Day 80 - Banos, Ecuador

Wow what an absolutely phenomenal and thrilling day. I am clearly not going to have enough superlatives to describe today but I'll try. We have another contender for best day so far and I think for me it has been.

But before that I just need to comment on both of us being woken up twice in the night by the rumbles from the volcano. If you think thunder is loud this is something else. 

Anyway, today was adventure day. White water rafting in the morning and then canyoning in the afternoon. We meet at Imagine Ecuador, our excellent tour company's office at 9am to meet Patricio our guide for the day (and probably one of he coolest guys I have ever met - I want to be him and I want his job!) We get kitted out in our wet suits and head down river for about half an hour in the van (obviously on the road!). 

Sexy looks...

We are with a couple from Buenos Aires, German (pronounced Herman) and Veronique who both happen to work for Accenture. 

Upon arrival we get even further kitted up with life jackets, helmets and paddles. 

Ready to rock and roll. 

Nat is a bit nervous but obviously as I have done this just once before that makes me an expert and I reassure her not to worry, you definitely won't come out of the boat and it will be a nice easy ride with gentle rapid. How wrong could I have been? Probably the most wrong I have ever been!!

We set off fine. A nice patch of river to start with soaking up the scenery. We have an early scare with Nat and German being tipped off backwards into the river. Luckily it's not too aggressive a rapid and as they have their feet tucked in they don't go over and we manage to pull them back on. It gets the adrenaline pumping though. The river is far rougher that I would have imagined. In white water rafting they grade rivers from 1-6 where 1 is like being on a lilo in a pond and 6 is strictly non commerial (for professionals only, aka known as 'certain death' for punters like us). Anyway we are on a four. Two grades higher than we should be in reality. But what the hell!

It's not long before we hit our first big rapid. We are paddling hard with Patricio at the back barking orders and trying to guide us. It's to no avail. We capsize and are all thrown into the roaring river. I can't quite put into words what goes through your mind when you are thrown into aggressive rapids but it is pure fear, adrenaline and excitement (or more panic if you are the girls). Unfortunately I am miles away from the boat but remember my safety training and position my body feet first as I float down stream through more rapids. By now Patricio had the girls back on the boat but me and German are still floating down river.  Luckily as we are on such an advanced rapid for our ability they have an amazing guy in a kayak who is our safety guy. He powers ahead to catch up with me and I clamber up first on the front then the back of his kayak, very nearly capsizing him in the process. We finally get back to the boat and I clamber / get dragged back on. Surprisingly it was actually pretty good fun floating down the river in just my life jacket, especially when you realise you don't actually hit any rocks on the way. In all I travel for about 1.5km down river before I am back on. Such good fun and a great rush!!!

I was particularly proud of Nat when I got back on the boat as I was expecting a complete melt down but apart from having the most worried face in the world and being petrified she was in good spirits and focused on the task in hand - the next set of rapids that were fast approaching. 

Once we are all back in the boat we carry  on for a bit. We get periods of calmness where we can have a rest and soak up the amazing scenery - some of the best we have seen so far. After a good 30 mins of tackling the rapids and managing to stay in the boat we get to the last set of rapids where Patricio dumps is at the bottom of a mini waterfall and keeps us there "surfing" as he calls it. We have gallons of water continuously pouring over the top of us into the boat. We are facing backward with me and Herman taking the full force of it and I must admit it was petrifying as we can just sense the boat is going over any minute and at this point I have swallowed a shed load of water to the point I can't breathe. Even I am gasping "enough enough" to the guide who takes no notice and which doesn't look very cool on the go-pro video. Then the boat flips again. Out we go into the roaring river. Not being able to breath before you get plunged under is not the best prep and I come up spluttering and gasping for air, luckily close that boat this time. However I had it OK relative to Nat who was under the upside down boat as it has flipped over on top of her! Luckily the safety training kicked in again and after a few gasps of air in the tiny air pocket under the boat she ducks under and gets back out from underneath. By this point I am in the boat and drag her back on. A damn scary moment. Nat wants out by this point. Veronique is crying and I am feeling a little relieved that it was a our last major rapid. I swallowed a lot of water on that last one. Still a great rush though. Finally starting to understand these adrenaline sports. The home straight was delightful and getting to shore even better. 

What an experience though. The most exhilarating, adrenalin pumping and frightening thing I have ever done but so one of the most amazing. The sense of satisfaction when we have finished is immense. Patricio and safety kayak dude were amazing. So experienced and skilled. No matter how scared we were at times they were always in control. Best comfort blankets ever. 

After lots of high fives we get the boat out of the water onto the van and we head back up towards Banos. We stop for a bite to eat to carb up before our afternoon of Canyoning.

Basically canyoning is climbing and abseiling down waterfalls. We change into thicker wet suits as it is a bit colder as we are in the water more (if that is possible!) and set off again. After a short drive up a dirt track we get our kit on again but this time exchanging the paddles for harnesses. After a 15 minute trek up the mountain which was ridiculously hot in our thick wet suits and after heating an almighty roar from the volcano we get to the edge of the river where we are about to start. 

We have few practice runs to learn how to attach ourselves to the rope and get used to trusting the rope and really leaning back. It is only about a 6ft drop but German managed to fall over and roll of the side into the buses. Absolutely hilarious (as I am sure he will now agree!). Our guide is so busy laughing he strugges to get the camera out to take loads of pictures!

We the set off walking down the gorge for a while until we reach our first waterfall. Its a fairly gentle start, just a 15ft one to get us used to it. It is such great fun but it takes a little while to put all your trust in the rope and really lean back off the side. 

The next one was really tough. We seemed to have jumped from a green to a red (in skiing parlance) straight away.  Nat has a little slip half way down this 25ft one and gives the safety rope a good test. She did very well to get back in position when a massive waterfall is dropping on her head. 

The next one took real courage. It's another huge drop and our guide who has gone off ahead has set up a zip wire that looks far to steep to be a zip wire. We are left wondering what he is setting up for us and how they hell we are going to get down. Turns out it is a zip wire and we are going to jump off backwards. I am up first which is a bit scary as none of us know what to expect. I get into position and after three jump backwards and fly off down the zip line. It is AMAZING!! Such a rush. It also gives us the courage to do the big zip wire over the valley tomorrow now!

The last one we go down is the tallest waterfall in the valley but it is surprising easy as the rock face is relatively flat on this way and the line we take down avoids the waterfall dropping directly onto us. This is a huge waterfall, a good 35-40ft. When we are at the bottom as usual we wait in anticipation to see how fast and good Patricio follows us down. What we see next blew my mind. He runs off the waterfall and runs down the face of the waterfall face first, controlling himself with one rope over his shoulder. Absolutely amazing. 

We finish up going down some natural slides. Patrico has me in stitches on this one bit where he keeps tugging on the rope and dunking us back in a small rock pool. Watched everyone's faces is hilarious as it is unexpected. He does Nat twice for her reluctance to let go as he instructed on the last waterfall. 

An absolutely amazing experience and once again a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. 

That evening we go to meet them at the office to see the pics. They are amazing. These are just a few ones I managed to email myself - we have loads more better ones that I will try to upload at some point but I need a computer to do it. We also have an absolutely amazing video of the white water rafting. The one where the boat flips is fantastic but looks petrifying. We also notice more of Patricios crazy antics - he uses the boat as a bouncy castle on some of the big rapids flying up into the air. He goes so high he almost goes off camera. The footage looks like a guy had just dropped into our boat from the sky. 

Highly recommend Imagine Ecuador to anyone that are here. They have been superb and excellent value. All of this for $100 for the both of us. They also give us all the pics and video for free too!

http://www.imagineecuador.com

That evening we celebrate with a nice bottle of red in a lovely steak house in town. 

Nat is very relieved. She would do canyoning again but I don't think I will ever get her near a raft of any sort again! I on the other hand have got a real taste for it and can't wait to do it again. 

Just as we are about to head back to the hotel we bump into Patrico and the rest of the crew and end up spending the rest of the night with them. 

A few flaming shots and lots of beers later...

We have such a good time with them. We are literally sat in the busy bar steet outside an off license drinking beer. The Evuadorians have this thing where you share beers using one plastic cup that you just keep necking a bit then passing it around. Just like the wine train!!

We notice that the town is now covered in a coat of ash from the big explosion earlier coupled with the change of wind.

The kayak dude whose name I can't remember is also an amazing rock climber and has forearms of steel. They are like biceps on his forearm. 

Them taking the piss out of Nat's scared face that she has had on all day!

Good times and a great end to a fantastic day. Going to be hungover on our bike ride tomorrow!