Magical Interlaken- Day 2

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DAY 2:
I woke up early and opened the balcony door. The snowcapped mountain was reflecting golden rays of sun; the weather was soothing with a slightly chilly breeze; the surrounding of the hotel was a nice blend of brick houses and rolling greenery; lone cars went pass the road at regular intervals but otherwise there was not much activity seen on road. Population density of that area was a minimum- which I appreciated most.
After shower and dress up, we went down for the complementary buffet breakfast. Food was simple but fresh and nicely presented. There was orange juice, milk, tea, coffee, boiled eggs, a choice of cereal, and sausages. And of course – fresh bread, butter, jams and cheese as usual. We took leaflets and brochures from the hotel counter and decided our next 3 days activities during breakfast. For the first day, we had decided to go for paragliding in the morning and for river rafting in the afternoon.
But luck was not in favor. Though we could book the rafting for afternoon, paragliding for the day had been cancelled due to wind. We were promised a morning flight on the 3rd day, so this morning was free. We went out and explored the surroundings of the hotel. There were large green fields, cows, a barn and a small house where no one seemed to live in. It was inspiringly beautiful- I could have stayed there forever (with occasional trips to the crowded world).
We got back to hotel within an hour and that’s when the landlord of our hotel suggested a great activity to spend free morning hours. The woods that we had crossed on our way up to the hotel the previous night were actually a ropeway sport destination. It is a popular activity in Interlaken- ropes are tied above 50- 60 feet from ground connecting one tree to another. There are shaky wooden platforms (of different shapes and sizes) attached to those ropes. On one rope you have to stand and there is another rope on the top where you have to attach the hooks of the safety belt tied to your waist. Then you have to cross the ropeway from one tree to another.
There were 5 levels of this ropeway- with increasing level of difficulty. Many families had gathered with kids as young as 8/9 years. Even the kids were doing the sport very bravely- which impressed me immensely. We were given a short training- a few safety rules about how to attach the safety belt to the rope and a few yards practical session a few feet above the ground. Then we were on our own- but we were advised to call the guides if we were stuck at any point and they would help us to come down.
The first level we both enjoyed. On the second level, we had to swing from one tree to another and one of the swings was particularly lengthy. As luck would have it, I got stuck a few feet before the end point of the longest swing. I had to drag myself to the end with backward pulls of the rope (already demonstrated at the time of training) but it was extremely difficult for me. Siam was waiting at the start point of that swing and was shouting encouragement but couldn’t come to help me as only one person was allowed on the swing at a time. A long queue was building up behind Siam as I struggled to reach the end. Somehow I managed to drag myself to the end of level 2 but had lost the strength to go on more difficult levels. But one thing I am proud about is that I managed it on my own without the guides having to help me down! Siam crossed 2 more awfully difficult levels though and he was excited like a kid-he loved this sport a lot.
This took a few hours and time for rafting was approaching. We went back to hotel- which was 10-15 minutes’ walk from the ropeway and someone from the rafting agency came to pick us up. We were taken to their camp and we changed into rafting gear. Two groups had gathered and we were all taken 13 kilometer up the hill to the start point of rafting. The scenery of the hills on the way up was beautiful. It was like the typical Switzerland pictures with wooden chalets, lots of colorful flowers, vast green fields, cows and goats grazing and obviously the mountains in the background against a clear blue sky. The higher we went up the chillier the breeze became but still, it was all picture perfect.
We were again given a short basic training on the ground. Siam and I had never done it before and didn’t know what to expect. So we really didn’t take it much seriously when the guide showed how to pull someone out of water if they fell. But that’s exactly what had happened to a girl sitting 2 rows front of Siam and she was pulled back instantly by other experienced rafters. Thanks to almighty that it didn’t happen to either one of us- I would have been shocked to death even if not injured.
The water was freezing- it was only 3 degrees and we were drenched in mere seconds. The scenery was breathtaking as we rafted down the small mountain river in steep slope but I couldn’t spare the time to look at the beautiful surrounding as I was too busy keeping me inside the boat. The only safety gear was a rope which we had to hold on to so that we didn’t fall off the raft - and- our hands were wet like anything so it was all the more difficult not to slip anything out of the hands. Imagine!
This was the perfect time of the year for rafting and the stream was flowing with very fast current. This made the whole rafting experience all the more exciting. There was a half a mile bend in the river where the rafting level was of degree 5-which was not even legal because f danger. So we all had to get out of the raft on the freezing water with hard rock beneath, carry the raft and put it on the car that was following us on the road that ran along the river. We crossed the dangerous part on car and were back on water again.
We rafted down 13 kilometers from the top and finally, after around an hour and after thousands of bumps in most of which I nearly fell off, came to the end point which was a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. And amazingly, though the freezing mountain river ended in this very lake, the water was warm in the lake- magic of the creator!.
Once we were in the lake, all the rafters including Siam jumped into the lake and swam to the bank. But I was wet enough and did not have any wish of swimming the few strokes- so I stayed in the raft and the guide rowed me to the bank.
We went back to the camp in car and changed back into dry clothes. We collected the pictures they had taken and then we were dropped in town centre. It was late afternoon after a very active day and we had had nothing to eat so far after breakfast. We were famished but did not have the energy to sit for a leisurely dinner at a restaurant. We grabbed some McDonalds and walked back to hotel. We showered and had no energy left to do anything else except eating our McDonalds dinner before going to sleep.
By the way, this day was actually our first wedding anniversary-we cut no cakes, gave no special gift or flower to each other and had no special dinner… But, undoubtedly, this was our best wedding anniversary so far _

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