Interesting Place I Visited

This summer two of my cousin’s friends from her school in Paris visited Cannes, where my mom’s sister’s family lives, for a weekend. One of them, Vlad, spoke perfect English as he lived in London for thirteen years until they moved back to France, and invited us to go to his house in St. Cezaire for the day and hike down to the river. His mother packed us sandwiches and we packed our bags and were on our way with the sun beaming on us with so much intensity that it felt as though we were in a lava lamp. After about an hour of trampling pebbles and navigating around bulldozers we hit the half-way point. We stood listening carefully to the loud flowing of the river and the watching closely the beauty before us of a mass of green pines placed in a concentric arrangement around the river far, far below. The abyss was unimaginable; it was perfect and we were one with nature. We quickly ate our sandwiches anxious to reach the river.

            When we finally reached our destination, we set down our backpacks on a little rock beach and the two boys Vlad and Nicolas quickly stood up (without a thought that we should rest) and said that it was time to jump off of the bridge. The bridge was TOO many meters high and to even reach it we had to walk through shallow waters which had to have been close to freezing temperatures, but all of this was worth it. I am deeply frightened of heights and at first refused to jump off of the bridge into the negative degree water, however, watching Vlad, Nicolas, and my cousin, Dina jump made me quite jealous and I was afraid I would regret not jumping. Nicolas had a very eccentric personality and kept referring to phrases from, “Into the Wild,” and finally persuaded me to make the jump. So refreshing, such a revival in my body and in my heart as though I was one with the air and the water and trees. It is almost impossible to describe the feeling of urgency that swept over my heart and mind after the hike down to paradise on Earth with two strangers and my cousin. Jumping into water more pure, clean, and jerking-ly cold than I ever felt possible was a rejuvenation and awakening.