I was on an extended vacation from my modestly successful business as a finishing carpenter in a booming Canadian city. Doing this trip was a long overdue break from the city and work and from all the sacrifices of being a good dad and raising my children to a state of near independence. The woes of my divorce had been over for a few years and I was very happy to resume some of the travels that I had suspended as a young man a couple decades earlier when I felt the need to be a decent provider for my growing family.
I felt like a twenty-five year old again in my newly rediscovered freedom. And thankfully, at forty-seven years of age I had great health, perhaps due to my consistent physical work over the years, and of course eating decent food and respecting my body since a youth didn't hurt either. Nor the fact that for about twenty years I had taken a break from drinking alcohol. I suppose too that the forty-five hard minutes bicycle ride each way to and from work, through three northern seasons a year helped keep any winter fat burned off and my legs strong and my heart and lungs in top shape. (I had to do something! I was too lazy to go to a gym and work out.)
I had been sailing a zig-zagging course around the island studded part of the Pacific Ocean with an amazing couple whom I'd met through an online sailboat crew and boat connecting web site but when we stopped here I decided to stay a while. I said goodbye to my friends and their forty-two foot boat and thanked them for a wonderful couple of months.
For the past two weeks I had been on foot or bus or hitching rides, exploring the idyllic villages and quiet dirt roads, beautiful seashores and beaches, and fresh cool forests of this wonderful land. Probably the greatest draw for me though had been the wonderful people here. Open and friendly, generous and warm and physically, to my tastes anyhow, delightful to look upon, (if perhaps a bit too religious for me.)
The other evening in the last village I visited, I was talking with some guys I had passed the day with over some drinks in a little open-air place. One of them told me of a spot they used to go to as kids for a fresh dip in a forest pool halfway to the next village. It sounded like a nice refreshing little stop on what might otherwise be a hot dusty walk, if no vehicles happened along to hitch a ride on.
The following morning, after setting out from the village, as expected, the vehicle traffic was very light. I'd only had one short ride and had walked about an hour and a half, when, walking on the shadier side of the road, I recognized several of the landmarks I'd been told about the previous evening over beers. These indicated the spot where the path to this forgotten swimming hole was supposed to leave the road from. After beating about for ten minutes I did find what might have once been a path. Sure enough, after picking it up and losing it a couple times, it became more or less clear that I was following a once well beaten path which had been partially grown over in recent years. If it was the correct path or not, I had no real idea. Soon my hesitations were laid to rest though, as the gently undulating path took a turn and I could see it now was following a small, clear stream. I then remembered the guy said the path would follow a little flowing water upstream for about five minutes walk before coming to the swimming hole.
About fifteen minutes later, after cresting a gentle rise in the path, a small, shallow valley in the forest floor opened up and the sound of running water could be heard, probably a small waterfall. The canopy of trees still shaded the area for the most part, but there were fewer trees and as I neared the sound of the water, I could see glimpses of it shining through the underbrush. The depression or shallow valley the pool and small cascade were in seemed about a hundred meters long, and about half as wide. The pool itself was overhung with trees and vines on one side and only about ten meters wide. The sunlight came through the canopy more here, in mottled bits of sun and shade, which seemed to lend a special spot lit atmosphere to the place.
As the path descended a little toward the pond, still obscured by trees, I could feel the air temperature freshen by a couple of degrees from the muggy warmth of the rest of the forest. But now, something ahead through the underbrush caught my eye. A flash of color? A bit of movement? I stopped and waited a moment, unsure of what I'd seen. But somehow wanting to be sure of what or whom it was before I revealed myself. One can seldom be too cautious in another land where you don't know all that's going on. I wasn't even certain there wasn't some sort of guerrilla activity in these parts.
I crept ahead on the path, straining my eyes ahead through the underbrush and was startled as a woman stood up from being bent over and was suddenly in view. Visible from the waist up, her back towards me, she was quite close. However, she hadn't seen me, and still had her back to me and she bent back down to do something. I backed quietly up the path behind me to wait and observe if she was alone or not. It was difficult to hear if there were other voices unless they were calling out, because of the sound of the running water. I could not see all of the near shore yet to know if there was anyone else there or not.
From what little I'd learned about this spot and from the abandoned condition of the path I certainly never expected to see anyone else here. I knew I ought to wait and see if there were others here with her, perhaps some friends or maybe a man or kids maybe. I didn't want to intrude if a couple had come here for a bit of romantic solitude. The place certainly was well enough suited for it with the calm sound of a small cascade of water pouring into the pool. Also the happy sound of birds in the trees, once one was still long enough for them to resume their calls. Even the slightly cooler temperature than the surrounding forest seemed to add to the magnificent natural beauty of the place.
I had stepped off the path to one side and was peering through the foliage and was able to see her again and felt safe that even if she did glance my way she would not see me. As I watched, she walked a little more clearly into my view, and now I could see that she seemed to be a young woman from what I could see of her trim figure and smooth bare arms. I still had not seen her face but with her long dark hair pulled back off the sides of her head, and the way the simple, lightweight sleeveless dress hinted at the form of her body ... no, i just could not tell yet. She might be anywhere from 16 to 40 if she was a fit woman. I didn't see her looking at or talking to anyone, maybe she was alone. She just carried the shoes she'd bent down to remove over to a flat rock. Now she stepped into the water, lifting the hem of her dress a little and waded around with the water halfway up her smooth golden calves.
I was starting to think, 'well, all right, she's alone, I'll just go introduce myself, I'd like to meet her anyway', when she suddenly turned around to face me, briskly marching the ten steps back out of the shallow water, and letting the hem of her dress fall back down. My heart was pounding, thinking she'd caught me spying on her, and was angrily approaching. But just for a second, because, as she walked up the pebbled shore out of the water, she had begun to unbutton the many buttons all down the front of her dress. As if she had suddenly and firmly decided that a swim was what was needed here, not wading. Now, keeping in my crouch so as not to make any movement to catch her eye, I sort of felt like an intruder or a peeping tom and suddenly it didn't seem like such a great idea to go and introduce myself. I know that the people around here are quite religiously observant and somewhat prim and proper. I had no intention of going and embarrassing or scaring this lovely woman, as I could now clearly see she was. And besides, she might stop and get dressed and the show would be over then.
Her face was very fine looking with a cute nose that flared a little at the nostrils and she had a very appealing jaw line. Her lips were naturally dark and full. The two little ridges running from her nose to her upper lip were sharp and made a pretty 'v' in the middle of her upper lip and she had the most beautiful big brown eyes that were very white around her brown irises. With full eyelashes and the cutest eyebrows arching over her eyes and that very cute nose, I was completely smitten. I caught a flash of her flat belly and strong thighs as she turned away from me, stepping out of her dress and running back to the water still wearing her bra and panties. I guess that the modesty that seems so prevalent here, still holds, even when a young woman is alone, though I did note that her panties were of a sexier variety, a dark blue thong which did an amazing job of framing and displaying her amazing ass cheeks. Now this turned me on. Not just because she had an amazing ass, but the contrast of her good girl dress on the outside, but with a very sexy and worldly thong panty underneath.