Thursday, October 2, 2008

1st Day of White Water Rafting Season

We went white water rafting yesterday on the first day it is even possible to go on the river. That means the water was freezing, cloudy because of the ice still melting below and about six meters higher than the river is in summer (November to February). Marcy said the water reminded her of Artic Ice Gatoraid, so I guess they did their market research.

Our group consided of an mildly insane Italian, two kiwis, a solo travelor from London and a couple from England where were traveling until their money ran out. Our guides had that same look that any outdoor adventure guide has: fit, tan and crazed. I mean, you have to enjoy taking a bunch of tourists out on a river every day and never know how good they are at rafting.

The group was really friendly and all knew each other from another hostel. We got picked up and driven to the river. We were actually rafting to the boarder of Argentina and Chile so we had to fill out custom forms in case we fell out and went down river into Chile.

We started rafting in the rain so essentially every part of us was drenced before we even started but once we started rafting, I never felt cold. Our group was pretty uncoordinated, especially the Italian but we made it through the rapids fine but I am not sure how much of that was luck.

One rapid, named Scream, Cry and Go Left, had a 50% chance of us flipping. It included three huge waves and a whirlpool, which would have dragged someone down 200 meters and the popped them up against some rocks. The raft went almost verticle and if we had been an inch off the wave we would have flipped. The guides were yelling at each other in spanish about how close we were to flipping. In the end, only the Italian fell out. Marcy almost did except Liz (one of the Kiwi´s) caught her.

The guides included one directing the boat and instructing us and one safety who was in a tiny kayak. The safety had to go ahead of us and make sure the rapids were free of branches and other obstructions. And was also able to help if someone fell in. He had a much harder job since he was flipping and turning into whirlpools in his tiny kayak. I love kayaking and am interested in rapid kayaking. But I am not sure how you start since I wouldn´t have wanted to be alone in a kayak for that trip.

The trip ended with Asado (Argentina BBQ), wine and beer bought by the Italian (price of falling in). Then someone bought wine for the van ride home; it was definitely my first time drinking in a car.

We ended up meeting up with the rafting group later than night. The couple is going to Puerto Madryn on our same bus. I tried the Argentian national liquor which tastes like menthol and a stray dog got attached to me in a bar and ended up following me all night.

Today, Marcy and I are pretty exhasted. I bought new hiking boots and wandered around town. I am looking forward to a 17 hour bus ride to sleep and read and relax. Puerto Madryn is going to be pretty chill. Marcy knows the guy who owns all of the ecotourism in the area so we might get some inside tours of whale and penguin watching. Some guy at the other hostel told us about renting kayaks and being in the middle of the ocean with about 50 whales. So I might have a Pinoccino story to tell.

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