Tuesday night after we were in bed for the evening we got a phone call letting us know that the river we wanted to raft was to high and unraftable/unsafe, this was the Apurimac River.
This was probably a good thing in a way because Rick ended up rather sick on Wednesday. So we spent the morning trying to figure out what we were doing and also a lot of relaxing (for Rick). We decided to do a 2 day rafting trip down the Urubamba River. But we still had an extra day to play around with. After a relaxing morning we hired a private taxi to take us to Pisac, some Inca ruins at 12500 feet. Here we hiked around a bit, Rick got a geocache and we were able to explore without all the tourists that seem to be everywhere. Our taxi ride was 60 sole, which is equivalent to about $18. Given the fact that the ride itself was 45 minutes each way and our driver waited for us, we decided to give him a little tip and he was very greatful. This hike just about whiped Rick out, I believe he was suffering from sevear dehydration at this point. So we decided to have a light dinner of chicken soup and go to bed.
By Thursday morning Rick was feeling a little better and we went forward with our rafting trip. We were both very glad that we did. The first day we got out to the river camp that Mayuc, our guide company, owns. From here we split into a few different groups. Most people were going up river to raft the 3-4 class rapids. Our group since we were doing the 2 day trip started from camp and went down river to the 2-3 class rapids. This was a very easy day and probably a good thing since we were FREEZING. The water was cold but it was the cloudy weather and wind that really got us. They did provide us with wetsuits and splash jackets but the splash jackets had seen better days so they weren´t all that waterproof.
When we got back to camp they had a nice hot sauna waiting for us with hot tea and a nice hot lunch of soup and chicken with veggies. After lunch most of the people went back to Cusco, and it was only Rick and I with another American named Matt. Matt had been spending a semester studying in Argentina and was doing a little traveling before he went home. He was a great companion, very nice, outgoing and fluent in spanish. The fluent in spanish really came in handy when we took a walk to the local village and were able to visit a school having a little talet show. I think after we walked in we were the talet show instead of the performers. The kids were very cute and wanted their pictures taken so they could see themselves on the digital cameras. This reminded me a lot of the kids that we met in Thailand and we had a lot of fun showing them their photos.
Once we returned back to camp we were able to relax a bit more before dinner started. Just before we were about to sit down to eat a huge rain/lightnight/hail storm hit. The temperature really dropped and the wind was whipping through camp. Thank goodness we had a building to eat in, similar to a main lodge and our tents were under a canopy. By the time we were ready to hit the sack the rain and wind had lightened up and we were plenty warm in our tents.
When we got up this morning the sun was shinning bright and everything was very peaceful in our little camp. We had a few hours to just hang out this morning and Rick spent much of it in the hammock enjoing the view of the river and mountains that were around us. It was amazing and a great place to take a break from our travels.
Rafting today was AMAZING. Due to the rain the night before the water level had risen about 18 inches. This made the rappids today much faster and much more fun. We had our same group from the day before with our guide Jaun Carlos and one other peson, John from Canada. We hit some great rappids today and had a blast. I think the best part was the weather, it was actaully hot for a little while.
They were taking videos and pictures through a lot of the bigger rappids and we will head down to a local disco tech at 11pm tonight to view them. Things don´t really get hoppin in this town until late, I just hope us old farts can stay up late enough to make it there for the party.
All in all its been a great few days. We have had a lot more fun than we were expecting and that is always a plus. Lets just hope neither one of us gets sick again, especially now that Rick is almost back to 100%.
By the way forgive the spelling, this is Jeanne typing and if you know me you know I can´t spell worth a darn and then is when things a in english.
We are off to dinner, hope everyone is doing well and catch you at the next update.
Good Night
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Such a bummer that Rick got sick, I'm sure the altitude didn't help. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the dieta de pollo soup, but it sounds like you already discovered it. I lived on that stuff while I was there. Loved it! and unintentionally, but happily lost weight eating mostly just that soup. I'm glad you got some rain to make the rapids more fun. I loved the big rapids on the Apurimac, some were scary though. Anyway, have fun!
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