Whitewater rafting is sure a good way to stay cool on a hot day. There were 8 of us in the boat: me and 7 men - B, Frank our guide, and the others from Holland, Australia, England and Barcelona. Oh and one black lab came along too.Once in our helmets and lifejackets, and after instructions, we set off, Gustavo in a small kayak that was our safety boat. The rapids were level III and after a few sets we were really working as a team, and listening to Frank bark out orders to paddle forward, backward, and harder.
In between rapids we admired the birds: white egrets, black cormorants, and small green parrots, and we noticed the goats and horses. Not once did we see people or dwellings during the two hours on the river. We also looked at the rock formations and colours, and the ceibo trees with their red flowers.
Gustavo, in the kayak, was always close by, but sometimes was playing in the back eddies, or going downstream backwards. We were in a particularly tricky stretch, with Gustavo just ahead of us, when he went over a big rock and flipped upside down. We were right behind, and could see that he hadn´t righted himself. For a minute it looked like we might go right over his upside down kayak, but Frank steered us to the side and was just reaching for the kayak when Gustavo appeared.
Then we had a situation, with Gustavo in the water, us paddling for shore as instructed, the kayak downstream from us, and the kayak paddle upstream.
We managed to catch up to the kayak, and Brad caught the paddle as it came by. Gustavo swam across the river, ending up downstream from us, and we went to pick him up, after Frank emptied the kayak of water and tied it onto the back of the raft. It was a bit of excitment we hadn´t expected, having to rescue our safety boat! Gustavo was a bit battered and lost a shoe, but was ok we think.
Back in Salta it had rained, so it´s a more pleasant temperature now.
Photo by maartenzam (Flickr Creative Commons)
