Day 35- 24 February 2017

Spanish words of the day: Agua- water

This was hands down the best day of the trip. It could have even been one of the best days I’ve ever had. It was unexpected, it was action filled, it was physical, it was fun! For the first time I really understand the meaning of an adrenaline rush and the reason it’s so addictive.

We arrived at Lagos Manso, a river on the border of Argentina and Chile. After a very bumpy mainly off road drive listening to a guy from Panama tell us his ex girlfriend woes, we arrived in the blazing heat to a little lodge where we were fitted with our rafting suits, shoes, helmets and life jackets. All was fine and fun until we had to put our bare feet in these rubber soled shoes made of neoprene. So essentially you are one walking bodysuit with a helmet on!

We drove a little further with our feet immersed in soggy still wet shoes from whoever else had previously worn them. Lets just not talk about it anymore, or go into any more detail! To say that was my idea of hell would be an understatement. “Put it out of your mind Megan. Be in the moment! Uurrrghhh ”

Then we were at the boats. Divided into groups of six with an instructor, we were on the predominantly English speaking boat. Who else was there… let me introduce you…

Out instructor was Peter. Strong, big and knowledgable. Always joking and not taking the job too seriously. But when he said paddle you listen!

We had Ellie and her boyfriend Adam from the UK. A fun and cool young couple doing this together for five months after university.

Then there was Martin- a great guy. Quiet at first but as you get to know him he is more and more entertaining. From outside Buenos Aires, Martin was visiting Patagonia for a short break.

And then there was Victor. Victor is my favourite character of the trip so far. Victor is of Asian descent, and from Argentina. I never really thought much of Victor until sitting opposite him on the raft when he starting whistling to the tune of ‘row row row your boat’. That got my attention.

So we’re in the boat and the seven of us are off along the very calm flowing river. ‘Hmmm is this what this is about, I could catch a tan floating on this river’. Then Peter starts laying down the meaning of the commands and a safety briefing.

“Sit like this and tuck your feet under here so that if the raft is lifted, you’ll stay put” – OK noted. ✅

“When I say forward you paddle forward. Your paddle cutting the water face down like this. Use your whole body as you pull the paddle back and forward” – Ok noted ✅

“In the instance the boat is unsafe because a rock or something is falling, when I shout inside, all lift your paddles and fall down into the boat”- Ok noted ✅

“If the boat goes into a rapid and it lifts onto one side, the raft is in danger of flipping over. When I yell high side you all jump towards the high side of the boat or towards down stream”- Ok noted I think. I hope that doesn’t happen. But he’s probably just being over cautious I think.

Cool lets do this… with Victor still whistling I start requesting tunes. He obliges. Peter then explains that the ten rapids we are going to encounter have different names- Flinstone, Vaseline, Dark ozone and Toboggan (those are the ones I can remember). We went through the first 3 just fine. With a woohoooo every time we passed one shouted from the boat with all our paddles in the centre high fiving. Kind of like a ‘go team’ roar.

Then we were to ride Toboggan. That was the one that took us down! We passed through it perfectly and then decided since it was so tame to go into it against the rapid. “Forward, forward” Peter shouted. And we all paddled forward with all our might. The water roared around us and the raft went forward into the swirling water and then suddenly started tilting up on the left side. The next command was the one I said I hope we wouldn’t have to hear… “high side, high side’. Everyone on the right- me being one of them, hurled ourselves onto the left side of the boat. I have no idea what happened after that. Everything is a blur I remember nothing except flipping over with the boat and landing in the water still holding my paddle. And it felt quite hard.

Then I was under the boat and under the water. I know that. And swept away in a force so strong there was no way to do anything but go with it. I eventually bobbed up I gasped for air. From then on I remember. Trying to breathe in but swallowing water again and again so trying to get it out. That happened over and over. And then I saw Peter and Victor still in the boat. I swam with as much determination as I could in the moving water, to the boat away from the rocks and the forceful water. Towards an area of calmer water. I grabbed the paddle that was held out for me in the raft- Peter pulled me towards the boat and lifted me up from the strap of my lifejacket under my arms and hauled me up. When I could look around me and process, I saw that Ellie, Adam, Arlette and Martin were also in the water.

We later heard from the other raft watching from a different angle what had happened. After we flipped, little blue circles popped up through the surface of the water and bobbed up and down like corks. Once everyone was hauled on the laughing started. Ahhhh hahahaa that just happened!

Whirlwind. Literally. Adrenaline rush. Victor the only newbie who didn’t fall in trying to figure it out as we let the adrenaline leave our bodies. Shake it out. “I held on to the strap that’s why I never went over”… hmmmm we all looked sceptically. He then started whistling the tune of the Celine Dion Titanic song. Laughing hysterically, we carried on paddling.

Onto the 8th rapid- it was Victors turn. And this one I remember. In fact this is a sight I will never forget. This is the one that if I ever have a bad day I will access in my minds eye. Victor flying in the air over the water. A look of shock and disbelief on his descending face. Eyes wide. Pale skin. Going going down. And the worst part is that we all just clung on to our seats so we wouldn’t follow. After the shock of what happened we registered it was ‘man overboard’. Peter then pulled him in but we could not stop laughing at the irony of it all. Victor followed on his lonesome. So bummed that he never got to experience the action, he got a taste of it after all. After his shell shock subsided he joined us in the laughter!

So a few more rapids later, a very sore nose from falling in with my paddle and introducing it to my face mid fall, and a mind full of the images we were processing... we had done it. We were on a complete high. We had overcome a rapid. Fallen into the crisp cold water. And come out the other side smiling and still talking about it.

We ended off with Victor whistling to the tune of ‘awim aweee awim awee… in the jungle’ and jumped off the raft with a spring in our steps.

What did I learn from my day of rafting on the water. Mother Nature at work again! And this one just was so obvious! When you fall out, into raging water, there is no choice but to flow with the current rather than fight against it. It’s too strong. And if you resist it:

a. You will tire yourself out. And b. You’ll land up in the opposite place to where you are meant to.

What I learnt from this is when you fall off track with a thus and are not where you are meant to be or where you think you should be… the only thing you can do is go with the current. That’s what you’re taught. Not to be submissive but if you do fall in- lift your legs in front of you in safety position and glide with the water until you can swim out of the current and then be pull to safely. Instead of fighting like crazy against something that you cannot change or control. And so it true in life. How much energy we would save if we were able to flow with it. To just go with it.

What a day! One for the memory bank!