On Sunday 15 of the 18 of us Calvin kids, along with a middle aged couple from Italy, went white water rafting. I have been rafting several times in the states. Those were baby rapids compared to this impeccable experience on the Rio Chili. First of all, we had to wear wet suits complete with wind breakers and water shedding shorts over top with life vests and helmets. Second of all, rapids are rated on a scale of 1-5. The majority of our trip was a level 4.
There were 4 rafts - 3 blue and 1 green (this is a relevant detail, promise) - and 5 guides. Frank was the leader of the pack of rafts. We split into groups - 5 people in each blue raft and 4 in the green raft because it was narrower than the blue rafts. I was in the green raft. The death raft. Within the first 10 minutes we had flipped twice and I thought I was going to die both times. The first time I got twisted in a "rescue rope" another raft had tossed to me and bethany to hold onto so we didn't get whisked away in the rapids and the second time I got trapped under the raft for several seconds that seemed like minutes because my foot was stuck in the "safety foothold". Not exactly a great way to start out the trip. After the second flip we all got shuffled around and I ended up in Frank's raft. He was clearly the most experienced of the guides and despite the insanity of the water around us as the rapids went up to a stage 4 danger level we did not flip and I was not scared. He was shouting directions at us in a mix of spanish and english and at the end gave us all high 5s and told us to come back any time. Overall, it was an exhilarating experience and well worth the cost. I just might repeat this experience in another raging river in my next world-traveling adventure if I feel like dancing on the line with death one more time. : )
There were 4 rafts - 3 blue and 1 green (this is a relevant detail, promise) - and 5 guides. Frank was the leader of the pack of rafts. We split into groups - 5 people in each blue raft and 4 in the green raft because it was narrower than the blue rafts. I was in the green raft. The death raft. Within the first 10 minutes we had flipped twice and I thought I was going to die both times. The first time I got twisted in a "rescue rope" another raft had tossed to me and bethany to hold onto so we didn't get whisked away in the rapids and the second time I got trapped under the raft for several seconds that seemed like minutes because my foot was stuck in the "safety foothold". Not exactly a great way to start out the trip. After the second flip we all got shuffled around and I ended up in Frank's raft. He was clearly the most experienced of the guides and despite the insanity of the water around us as the rapids went up to a stage 4 danger level we did not flip and I was not scared. He was shouting directions at us in a mix of spanish and english and at the end gave us all high 5s and told us to come back any time. Overall, it was an exhilarating experience and well worth the cost. I just might repeat this experience in another raging river in my next world-traveling adventure if I feel like dancing on the line with death one more time. : )
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