This was to be an extremely hungover (maybe still not sober) experience after two hours sleep and a massive night out.Not to mention i was allready shitting myself about going out of control down rocky rapids for hours in a blow up boat.
But true to my country i came through.The mini-bus ride there was squashed and completeley uncomfortable.Luckily i was'nt alone in the "feeling like death department" as i was with three other funny pissed people from my hostel,everyone straight up new we had just got home but at least we gave them a few laughs.
CHARLIE-a tough pom
TOM-a skinny funny pom
and COLLIN-my mate from the state's i've been travelling with
Tom and Charlie were the one's that stupidly asked me while i was drunk if i'd join them in a whitewater rafting day trip.Of course when after a few beers ill say yes to doing anything a little extreme (and also talking colin into it).Anyway i was on and no backing out when thay came and woke me in the morning.
We finally arrived at the river,i felt 80 years old but once off the bus,into the fresh air,a quick toe dip in the cold water and seeing the rapids i was sooo keen.
We got the safety rundown,the helmuts,the life vest and the wetsuits.I really can't remember much of the safety talk,a bit like school,but also like school i had a lot of fun and made it out alive.
We had a team,us four slightly crazy and drunk boys and two chicks from canada who turned out to be a little wild too,oh and our guide steering at the back.
Straight away we bonded and all wanted to go hard,i saw the first rapid ahead and screemed like a little girl.I was surely nervous but once in the soup took it all head on and bloody loved it,it was rough,bouncy and wet.I had to hold on tight with my feet jammed in under the grips not to fall out.
Once throught the first rapid our boat went feral with high five's wanting more,more and more intense runs.In between the rapids it was nice and tranquil with beautifull landscapes and cliffs surrounding but all we wanted was extreme shit.
We became quite good at judging the rapids and making it through safely but not without fun,we were charging.
There was a part of the rapid,i don¿t know the technical name for this but it is when you place the raft in a whirlpool typed rapid and sit motionless on the water,facing upstream with walls of water coming at you but not moving.
This was really fun but a little bit of hard work to situate ourselve¿s properly in this position.We had to paddle hard upstream 5 metres then all jump to the front (on top of one-and-other) in order to then be stationary.We did this about three times but would only be still for a minute or so to enjoy it.On the last go i heard from behind tom say "Allright let¡s really go for it this time", with that on the count of three we all jumped forward with heaps more force,this resulted of course in the raft tipping front end over,flipping our guide out high and putting the rest of us in the water.
The addrenlin hit,wooo hoooo,i was stoked underwater,i came up under the boat which was upsidedown on top of me so i could still breath.I stayed for a little bit then went under to surface outside.The guide and i were the only two still with the boat and everyone else getting ragdolled downstream.We tipped the boat and then it was up to us to rescue the rest of the crew.It was panic stations for a while (as apparently 16 people drown on with this group a year,not the best rep) but after 5 minutes we had all in the boat,pulled to the side,cuaght our breath and got over a little shock.I loved it,tom,charlie and the guid loved it.The girls were shaken and so was colin a little,completely understandibly.
Anyhow we got over it pretty quick and decided we want more and even another chance to tip the boat.Off we go.
The next obsticle was a low lying,bowed in the middle,dodgy peruvian built footbridge.When i say low it was two to three foot above the water lavel,only just enough to get the boat under,i mean low.
We had 5 practice goes at all piling in on top of each other level with the top of the boat,seemed fun.Then we rounded the corner and saw it and i thought there was now way we could possibly get under that thing without someone losing a limb.But when we reached it,we all crouched for 20 seconds,got the order to get up,looked behind and made it all in one piece.For me,nearing that bridge scared me more than flipping.
After that there were a couple of more rapids,a swim with the current downstream at a mellow part of the cold river and a few more splashing oppertuninty's.
Finally we reached the camp after a few hours of SOLID FUN and ate a well deserved feed and a hangover curing coffee,no beer here.The bus ride i completly passed out and woke up at cuzco,only to return to the hostel for yet another night of partying,but this time on a high with something to celebrate.GO WHITEWATER RAFTING TODAY,or TOMORROW.
