Rafting!

Brendon's Perspective:

Today we got up early and went rafting, it was fantastic!  It was a short ride down to where we started and then about an hour ride down the river.  The largest rapids we were told were a 4... not sure what that means but it was fun.  Christina fell off once and almost lost her oar, that was funny.

The rest of the day we spent walking around Baños and looking through the shops and what not.


Christina's Perspective:

So Brendon and I were so tired and went to sleep at around midnight. At around 12:40 we were both woken up to our hostal shaking and our bed shaking. It was pretty crazy. It didn't shake all that much, but Brendon researched it a little and last April, the area had some quakes from the volcano nearby. So he talked to some people in the hall that were congregating after the shaking, and they may have said it could be the volcano. Not sure, but that's probably what it was.

In the morning, we woke up just in time to swallow our breakfast whole and make it to the Geotours office to get ready for rafting! I was soooo freaking excited! I'd always wanted to go.

Thankfully we signed up with Geotours again. We signed up with them for canyoning yesterday and it was a huge success, so I expected nothing less from this company. We talked to a guy that had gone rafting the other day and he said he did it with another company and it sucked. No waves, no near death experiences.

So we hopped into this little van and drove for 20 minutes or so to our destination. We jumped into our wetsuits and were told all of the instructions and safety procedures and whatnot. Afterwards, we got into the river.
Our guide was seriously the best! He was really funny and helped us out a lot.
So during the ride, we hit lots of crazy waves. One particular wave completely knocked me off the freaking raft, and consequently knocked off the girl behind me. I almost lost my oar too, which would have sucked cause that costs $40, but luckily my compadre in my row lifted me out to safety and the guide rescued my oar. Yay! I remember scraping against the rocks and thinking, ¨oh crap, I gotta get the crap outta here¨, cause being in there for longer could have been very bad.

Our ride went on for a little while longer, getting splashed and thrashed around. It was definitely full of adrenaline. :) The level of rafting we were told was a 3-4 on a scale of 1 being super calm water and 6 being holy crap hard.
Then we ended by driving to a little restaurant and eating lunch with everyone.

After the rafting, we got back to Baños and changed and walked around. Today is Ecuador's independence day, I believe, and so there are so many things going on. Kids playing outside till late, rides and food everywhere, people dressed up as mickey mouse and the like, and so many shops open.
Brendon and I bought some pajama pant things for me, a shirt for him, another llama blanket, and a llama hoodie for him :) It was really fun!

We ate at this restaurant too that had the best chicken. I'm starting to get used to eating off of the bone.

Now, we are debating to do swing jumping tomorrow (which is kinda like bunjy jumping) or rock climbing. We will see. We were talking about parasailing, but I don't think we will do that. Costs a little too much, not comparatively, but still too much.

Our days in Ecuador are coming to a close, we will be leaving on Tuesday! I was anticipating the end of this trip at the beginning of it, but now I am a little sad it's ending.