Papapapapapa-tei Adventure

So last saturday, we (Russ, Agnes, and Mick) all really wanted to find a way to hike to the bottom of this waterfall. The Papapapa-tei Falls.

We had heard that there was a path somewhere, but had no idea where to find it, so we drove around until we came to this path-- about a mile away from the falls.

the path

After walking about a mile we wound up on someone's taro plantation. There we found a one-eyed samoan guy with a bandana that seemed kind of drunk; all he was missing was a parrot on his shoulder. He didn't speak english, but after about ten minutes of playing charades, he finally understood where we wanted to go. He went to his porch, grabbed a machete and a shot-gun and motioned for us to follow. We awkwardly hesitated for a second, and reluctantly followed. He took us to the edge of his plantation where a thick rainforest began - thick meaning a literal wall of vegetation. Then he proceeded to chop us a tunnel with his machete. After about half a mile we got to the edge of the waterfall canyon. The slope was about 80 degrees steep and we thought our hike had come to an end. But the machete man jumped right down the slope and kept hacking a path for us. Again we hesitated as we were about to start down a 300 foot slope of almost-impassable foliage and insurmountable danger.. but again we followed..

Making our way down the treacherous slope.

It was really funny because of how ridiculous it was. Especially because our tour guide had never done it himself before. But after about an hour, and only fifty feet down, we decided it was too much and turned around. Although we never reached the bottom, it was still a ton of fun.

A field of clover I found on the plantation.

An exhausted Agnes

This is our tour guide's son.. we think.

After more charades, we got our guide to take us to the head of the waterfall which was really cool. Very pretty view.

head of the falls.

Me, Russ, Mick, and our pirate friend. And I don't think I introduced you to Mick yet. He is irish and lives next door. He's really funny and knows lots of good irish songs.

Our tour guide held my pants as I leaned over to take this.. it was scary on many levels.

Somewhere on the right-side is where we made our attempted descen