The day all hope was almost lost

The title of this post serves two purposes. 1. foreshadowing and 2. I felt like using my name as a play on words because everyone I meet tends to do this (so creative people...)

This weekend the other students on the program and I ( 12 in total) traveled to Banos. Banos is known for its therapeutic hot springs and is a place where people go to hike, raft, and try other active pursuits (canyoning, bungee jumping etc.)

We stayed at a “hostel” that is run by a friend of my host mother’s (Rosita). It was actually a very nice compound with several cabins. Five of my closest friends and I were in a single cabin that had a kitchen and living room, so that was a lot of fun. We arrived on the first day after seven so the family prepared a small dinner for us and then drove us into the center of banos to do some grocery shopping and check out the town. We were all so tired from the trip that we opted to sleep rather than go out to las discotecas.

The travel agent (associated with the hostel) arrived at 7am to present us with our options for the day. He only spoke in Spanish but I was able to pick up on several words here and there to piece together what was being explained. Option 1: 9am tour, 2pm canyoning and day 2 rafting. Option 2: sleep in and go on a tour at 12. My friends and I opted for option 1.

The six of us (me, Jess, Caitlin, Beth, Noah and Brian) hopped onto the tour bus at 8 and were greeted by the sounds of popular reggaeton songs. Not the most soothing thing in the morning but it definitely got us moving. The first stop on the tour was at a gondola that travels across a ravine. The gondola is basically a cage suspended by a string and the ground is several hundred feet below. It was a bit scary but we got some great pictures. Other highlights of the tour included waterfalls, a hike and lots of beautiful mountainous landscapes. When the tour was over we were dropped off in the center of the town where we grabbed a quick lunch (sarcasm...it took two hours. It seems that South Americans work according to their own schedules). But the food was great and we were close to the canyoning meeting place so that was convenient.

At two we set off for the waterfalls. There was a 30 minute drive followed by a 20 minute hike up to the starting point. The trip involved climbing down the face of five waterfalls that ranged from 20m to >30 m. For those of you who have never seen or heard of canyoning it is sort of like belaying down a rock wall but instead of someone else holding your safety line and lowering you to the ground, you use both hands to control the speed of your own descent. The technique is also a bit different because the wall is slippery, uneaven and you are occasionally getting blasted by a waterfall. So basically you spread your legs, try to lower your booty as much as possible and attempt to form a right angle. It was pretty physically demanding and we were freezing by the time we got to the bottom but overall it was a fun and exhilarating experience. After we got back to the center of town, we found that the tour bus that was supposed to drive us back to our hostel was nowhere to be found. So, we grabbed dinner and decided to find the banos (for which the town is name). We found one that was open at 9pm and went in only to find that all of Ecuador had the same plan. The pools were packed and there is something that just seems unsanitary to me about standing shoulder to shoulder in a hot tub with one hundred, rather large, mimally clothed South Americans. So Caitlin, Noah and Brian braved the banos while Beth, Jess and I opted to cab back to the hostel and shower instead. We were all pretty tired after all the hiking and canyoning so we were asleep by 10.

At 8 the next day we were awoken for breakfast and the rafting tour. We drove even further out of banos (45 minutes) and when we arrived at the starting point we divided into two boats (six students in each). I stuck with the four people I live with plus Brian (basically our adopted brother at this point). We were instructed on where to put our feet in the raft and the different directions we would be given-forward, backward, inside and stop. Once we felt comfortable with the procedures we headed off into the river. I knew it would be pretty rough because it was advertised as class 3 and 4 out of 5 but I was not prepared for what we encountered. The guide of our boat was 22 years old and seemed more concerned with chatting with his friends on the other boats than paying attention to the river. After the first set of rapids he had us paddle backwards so that the boat would lift to nearly 180 degrees. My friend Noah said that his guide had done the same thing on the Colorado river in the US so I figured it was the guides way of having fun. But things only got worse from there. The guide was not paying attention and while the other two boats went left we headed toward the center of the river where two streams formed a Y shape. One river (the one on the right) was moving faster, so when our boat hit the intersection the raft was flipped. Because of the difference in pace of the two streams there was an undertow that pulled all of us to the bottom of the river the minute we fell out of the boat. I was underwater for more than 20 seconds. When I tried to come to the surface the first time my head hit the bottom of the boat. I couldn’t figure out why there was no air pocket because I had previously (at Camp Pembroke) been instructed to go under the boat for air if it is flipped. When I finally managed to slide out from under the boat I saw that the guide was standing on it to see if my group had successfully surfaced. I called over to see if everyone was ok and was told that everyone else was accounted for. This was not the case. About ten seconds later Jess popped up behind me and sometime later, Beth popped up fifteen feet from the boat. Everyone was visibly distressed and we were still in a rapid area of the river so we put our feet facing down river and moved with the current (feet downriver so if there are rocks you can push off of them and avoid hitting them with a more sensitive part of your body). The guide turned the boat right side up and proceeded to pull us all back into the raft. I felt pretty sick from ingesting so much water but we had to continue down the river. We eventually made it to the end of the trail and when I got off of the raft I threw up some of the water I had swallowed. I think that had it not been for the near-drowning incident we would have all enjoyed the rafting experience but the guide’s negligence coupled with the level of difficulty of the river made it more frightening than enjoyable. Regardless, everyone is ok and I have learned to be more cautious when choosing my activities here.

After rafting we got lunch and got on the bus back to Quito. There was traffic so we didn’t get back until 8:30pm but Rosita was nice enough to leave us some veggies and pasta for dinner. I went to bed shortly thereafter because clinic started today. Which brings me to my next post…..