River Rafting

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So I gotta say that today has been one of the best days so far. Woke up around eight and had to be ready for river rafting at nine. I was a little hung over but pushed aside the headache and had one hell of a day!
It was a tour with about 30 other people. Most of them were german or dutch so I spent most of the day in either spanish or another respective language. This didn´t phrase me as everyone was super nice. We drove for about two hours through the sacred valley and it was a beautiful day. Bright blue sky and sunshine with cotton candy white clouds. The hillsides were lush and green and many of them terraced all the way to the top. The scerenery was spectacular.
When we got to the drop off sight everyone pulled on wet-suits, helmats and life jackets and then went over about twenty minutes worth of safety procedures. We were informed that this particular ride is a level 3++ with some parts a level 4. If that doesn´t make much sense let me put it this way, some of the rapids were so big you´d be thrown out of the raft if you didn´t hang on for dear life. There were five boats with six people each. My boat was girls only so our guide kept saying ´chicas´ whenever he needed our attention. I know that´s tipical in spanish but it was really amusing. Chicas forward, chicas backward, chicas listen now...he was an awesom guide and super friendly.
Our boat flipped over once. Victor (guide) asked us if we wanted to hit the surf and we all eagerly agreed. He told us that when the boat flips, don´t panic, grab the rope and if miss it just go in the sfety position and someone will rescue you out of the river (kayakers on stand-by). Yes it was intense. We back paddled into a rapid and he yelled ´chicas forward attack´ which meant we all piled into the front. The boat flipped end over end and we all went sprawling into the white water. There were about three seconds that I was under and all turned around before I managed to surface. There were paddels and girls everywhere! Only three of us had managed to hang onto the raft. Victor flipped it back over and hoisted us up. The water was definitly cold but not killer.
After getting everyone back together and oraganized again we set off once more. Only one other boat did the surf thing and they didn´t flip over. The rest were all too chicken. Further downstream we went under a bridge and then were given the opportunity to jump off. I´d say it was 10 meters plus off the water but I went for it. Surprisingly it´s the first bridge I´ve ever jumped off.
A couple times people were thrown out of the boats into the rapids and needed to be rescued but there were no accidental flip-overs (thank god). At the end of the rafting we had a super awesom lunch/dinner then the two hours back to Cuzco through a spectacular sunset in the sacred valley. Tonight I´m going to the premier of the movie that they made for us so I can´t wait to show everyone the crazy day on flim! cheers.

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