Travel. Portugal. Travel Writing Prompt.
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls
Unless you’re in Portugal, in which case you absolutely should.
Contrary to the sound advice of the 90s hit ballad by TLC, waterfalls are not always a metaphor for dangerous desires or self-destructive patterns and temptations. Sometimes, they are just a beautiful oasis that take some looking to find.
Portugal is home to many of these hidden gems. From North to South, you can relax in the crowded ones that everyone knows about, or the ones you accidentally stumble upon and have all to yourself. The adventure is in the search, really.
So do go chasing waterfalls, and don’t stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to. There is so much more to find.
It’s easy to overlook places, things, and even people when we think we have already seen them, or already know them. For those who strive on adventures and discovering new things, this quarantine has been an especially desperate challenge. But maybe that challenge can also be an adventure.
The adventure can just be to return to an old memory and live it anew. If you are fortunate enough to be locked down in the country you were born in, as am I, you may have the opportunity to travel to old places. If you don’t have this opportunity, you can always travel through photographs, videos, journal entries, or even just moving pictures in your mind.
The point is, no place is ever fully visited. No memory is ever fully complete. The source of wonder keeps falling even when you aren’t travelling, just like the water keeps falling down from a waterfall.
Chasing waterfalls is always new, because they always feel magical upon arrival. Like some underground paradise that doesn’t exist until you hike a mile through a forest to discover it.
One of my favorite travel memories is of chasing waterfalls in Gerês National Park in the north of Portugal. It isn’t an old memory, but it’s one I would like to return to. On a given day of exploring, we would pick a few waterfalls (which were usually a 40 minute driving distance from each other), and we would go into the green to find them. This could take hours.
There was a lot of hiking involved, a lot of fresh air, fresh water, and climbing. Because when you chase waterfalls, part of the joy is in starting at the end and trailing your way back to the source. The farther you go and the higher you reach, the quieter it gets. In a way, it’s a spiritual journey in and of itself.
There were moments where I would find a spot on the thrown of the waterfall and meditate. It seemed fitting. Other times, I would be more thrilled about the ponds of water along the way that sometimes felt like lakes.
When you are surrounded by so much untouched nature, you know that each trip is a gift. A gift in that the same location is always different, always changing, yet always home. It is a gift in that all you have to do is show up and feel awe. The trip is chasing wonder, and then naturally, feeling wonderful about it.
So what you don’t have waterfalls where you live. Chase something else! Chase a memory or a forgotten place. Chase a river or a mountain. The point is everything is an adventure, because we create the adventures we experience.
Thank you very much to the World Traveler’s Blog for yet another great writing prompt: “Your favorite holiday or travel memory from the country you are born in.” #travelmemories
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