White-Water Terror

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Someone recommended a 3 day white-water rafting adventure on the Rio Apurimac - apparently one of the top ten rafting rivers in the world, a few hours away from Cusco on a bumpy unsealed road. I foolishly thoughly this would be a great idea, and after a day in Cusco after the Inca Trail I was off for more physical exertion (much more than I expected) and more than my faire share of adrenaline. Class 5 rapids are a scary place to flip your boat and go for a swim.

Day one we started of learning the basics and flipped the boat a couple of times to get used to it. We then paddled downstream for a few hours to our campsite for the night on a narrow beach. In two places we had to get out and walkm carrying our equipment around a set of rapids instead of braving them in the boat. We did this a couple of times on the second day to, and when I asked why later on I was told it was due to past 'accidents' at those rapids. I probed what was meant by 'accidents' and was told in no uncertain terms that people had died rafting this river. Apparently there are strange currents on some rapids where people get held below the water and drown. And the only way you know about it is when an unskilled gringo like myself falls in at the wrong place. Oh joy.

Day two got more hardcore. We ran lots of class 3s and a few class 4s. And we had a few scary moments. We got stuck sideways on a rock in a class 3 and Nice (the guide) called the high-side left command which means everyone has to pile over to the left side of the boat (my side) in a vain attempt to free the boat. Instead the boat flipped and everyone piled out of it and on top of me. As I was struggling for the surface, unfortunately not remembering that you can't breath water, I was held down for a good 10 seconds by a tangle of kicking feet. Quite terrifying, but within 10 minutes I was back in the boat and fighting to stay out of the water on the next set of rapids and all was forgotten.

I had another shocker on day 3 when we flipped on another high side command (of all the times we did that, I reckon a quater saw us free from the rock and the rest saw us go for a swim) and after fighting the tangle of feet again, the boat was on top of me. Luckily I managed to fit my head into an air pocket and take a few breaths before swimming out. Oh and then there was the "body rafting" where our trusty guide, who I'm assured hasn't suceeded in killing anyone quite yet, said that it would be great fun to jump out of the raft in the midst of a long class 3 and ride down holding your feet in front of you to kick away to big rocks.

I'm really not sure how so much terror can be classed as fun, but fun it was... at least it was fun after the fact. At the end of it I had a new appreciation for dry land, had swallowed a good few gallons of the Apurimac and had a some evil bruises.

Would I do it again? Hmmm....

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Photos

En-route to el rio
The brave would be rafters

Gone.
And survived another one, thankfully.

Lunch time
This rafting is hungry work, believe me.

Apurimac Valley
Saw condors overhead at one point (circling like vultures) - very rare in this part of Peru.

Rafting
Another rare moment when we were actually in the boat.

Rafting
Who's that handsome chap in the middle