Night / White Water Rafting

Note: writing after 2.5 hrs of sleep, realistically I´ve done that this entire trip...

Last nite, a group of four backpackers, Prem, Danielle, Gemma, and Trace, all staying at The Point embarked on a nighttime adventure on the Chili River about 20 min from Arequipa; a simple rafting trip turned complex. The great thing about the trip was saying to your friends that you hit the rapids at night...something quite unique.. especially during a full moon. Clear sky, big bright moon, snow capped mountains in the background, and the roar of the rapids through the serene nighttime setting...very good combination for a very good story; that indeed was the case.

Two of the girls, funny Irish, on the expedition, as I will call it, had actually been on the river during the day...they had so much fun that they signed up again for the night assuming the only difference would be the lack of light and telling their friends, as I said before, that they hit the rapids at night. I initially assumed the same thing, as did the rest of the crew.

Well, one look at the river and opinions changed quickly. The river had swelled considerably more than during the day due to the gravitational pull of the full moon and the effects of the hot sun on the snow-cappers mountains all day. This baby was intense.

Frigid waters, freezing nighttime temperature... luckily we had wetsuits, helmets, and a small ¨waterproof¨coat, joy. The expedition began with class two rapids, then class three, and finally class four. We fell over two times in total... the first time being the worst. The raft slammed into a large rock going down a class three and tossed both Gemma and I off into the water. She lost her shoes and was getting sucked under the water and away from the raft. I instantaneously felt the frigid waters put immense pressure on my lungs and the pull of the water dragging me down the river. Thank God for quick reactions, I pulled my breathing together and caught a rope attached to the side of the boat. Even with that good luck, the water was so cold, the situation seemingly dire, I was terrified in a lot of senses.

It´s experiences like that which pull people together and make men out of mice. Our group of four clung together, screaming ¨Full Moon baby!¨and ¨Special!¨every chance we could (mimmicking our guide, Marco). We ended up finishing quite a bit faster than anticipated, roughly 1.5 hrs instead of 1.75 hrs. All of us shaking uncontrollably, hands and feet numb, mentally jaded...still working out what just happened and what could have happened. Hot chocolate served...trying to button my pants for 5 minutes with no luck, put on my tights for more than that.

Looking back at the awesome sight of 6000 plus meter snow-capped mountains staring down at the river through the bright moonlight...glad I pushed myself even further that night, leaving more fears behind and gathering more confidence in the human spirit... It was a great trip...definitely unique and most importantly, ¨Special!¨

Observations Abroad

Still in the same internet cafe in La Paz...I´ve decided to note some of the observations I´ve made along my journey through these impoverished lands, Peru y Bolivia.

The sights, smells while traveling... people in the countryside are used to harsh weather, sun up to sun down work, and terrible odors stemming from feces in the streets and around homes. I´ve found it is much more natural for an individual to pull their pants down and relieve himself-herself in the streets, whether for urination or hard feces, without toilet paper or any cleanup process, than to wait it out and find a public baño. This leads to long bus rides sitting next to women and men that smell like poop, literally. The most noziating (sp?) smell on the plant!

The cocaine... the nightlife around both of these countries gets very tangled up in hard drugs, mainly cocaine. The upper classes that go out to discotecas (only they can afford them) will find bathrooms, backrooms, or the bar to sniff up a line or more of coke, halla as it is referred to here. It is very out in the open. Conversations at lunch might be centered around where to find the best halla. In Bolivia, halla is thought to be the most pure in the world besides in Colombia. Regardless, it just needed to be noted considering this would definitely not fly in the states or in most western countries. Maybe we have a jaded view of halla or maybe they do, who is to say.

The food... I´ve found that the national food of both Peru and Bolivia has to be rotissarie (sp?) chicken with fries; ok, it might not be the national food, but the stuff is eaten everywhere!

In La Paz

Currently, I´m sitting in an internet cafe, Dungeons, on the main avenida here in La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia. It has been a wild few days here already. Marches and protests were all over the streets yesterday pushing for education reform in favor of the maestros or teachers. Thousands of students along with the teachers participated in the marches, culminating in a large showing around the congressional / presidential square in full view from Pres. Evo Morales window.

Funny enough, I decided to participate myself after doing some alpaca shopping in the witches markets. Met two boys that were protesting and asked them loads of questions regarding their positions on certain topics brewing in the countries newspapers. As we were marching, a news reporter for Canal 4 news stopped us and asked each of us individually why we were marching. When the mic arrived, I paused and noticed that the group of students / teachers around me had stopped marching and wanted to hear what the gringo had to say. Here it is:

¨Soy de Estados Unidos. Marcho con mis amigos y creo en sus resons para marchando¨

The reporter just smiled, shook my hand, and said, ¨mirar canal cuatro para las noticias¨. I never got to turn on the tv, but as the story goes, I was definitely all over the news!

Quite an interesting start to La Paz indeed. Oh and this morning I woke up and there was snow all over the ground! Like 3 or 4 inches worth! Coming from Dallas, the summer to be specific, seeing loads of snow on the ground invigorated me...prepared me for another day of craziness.