Back to whitewater rafting

Salamander
Sat 27 Apr 2019 12:13
As Tex had broken Mael's kayak we had a welcome extra paddler. The river, however, was at the limit, so we waited to see whether it rose or fell........it fell, so off we went.

The plan for today was 5 hours of rafting on the Samana river grade 4-4+ until piculca creek camp.
Tex nearly fell out, but Murray saved him. They were busy high 5ing when Mael mentioned Caroline was swimming. The safety kayaker brought her back and all was good. The next big challenge was 3 holes. We made the first hole, but Caroline noticed she was the only one still paddling to get past the second hole, this was definitely not going to work. We hit the wall and the raft flipped. Yan, put at the back without protest was now a terrified mess, so white and fearful. He held on to the wrong side of the raft, preventing Mael from righting it until Murray climbed on and added his weight to the effort. Yet again a safety kayaker brought Caroline back to the raft. With a potter swim and eventually calmer waters we made it to camp, where a gorgeous waterfall swimming pool awaited. Caroline watched the fireflies flashing to attract mates and then when one said 'yes' a brilliant fire orange would flit across the sky. A good day, especially as Yan is a virtually neutralized danger.

Just as Caroline was getting into her hammock a massive branch fell off the tree, ripped through the canvas and just missed her head. Luckily the team came and put a new canvas over the old one and we were waterproof for the night. Yan had been so terrified during the day that he screamed and shouted in his sleep until midnight. He woke up early then started screaming again. Caroline really ants to kick this man. Anyway, torrential rain all night puts an end to the rafting and as we are now not talking to Yan this is a good thing.
For the extraction Caroline and Yan are offered mules. Caroline asks her mules name and it is pointed out to her. Yan ties his water bottle and bag to it and says 'it doesn't matter if we change mules does it?' Murray thinks the coward thought Caroline might have been given a less frisky one. We already know what is coming next – Yan is scared of mules! He keeps upsetting them by grunting in fear. Caroline doesn't mince her words and tells him to shut up scaring the animals.

Thank God our last night is in a Yoga lodge; but near disaster, they had us down for a shared suite with Yan! We couldn't put up with another night of his screams so he was moved to another room.

We found something Yan isn't scared of – having a massage!

Nico said he would take Caroline for a walk, really for coffee as the Yoga lodge only serves tea. If Yan had known he would have wanted to come, but Nico didn't say why as we had all learned days ago that the best way to be rid of Yan is to go for a walk.

rafting

rafting

rafting

rafting

one we didn't do

rafting

rafting

 on the drive to Medellin, a Phoenix sculpture

There were gold extractors down much of the river and it was weird picnicing on beaches that glittered – though only with fool's gold of course.