I paddled the Apurimac River!! A three day trip down almost 50Ks of class I to V+ rapids, with hardly any flatwater (when you?re used to the Ottawa anyway)... The water is warm, clear and of a deep blue green colour, surrounded by high mountains... amazing!
I was thinking of rafting it first to scout, but Mayuc needed a safety kayaker for the first day, so I brought my stuff... 30 minutes of class I on Day one, I could handle it
. Day two consisted of getting up at daybreak, prepping breakfast for the passengers, decamping and paddling 6-7h... no waiting of playboating involved, just rapid after rapid of fluffy bubbly water... Oh my gosh, the rapids are huge, and long! I was really nervous before everyone of them, thinking I was in way over my head. My guide Cliff was awesome, showing me the chicken lines and always encouragingly saying "Es facil, Carina, vamos"... (I hope he?s right!!) The first significant rapid is called The Chute, which starts with a big wave... I never saw the wave - just saw tons of whitewater and was immediatly flipped... the water was shallow and I?m not sure what my lip collided with, a rock or my paddle... (my teeth are ok, ouf). I couldn?t roll up in the white water but thankfully was T-rescued. We lost my paddle in the process (the guys here are not as skilled as you are, Grahame
), so I had to hand paddle my way down the rest of the rapid, including a curvy wave like at the bottom of the Lorne... it was fun! (They got the T-rescue on video, but not the next part, boo; they were nice enough to edit it out of the final video though). So I learned to lean forward, and paddle aggressively... I made it down the Purgatory right side up, yeah!! Class IV, it?s on video, in the opening credits
. The rest of the day went well, no swimming(!) But I am used to 2h trips, so I was
exausted: Day 3 didn?t go as well... Midway down an easy class III, Cliff eddied out to lead a raft down the rapid and I followed, but couldn?t do it fast enough... the raft ran me into a rock and I flipped... and was too tired to roll - my four attempts didn?t work, I just couldn?t roll my hips and keep my head down. So... I didn?t want to paddle anymore that day
, I hoped in the cargo boat. That was a good idea, my gosh some rapids are insane: Babalou is like a waterslide, drop after drop into bubbly white water, there must be like 7 of them... I?m not sure ?m ready for that one.
I have pics of scenery, but no action shots... this computer doesn?t recognize my disc. Hopefully I can update the album soon, or take my own pics, if I get to go again...
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37712&l=79448&id=509429789 besos,
I miss you guys,
Carine
