May 15, Day 7
Today began very much like yesterday: breakfast at Los Heliconias´s restaurant at 7:30, followed by a taxi ride at 8:00. This time, however, our destination was Jatun Yacu, a river that flows from the Cotopaxi volcano to the Napo River, which is the largest tributary of the Amazon. It was finally time for what many of us had been looking forward to the most – white water rafting! Jatun Yacu´s rapids are class 3.5 out of 5, so we spent 30-45 minutes before we started learning how to rescue people if they fall out of a raft and calming a few panic attacks. Once we started, though, everyone was able to calm down and focus. We stopped for lunch about halfway through, then a little later, some of us explored a cave where the guides painted our faces with crushed rocks. After our 6-hour journey, we all managed to make it through the rapids alive but sunburnt. In the evening, we went to dinner at Bella Selva Pizza, a great pizza restaurant in Tena. With everyone sore and exhausted, we are all looking forward to a good night´s sleep.
A Photo from the Countryside
I am so glad everyone made it through the rapids safely. Did I read correctly? Ya’ll had pizza for dinner? Cool bathes with tea bags and aloe for the sunburns. Love you Kat. Mom
By: Sylvia Studley on May 17, 2011
at 2:05 am