Believe it or not, but it was my idea to go white water rafting. But, the morning that we were to set off, the nerves caught up with me and I could think was "why do I book myself onto these life threatning activities and then stress myself out?". I will never do this to myself again...!!! (I had the same nerves before sky diving)
But, it turned out the be the most awesome experience. 9 volunteers, 2 rafts, 2 raft guides, and 4 safety kayakers set off on Rio Chile. They were only Class-1 to Class-4 rapids (i.e. not very big), but it was such good fun! We were given a quick 10 min instruction session on rowing, classes of rapids and safety (i.e. what to do when one of us falls off the raft)... and we set off. We went onto our 1st Class-1 rapid and survived that. By, the time we got to our Class-4 rapid, we were pros at synchronous rowing.
Boy, did we paddle hard -- and we got drenched. Chris & Lynette were the lead rowers of our raft. Lisa, Debra and myself were the other rowers. Chris nearly fell off the boat and into 3 feet of freezing water -- at least twice! The water was icy cold and freezing. We stopped for a quick snack along the way.... the views were simply breathtaking (see below). We were surrounded by the snow capped peaks of Mt. Chachani and the volcanic existance of Mt. Misti. The sad part was we didnt have water proof cameras to take our own pictures, but the memories will stay with us forever!
But, we made it out alive. I might live to regret this, but... "I will probably do white water rafting again!"
Only 2 more weeks in Arequipa...
Lizelle
1 comment:
You three Chris, Liz and Lyn are real dare devils, I must say. But I'm sure you'll enjoyed it all ...
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