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Published: August 18th 2005
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A Good job done
As the sun set on our last day kayaking, we all vowed to do it again. In the meantime, I would keep my sea legs strong by taking advice from my good friend, Captain Morgan. Hello! This is Jen signing in, do you read me? (geddit?) Over.
Well, the times have been exciting since leaving language school. Dont get me wrong, school is for winners, but there ws a whole country out there to conquer. So with our two adventurous American amigos we hacked our way into the jungle and back to a river running company who we went rafting with a few weeks back (who make the best chocolate cake in Ecuador, did I mention that already?). We had been lured back cos we wanted to try our sea legs out, and have a go at some kayaking.
Initially 4 days of kayaking didnt seem that appealing. Memories of pootling about in a pond with youth club didnt exactly set my pulse racing (although being trapped under a swimming pool cover at the neighbours house as a child certainly did get it pumping!). I always figured it wouldnt be that exciting compared to white water rafting, or face planting while mountain biking, for example. How wrong was this little chicken!
So, after a night at the cheapest hostel in town, we set out nice and early. I hadnt even got
WOOOSH!
Rafting in the Amazon Basin is AWESOME! in my kayak when Mora made a loud splash and swam to the surface, no longer in kayak. It was gonna be an exciting 4 days. Anyway, we soon got ourselves upright and tentatively paddled in circles. (Rich having some difficulty even getting into the kayak due to being completely inflexible!) Then we started to learn the roll, and I gotta say, being stuck in a kayak upside down was pretty damn scary. Well, none of us managed it and none of us liked trying so we carried on down the river.
At the start of day two, our excellent Irish-Ecuadorian teacher Tim threw us in the deep end and waited for us to throw ourselves in the rivers. There was no softly-softly approach to this school.
By the 3rd day I had pretty much mastered the roll in a pond, but doing it while upside down in the rapids was another matter. No chance. We were all doing really well, Rich was the master of paddle technique (although he did swim the most too- I didnt fall out till day three when I made up for it!). Our teacher, who recently won some national competitions,
did us the honour of filming us down the rapids, and made it look really easy, when in fact I was terrified!) We have some cool pics and mini-movies for you on return!
About half way through our marathon third day, Mora took a tumble from her kayak and gouged a massive chunk out of her foot. When I say this is one tough cookie, I´m been deadly serious. There was a ton of blood and not a lot of toe left , but not only did she carry on the next day, she continued there and then once bandaged up, even though it wouldnt stop bleeding! JUNGLE!
Day 4 was the big day. Class 3 rapids in big water. And let me tell you, kayaking is the biggest buzz! There I was in the jungle, eyeball to eyeball with a wave of hostile enemy. These pictures dont really do it justice, but it was a challenge and a half alright! Cant wait to do more!
Anyways, Saturday was the last day with our two American buddies and also....
JENNYS 23RD BIRTHDAY Hurrah! My darling paid for
Equipo Fausto!
The team! In formation, about to enter some BAD rapids! me to raft and awesome 40km of class 4 rapids! Wicked! He made up for just copying me a tape last year. We started with a trek into a cavern then set sail, the four of us with Tim as our guide. We went through a really deep canyon creek, with no way out apart from down through the rapids (good news if you break a leg). We were getting the hang of it, and were definitely the most co-ordinated of the three rafts when we flew out of a rapid and got the side of our raft stuck on a wall! The current dragged me down so I was clinging to a rope on the high side and the force of the river pushed the raft higher and flatter on the wall. Tim tried to force the weight of us round while Rich and Audie scaled onto a ledge and together started to get the raft out of where it was pinned (meanwhile, I´m hanging on for dear life just waiting for us to flip over!) Then it suddenly gets unstuck and Rich and Audie do Indiana Jones leaps back into the moving raft and we´re off again! Yee-ha!
The River Wild!
Ever see that movie with Meryl Streep? Well, its a long time since I saw it, but it certainly felt like we were running the Gauntlet! The day was rounded off with beers and piña coladas at the river side, followed by a visit to a pretty cool salsa tech. I had survived the rapids of doom without injury, and then I almost put my back out wiggling away to some Shaggy tune haha!
And, so ended my birthday, loadsa fun and muchos rum. Although, for a certain someone, my birthday ended a little earlier as he had had one too many beverages and had to be put to bed....
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mblurgh
I am a hangover