A Taste for Bali Adventures -- by Alexa Bascon

 

On this Sunday of our trip, we took a break from our regularly scheduled program to fit in some more fun-filled Bali activities to get a small taste of the amazing adventures the island has to offer. On the agenda for the day was ATV riding and ziplining. And while some of us in our group had done either ziplining or ATV riding—or both—before, I had personally never done either of those things and I was honestly pretty nervous about doing it.

Our ATV riding adventure was first up on the list. None of us knew quite what to expect for this adventure and that was quite evident when our driver arrived for our hotel pick-up and told us that we each needed to bring an extra pair of clothes for after ATV riding and we all had to quickly scramble back to our rooms to scrounge up a spare outfit. When we arrived at our destination, we geared up for the muddy trails ahead with heavy duty rain boots and our ATVs and headed off.

Unfortunately, however, I was off to a rough start. I stalled out my engine not just once—but twice! I also couldn’t quite figure out how to turn the handles in the direction that I wanted them to go and I ran into the side of the trail and had to have our trail guide help me get unstuck. Truthfully, I was pretty scared handling the ATV and because I was scared, I was very timid with how I handled trying to drive it. At that point, I was embarrassed that I wasn’t getting the hang out of it as quickly as everyone else in my group had and I was worried that I was going to be like this the whole way—holding everyone back because I needed extra help. Everyone else in the group was so kind and so understanding and no one made me feel bad about not getting the hang of it. There was a good moment when I wanted to just give up and take the easy way out and ride with someone else to get us moving along. But I didn’t. I reminded myself of all the things in my life that I had previously accomplished even though I was pretty bad at it when I first began. So, I took a deep breath, re-grounded myself, and I kept going. And I’m so glad that I did. I had a newfound confidence driving that ATV and it was exhilarating. We rode through Bali’s lush countryside across riverbeds, jungle terrain, and muddy trails, and —most fun of all—through the iconic Gorilla Cave, a tunnel that was carved into the shape of a giant gorilla’s face. It was like we had jumped into a Temple Run videogame!  

After traversing through the mud, it was time to take to the sky. We headed off to our zip-lining destination where we all flew across the stunning rice terraces on the zipline. The night finished off as it usually has with a group dinner at a different local restaurant. Tonight’s selection was a great little place called Herb Library. The restaurant had a live musician that evening and we all sang along to the songs we knew as we enjoyed our delicious meal together and shared our highs and lows of the day with each other. A great conclusion to our adventurous day.

Today’s activities reminded me that even though you might not be good at something when you first start it (like law school for example) that doesn’t mean that you quit. You stick with it and you try your best and, often times, waiting for you on the other side is something incredibly amazing and rewarding. Growth happens when we leave our comfort zones and I feel like I have grown from the day’s experience and on this trip overall. I’m happy and exhausted as our adventure-filled day comes to end. I’m ready to head off to bed and get some much-needed sleep before the next day of our Bali adventure.