Row, Row, Row Your Boat…
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Day 85
Of all the luxuries that I miss from home I think a good breakfast is the one I miss most. Last night we bought some eggs, cheese and bread so we could make a proper breakfast. We woke up this morning at 5:30am for rafting, I was excited. The same excitement you felt as a kid when you woke up the day of your birthday or Christmas. Jonathan was already up and cooking breakfast, what a fabulous roomate! We quickly had breakfast and then waited out front for the van from Panama Rafters to arrive. We picked up a guy from Montreal, two odd Finnish girls and a guy from New York City. We drove 2 hours right back to the same Costa Rican border we crossed days earlier, however this time we turned north to our put in on the Rio Chiriqui Veijo.
As the guides pumped up our rafts we were given the low down on the river. The run we were doing was 28km, over 100 rapids and several class 4 rapids. I think everyone was a bit unnerved when they described the possibility of foot entrapment. The river contains tons of rocks and downed trees so there is a risk of falling in and your feet becoming trapped. It sounds like a horrible thing to happen, anytime someone tells me I could drown in ankle deep water its horrible. We stood on a ridge overlooking the river down below, it was a beautiful sight of green jungle split by the river. With the numbers we had it was determined two rafts would be needed. This worked out great as our raft was Jordana, Jonathan and myself.
We finally got in the raft and immediately hit some class 3 rapids. After that was a calm spot where the guide proceeded to pretend to be showing me something but then just tossed me in the river. Haha, very funny guy. It did have the desired effect though, gets you used to being in the water. Jonathan played the, “stop! I have glasses” card so he never got tossed in. Jordana, she was free since she’s a woman. So yeah I was picked on all day, if I was checking out the scenery over I went.
About 40 minutes in we came to our first class 4 rapid. A large drop with a swirling hole at the bottom. Our raft was first and we nose dived into it. A huge wave covered Jonathan and I at the front of the raft, then we popped up and rushed right out of the rapid. What a rush! The adrenaline was pumping, we were so excited we all yelled and did things that you would only hear or see in a cheesy ’80’s movie. “Whooo hooo”, that was followed by high fives with the paddles and then slapping them back down on the water. What is it about rafting that turned you into Maverick from Top Gun? As we entered calmer water we turned back to the other raft, they just rounded the corner and looked white as can be. The New Yorker had fallen out and then been trapped under the raft. He looked so shaken, like he wasn’t going to continue. He did and just over 2 hours later we stopped for lunch.
Lunch was a great spread of sandwiches, fruit, juices and cookies. The spot was beautiful and so far the day had been the most enjoyable thing we have done. The other raft didn’t think so, all 4 of them had gone over and some had gone in twice. None of us had gone over, this only made us cocky the rest of the day. Sort of like bullies in high school. I swear rafting does weird things to you, makes you childish. We would go through a rapid and then wait for the other raft. Meanwhile we would quietly be calling them pussies and talking about how such crap rafters they were. Funny thing was none of us had ever been rafting more than 3 times. Yes we were the cool kids. It didn’t help that at lunch the New Yorker told Jonathan and I that he was “scared shitless”, so he was just going to hold on and duck through any rapids the rest of the way. I mean come on, if that’s not being a pussy than what is?
The rest of the trip was great and we finished the day without any of us going over. The river was non-stop action and the scenery was jungle and deep canyons. An unforgettable experience. We also continued our childish attitude of high fives and name calling. It really was like we were the cool kids in some cheesy ’80’s movie. The cheerleader and quaterback, while the other raft was the geeks from the a/v club. Ah rafting, I’m not sure why it turns you into a freaky jock but it was a good thing it was over, I was beginning to hate myself.
Michael Coroneos