I took three steps and sprung off the old wooden platform into a dark unknown universe. Falling foot by foot down into the cenote and seeing nothing but black for what seemed like forever.  Finally I hit the water and everything grew silent . . . very, very silent.

About an hour earlier, my head smacked into the window waking me up from my nap. 

“Senior, we have reached the cenotes” said the taxi driver to my dad from the front of the taxi.

When I got out from the taxi I could hear my knees crack from being crammed in the back like people celebrating in Times Square on New Years. Looking around I knew this was going to be one big adventure.

Before we entered into the cenote they made us shower so our body oils didn’t contaminate the water of the cenote. We walked down into the cenote and I realized that I was staring down in a black hole. The winding staircase creaked as the echoes bounced of the cold rocky walls. The hole from the top of the cenote was the only light source.

We reached the bottom of the steps and our guide said “put all your items like cameras and towels on a shelf.”
Then the fun started like a kid in a candy store. We climbed back up the winding staircase, and at about three quarters of the way up was the old wooden platform running off the staircase out into the cenote.

My brother jumped first, then my dad, and finally it was my turn. I felt the hot sticky sweat in my palms and everything grew silent. I could hear my own heart jumping like a fish flying out of water. I was thinking to myself “don’t jump, don’t jump, you're gonna die.” But yet my legs were saying let’s do this as they started to take off towards the end of the platform. It was like slow motion, as the end of the platform grew closer and closer then all of the sudden turned black. . . nothing but black. For five long seconds all I could see was black. Then the cold fresh-water rushed down my body like the water out of the end of a fire house. I found myself floating around in what felt like deep space like an astronaut in a space shuttle. Only a second past when I came out of deep space and back to reality. Looking around I realized the jump that lasted forever was only about eight seconds. I swam back to the deck thinking to myself “I have to do this again because it was one of the best eight seconds of my life.”

Will Smith puts what fear is in a really good way. He says,
“Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me danger is very real but fear is a choice.”

What I learned is that fear is not real. This changed me because in order to have fun you need to overcome fear.
I climbed up onto the deck and hiked back up the winding stairs about three quarters of the way up. Then I stepped onto the wooden platform and everything grew silent. Step by step the end of the platform was getting closer and closer and then black, nothing but black.