Yesterday Heather and I arrived at Samana Wasi, the orphanage/guest house we will normally stay at for two weeks. The place is wonderful: the different buildings are all set within a wonderful garden full of ponds, colorful flowers, wooden sculptures and upbeat quotes on signs. We have the guesthouse for ourselves right now. Don´t have time to blog much now, cause we are leaving on a one night camping trip with the 19 kids. Yesterday I already gave an English lesson to five children, aged 9 - 13. It was fun. They´re very sweet and polite. More news and pictures sometime later.
ciudate su sonrisa!
tobias
13.10.05
Just got the CD with pics and movie of my rafting trip. Seeing them, I just want to do it again. It beats sex, it beats sleeping, it beats vegan waffles.
This pictures do not give you the best idea, but the video is better.
I am in the front right of the boat
Same here
Holding on tight, on the right in the picture, at the end of the rapid called Purgatory, just before saving hands got me back on the boat.
This pictures do not give you the best idea, but the video is better.
I am in the front right of the boat
Same here
Holding on tight, on the right in the picture, at the end of the rapid called Purgatory, just before saving hands got me back on the boat.
12.10.05
Back in Cusco after 3 day rafting trip.
I don´t want to sound overly dramatic, but I am glad I survived this rafting trip. I sure got the scare of my life.
For those who don´t have a good idea of what rafting is: it is descending a river on an inflatable raft. You are in a raft with 5 to 6 people, plus a guide. You are wearing a wetsuit, lifejacket, raincoat and a helmet. Everyone uses his own paddle, and follows the instructions shouted by the guide, e.g. All Forward, Right Backward, Down! Jump to the Right! etc. Executing his commands promptly is especially important when you are in a rapid, a place in the river where the current is faster. Rapids are classified according to difficulty, from class I to class V. The Apurimac river is a class V river, and is considered one of the ten best rafting rivers in the world. It contains all classes of rapids, which are given delightful names like After You, Indiana Jones, Little Zambesi, Shoot, Don´t Worry Be Happy, and Last Laugh.
The hardest rapid, a class V one, was called Purgatory. At this point the river went through a small canyon, making the current very fast. I was all the time in the front of the boat, which is the position where you have to paddle hardest, and where you have more chance of falling out. So that´s what happened. Purgatory threw me out of the boat, and I don´t know how scary it *looked* but I sure thought these were my final minutes. One of the first commands to remember is when you go overboard, you have to try to keep hold of the boad, by grabbing the lifeline that is tied alongside it. So when all of a sudden the water was all around, I somehow managed to grab the line, after I was under water for a few seconds. I was then dragged alongside the boat, wondering if there were sucking holes around, and how wide the space was between the rocks and the boat - where I was. Like I wrote here before, I always think that I won´t die very soon because I have some stuff to do still, but right then I was thinking: apparently that´s not true and this is how it ends. Well, in hindsight I like having had the experience - it´s a new one. I felt some of the fearlessness people say they experience after having survived something very frightening. I am getting a cd a video montage and pictures, and this rapid should be on it, so if anyone wants to see me almost drowning (I am sure it will look less scary then it felt) you can come see it in December.
All in all, rafting is absolutely wonderful and I would recommend it to everyone not scared of a little speed and a little water. I had a great time, in spite of several things. First of all, the second day I felt kind of sick and wasn´t able to warm myself. The weather was horrible the first night and the second day. Our tent leaked, and in the morning we had to get in our wet wetsuits. The only thing I could think of was my cozy attic room in Gent. Furthermore, the people in the group were not that great. Now let me tell you a bit about Israeli...
It is hard to understand the number of Israeli travelling in this country. There´s only 6 million people in Israel, and you would think half are here. In my group of 30 people, 23 were Israeli. In the other group, departing the same time, there was 1 non-Israeli out of 30 people.
I don´t think there´s anything much wrong with the people in themselves, but there is most of the time a clear split between them and the rest of us. Initially I was in a boat with an Australian girl, two English girls and two Americans, but then they switched me to a full Israeli boat. One of the annoying things is that often they will stick very much to their Hebrew, certainly if there is only one poor other guy. So that´s what happened. They invented a codename to talk about me (Kalimero) and didn´t think I noticed. So I didn´t find them very sympathetic, but well, there was the rafting itself to enjoy, and after the water I could mingle with the other people.
The night before I left I had gone to a bar where they offered free salsa lessons, and I think I was the only non-Israeli there. Felt like an outcast, especially since they are like a family after one hour or so - something to envy them for I think. That in itself makes them very loud though, and they will often sing and whatnot till late into the night. Apparently there are hotels which have a ´no israeli´ sign. Anywway, didn´t do much salsa but drank two Machu Picchu Cocktails, which set badly in my stomach.
Other than that, the people of the organizing company were great guys. There was good vegetarian food (hard to resist the morning pancakes again, but I did), sunshine on the second day, great rapids, beautiful scenery...
Heather is arriving at six in the morning. Guess we explore Cusco for one or two more days and then head for the orphanage.
I don´t want to sound overly dramatic, but I am glad I survived this rafting trip. I sure got the scare of my life.
For those who don´t have a good idea of what rafting is: it is descending a river on an inflatable raft. You are in a raft with 5 to 6 people, plus a guide. You are wearing a wetsuit, lifejacket, raincoat and a helmet. Everyone uses his own paddle, and follows the instructions shouted by the guide, e.g. All Forward, Right Backward, Down! Jump to the Right! etc. Executing his commands promptly is especially important when you are in a rapid, a place in the river where the current is faster. Rapids are classified according to difficulty, from class I to class V. The Apurimac river is a class V river, and is considered one of the ten best rafting rivers in the world. It contains all classes of rapids, which are given delightful names like After You, Indiana Jones, Little Zambesi, Shoot, Don´t Worry Be Happy, and Last Laugh.
The hardest rapid, a class V one, was called Purgatory. At this point the river went through a small canyon, making the current very fast. I was all the time in the front of the boat, which is the position where you have to paddle hardest, and where you have more chance of falling out. So that´s what happened. Purgatory threw me out of the boat, and I don´t know how scary it *looked* but I sure thought these were my final minutes. One of the first commands to remember is when you go overboard, you have to try to keep hold of the boad, by grabbing the lifeline that is tied alongside it. So when all of a sudden the water was all around, I somehow managed to grab the line, after I was under water for a few seconds. I was then dragged alongside the boat, wondering if there were sucking holes around, and how wide the space was between the rocks and the boat - where I was. Like I wrote here before, I always think that I won´t die very soon because I have some stuff to do still, but right then I was thinking: apparently that´s not true and this is how it ends. Well, in hindsight I like having had the experience - it´s a new one. I felt some of the fearlessness people say they experience after having survived something very frightening. I am getting a cd a video montage and pictures, and this rapid should be on it, so if anyone wants to see me almost drowning (I am sure it will look less scary then it felt) you can come see it in December.
All in all, rafting is absolutely wonderful and I would recommend it to everyone not scared of a little speed and a little water. I had a great time, in spite of several things. First of all, the second day I felt kind of sick and wasn´t able to warm myself. The weather was horrible the first night and the second day. Our tent leaked, and in the morning we had to get in our wet wetsuits. The only thing I could think of was my cozy attic room in Gent. Furthermore, the people in the group were not that great. Now let me tell you a bit about Israeli...
It is hard to understand the number of Israeli travelling in this country. There´s only 6 million people in Israel, and you would think half are here. In my group of 30 people, 23 were Israeli. In the other group, departing the same time, there was 1 non-Israeli out of 30 people.
I don´t think there´s anything much wrong with the people in themselves, but there is most of the time a clear split between them and the rest of us. Initially I was in a boat with an Australian girl, two English girls and two Americans, but then they switched me to a full Israeli boat. One of the annoying things is that often they will stick very much to their Hebrew, certainly if there is only one poor other guy. So that´s what happened. They invented a codename to talk about me (Kalimero) and didn´t think I noticed. So I didn´t find them very sympathetic, but well, there was the rafting itself to enjoy, and after the water I could mingle with the other people.
The night before I left I had gone to a bar where they offered free salsa lessons, and I think I was the only non-Israeli there. Felt like an outcast, especially since they are like a family after one hour or so - something to envy them for I think. That in itself makes them very loud though, and they will often sing and whatnot till late into the night. Apparently there are hotels which have a ´no israeli´ sign. Anywway, didn´t do much salsa but drank two Machu Picchu Cocktails, which set badly in my stomach.
Other than that, the people of the organizing company were great guys. There was good vegetarian food (hard to resist the morning pancakes again, but I did), sunshine on the second day, great rapids, beautiful scenery...
Heather is arriving at six in the morning. Guess we explore Cusco for one or two more days and then head for the orphanage.
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