks were covered with these magenta petals!! They were so beautiful! I wasn't able to take photos, so I decided to recreate them with radiant watercolor. I nomate these flowers/trees to be our country's own version of Sakura :) Someone please plant these in a park!!!

And then back in San Juan, we hung out on the beach.

I noticed that the shore was dotted with tiny broken shells. Maybe because of the big waves? I started picking up a few, and decided to challenge myself with...