Wednesday 25 May 2011

Rafting the Apurimac River - Emma in Peru


Busy busy busy... I don´t think us 10 could have fitted anymore activities into the last 2 weeks. We have survived class 5 rapids (the highest possible commercial level people can do) and we have swam in the highest freshwater lake in the worldwide. We have also helped Harry have a memorable 19th birthday, made successful progress with the greenhouse and even managed to fit a few teaching hours in around all the excitement. Pretty impressive if you ask me but first things are first.

Last weekend us 10 Aussies joined up with some Israelis and a token American to take on the Apurimac River. Not only is this one of the top 10 rivers in the world to raft on it is said to be the direct tributary of the Amazon making it the longest river in the world. Pretty cool huh? The drive through the Andes was spectacular with mountains surrounding us for as far as the eye could see. 





Coming down from 4000m was an interesting drive and definitely tested the buses brakes as well as our nerves as we zigzagged our way down into the canyon. For the entire long weekend we were looked after by the amazing rafting guides who could mutli-task beyond belief. Examples include surviving rafting down waterfalls and then cooking us amazing meals in little more than a pot or two! Namely Victor and Alonzo were favourites with us girls...however we got to know them all very well on our 2nd evening during the rafting games. We were made to do all sorts of hilarious games such as spinning a paddle and then running around a pole being careful not to fall into the river and be left cold for the evening.

It is very important to note that us Aussies did our country proud and won overall. (Well in our books anyway!) Rafting down the river we enjoyed the rugged rocks climbing hundreds of metres out of the river as well as the sun that kept us warm. Not only did we enjoy rafting inside our trusty little rafts but we got to experience ´body rafting.´ This entails jumping out of the boat when commanded to and lying on your back completely at the bec and mercy of what ever wave was thrown at you. Laughing all the way we swallowed gallons of water desperately hoping that this water was cleaner then that of rivers closer to Cusco. Harry, Charlie, Liv and I also slept under the stars and fell asleep to the full moon....simply incredible.

For Harry´s birthday we took him out for dinner to the rooftop cafe in Cusco. Looking at the fairy lights of Cusco city we were afraid that we interrupted a wedding proposal but our enjoyment over our first taste of Alpaca steaks and Peruvian specialties (while Charlie enjoyed her vege burger) occupied our minds! mmmmmmmm amazing! We should have alpaca in Australia!

That week we were lucky to be invited out for a drink by Josh an amazing Antipodean staff member who has seemed to have travelled the world, it was great of hear some of his interesting stories and get some travel tips! We also had a Lion King movie night and were spoilt rotten by a cake Liv and Charlie got from our most recent discovery in Cusco. A fantastic cake shop just near the bus stop in town. Too good to be true...We were also treated to enjoy hot vegemite toasties by the boys thanks to Nick´s vegemite. For the record we all still could remember all the words and African chanting and weren´t afraid to sing along!

Lake Titicaca was a late weekend decision by ours to ´make the most´ of our time here in this wonderfully diverse country and that we did. After an overnight bus ride to Puno which felt like we were on the night bus in Harry Potter we arrived to watch the beautiful sunrise over the lake. We then caught a boat out to visit the floating island of Uros were we were greeted very warmly by Island residents. Harry and I even got to get dressed up in full traditional clothing (which Harry bought some of .. hope the poor man doesn´t get to cold out there being shirtless...). Then Rupert and Harry rowed us over to another part of the island in a traditional boat to visit a flamingo. However the boat was definetly not made for Australian long legs. The boys had a swim before we set off for our next island Amantnani. This was were we were billeted to a local family and our poor mum whose birthday it was that day had to quickly make a lot of extra lunch to feed us 10 hungry mouths... A bit more than she was expecting.

To get out of her hair and recover from our potato heavy meal we decided to walk to the top of the mountain on the island and watch the magnificent sunset. Rupert, Liv and I even managing to find our own Pride Rock overlooking a landscape that could easily be mistaken for the Greek Islands apart from the cold and being 4000m above sea level. That aside we all felt as if we had somehow magically been transported across the world. After star gazing and dancing that night Charlie, Sophie, Liv and I made our 3rd pilgrimage to the sun at dawn the next morning.

We very cleverly found our way through the dark at 4.30am back up to the mountain to watch our ´Sun God´ rise up from across on the Bolivian shore. This was the beginning to another unforgettable day where we went to the amazing island of Taquile and enjoyed the local specialities of quinoa soup and lake trout. We also enjoyed jumping off the boat into very very cold water as well as a long, lazy boat trip back to Puno where we all got a little bit too excited by the available sun.. hence leaving us a beautiful red colour.

After a long, hot, crowded bus trip back to Cusco we arrived at 3am. Needing to be at school today early to work on cementing foundations in our green house we should all feel very proud of our efforts. Cementing has started and the roof is now on the other green house. To top it off, inside, it starts to look very friendly´´ to growing vegetables and grass for the schools new guinea pig farm.

I think or should I say know that everyone will sleep very very very well tonight but also go to bed dreaming of what other adventures await.
Emma

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