Rafting on the Jatunyacu River

On Monday February 29th, we began our rafting journey into the Amazon. We would raft for two days through class three rapids, totaling 40 Km on the Jatunyacu River, which means "big water" in Kichwa. Our guides briefed us on technique and safety, we divided into two boats and chose names, and after a couple wipe outs, we managed to enter the rafts and set off. We paddled just across the river where we unloaded to trek to a nearby waterfall. We hiked, climbed, and swam until we reached the large pool at the bottom of a waterfall where we all dove in. We spent a while riding the whirlpool created by the waterfall, then hiked back to our boats and continued the journey.

We started to go through the rapids, which is when our adventure really began. Our guide briefed us on what the rapid would be like then steered us through it and told us when to paddle. Some of the waves were so big that they came up and over the boat, properly dousing all of us. We sometimes had to avoid rocks or be careful not to fall out and get caught in a whirlpool. Despite these nerves, the rapids were so much fun! We made it safely through each one with a lot of laughs along the way and a paddle high five at the end of each.

Halfway into the day, we stopped for lunch on a beach along the river. We explored and swam for a bit, then were introduced to the delicacies that are meals provided by The River People, our rafting company. We had fried rice with chicken, cole slaw, pineapple, Doritos, plenty of fresh avocado and chocolate cake. It may sound like an odd mix, but it was nevertheless delicious and much appreciated by our hungry group. After a brief rest, we continued rafting for the afternoon. It was similar to the morning, but with the addition of what we called "cowboying" which is when one person sat on the front of the raft with her legs out, holding on to a rope and trying to stay on. It definitely proved to be a difficult task but provided a lot of laughs.

We arrived at the beach where we would camp for the night and found various ways to entertain ourselves until dinner. The first was sock wrestling, when two people would enter a circle drawn on the sand-each armed with a sock on one foot-and wrestle with the goal of removing the sock from their opponent's foot. It was definitely a very interesting and very fun game and pretty hilarious. We also played ultimate frisbee, read, practiced guitar, and set up the tents we would be sleeping in. We had a romantic candlelit dinner of pasta with meat sauce and carrot cake. Then some locals performed three traditional dances for us and we had a bonfire on the beach.

We woke up the next day and had a delicious breakfast of fruit, yogurt, toast, and eggs. Afterwards, we went on a walk through the jungle and learned about the uses of the plants and fruits growing there. Finally, we got in our rafts and continued the journey down the river. The rapids were smaller than the day before, so we mixed in a lot of games on the raft. We played a game where one person would try to run around the outside of the raft and if they fell, they would get pushed in by the rest of us. We also attempted to all stand around the outside of the raft through the rapids. Another game was when one person stood on the front of the raft, holding on to a rope and the rest of us would spin the raft as fast as we could. We tried to balance the raft in the air by all sitting in the back of the raft and pulling the front towards us, then spinning it (but neither boat experienced much success). We stopped along the way for a delicious lunch of burritos, then continued rafting until we arrived at the port of Misahualli and were greeted by a troop of monkeys. The whole group was slightly sad to be done with our rafting excursion, but very excited about how fun it was!

Emily Bosworth