Zac´s To Do List: More Checks Than A Box O´ Chex

I am happy to report that I have again managed to cross yet another once-in-a-lifetime opportunities off my to-do list. River rafting through an Amazonian rainforest? Check. Now that I have returned safe and sound, I will go ahead and provide some more details (even though it was absolutely safe, I didn´t want anybody to worry). Yesterday afternoon we had the phenomenal opportunity to go white-water rafting (Class III rapids) with a company called Agua Xtreme. It was a total blast. The weather was perfect -- we could not have chose a better day. The sun was shining, the skies were blue; we were surrounded by a lush green rainforest throughout the entire trip (total distance: 20km), with a beautiful mountain backdrop in the distance. It was gorgeous. The river was frigid, but refreshing. It actually could have been just a tad bit warmer outside -- toward the end of the expedition, as the sun started to go down, I started to get pretty dang cold. But this was hardly anything to complain about.

The whole experience is rather hard to describe. It was a rollercoaster of fear, amusment and pandemonium. At one of the less intense sections, we even got to hop into the river and ride the rapids out sans boat.
Our guides were fantastic. Professional, safe and fun. The one in my boat was hilarious. He had us play various games when the water was calm (which essentially amounted to him finding different ways to shove us in the river). He was a really nice guy. He was a bit more hardcore than the other boat operator, often making us backtrack over a huge rapid we had just covered for maximum chaos. We scaled huge rapids, got sucked into giant whirlpools, soared over enormous waves, and slid atop (and occasionally crashed into) colossal rocks. For the rest of my life, I will probably never forget the booming (and sometimes seemingly frightened) voice of our guide, bellowing out commands, saving us from an otherwise certain demise: "FORWARD! BACKWARD! STOP! IN! IN! IN! IN!" It was a positively unforgettable experience.

I was in a boat with Kate, Aaron and Jankie. The other boat had 5. Aaron and I manned the front of the raft, meaning we often took the biggest watery beatings. Everyone made bets who would be the first to fall in. It turned out it was me. Pretty early on in the adventure, we were faced with one of the bigger rapids of the day. My side of the boat was entirely encompassed by a wave, seemingly completely underwater. Time seemed to slow. I was leaning way back, secured only by the strap on my front foot. As the wave crashed over me, I first thought to myself, "hmm -- well this seems bad". But in that moment I actually still felt pretty secure. The strap was keeping me tightly secured to the raft, and I had stopped falling backwards; suddenly a second thought flitted through my mind, telling me that I was actually going to make it through without going under. And then, all of the sudden, as if a black hole had opened up beneath me, I was instantaneously pulled, suctioned, utterly vaccumed backwards out of my seat. There seemed to be absolutely no transition between raft and water -- one moment I was in it, the next I was out. At first when I tried to surface, I actually hit my head on the bottom of the raft. Once again, "hmm -- well this seems bad". But almost immediately after, I happily rose from the depths of the river, supported beautifully by my trusty life preserver. And though it was a pretty wild experience, it really wasn´t all that scary, and I was never really in any danger. Accompanied by my helmet, lifevest and experienced guides, I felt extremely safe throughout the entire voyage.

Speaking of experienced guides, Diego, the guy operating my raft, happens to be a professional kayaker in his free time, holding some record for kayaking over waterfalls. So yeah, I was definitely in good hands.

We took a break partway through the trip, pulling off to the side of the river and getting out on a rocky beach. The guides had us walk through some shallow water into a small crack in the rocky wall. It led to a narrow gorge, surrounded by trees with a light canopy cover overhead. Here, we had some more unexpected fun -- the guides found hunks of clay (one took brown and the other yellow) and proceeded to cover our faces in war paint. With our new savage guises, we were now ready to take on the remainder of the rapids. Well, some people look more ferocious than others; I had a pretty savage tiger-esque look, while they gave Taylor some manly polka dots, laughing all the while. The guides really had a great sense of humor, from telling us that the yellow clay was monkey poop to claiming that the warmer water was due to urine flowing from a nearby town.

In case anyone is interested in location, we started our rafting trip on a river called Jatunyacu, which means "big water" in Kichwa. Toward the end, the water merged with another river, and we ultimately ended up on Napo river. At the point where the rivers merged, the water changed instantly from frigid to pleasantly cool (our guide made sure to get us soaked right at that point). We were informed (after the urine joke) that this is because the water from the first river comes directly from the mountains. Pretty cool (indeed).

After we finished (we pulled out in the town of Puerto Napo), thinking the day couldn´t possibly get any better, they concluded the experience by treating us with some delectable banana bread sandwiches. I didn´t want to spoil my dinner but -- well, maybe just one.


To sum up: white-water rafting was a unbelievably thrilling experience. Doing it down an Amazonian tributary, through a lavish rainforest, on a bright, clear sunny day -- positively breathtaking.