Today was a fun day. Went canyoning with Kayak River Adventures.
It took about 45 minutes to get to the base camp where we got ready and hiked into the mountains to our start point. It was muddy and slippery, but we made it there! Then we did about 6 rappels and then jumped off a bunch of waterfalls and ledges into the water.
One of the big jumps, I took a smaller ledge but still had trouble jumping. One of the guides (Helmut) took my hand and on the count of three, we jumped. It was scary, but fun.
On the other big jumps, one of the guides would take me on a side route down and then I would take pictures of everyone jumping. I totally felt like I was being a wimp not doing the big jumps, but the guys all said I rocked it, so I'll just go with that.
I took this epic slow-motion fall on a rock while we were walking along and ended up with a massive bruise (and a good road rash too). No one saw it, but everyone said they just looked over one moment and I was walking and the next I was flat out like a starfish.
Then it was a long, steep hike back up into the mountains. It was really muddy and my shoes didn't have a ton of grip. And the switchbacks were really steep. It started raining at one point, and I felt like I was holding everyone up since I wasn't as fast as them. Eventually we came out to a field and flat ground where we walked a bit. It was a welcome relief from all that steepness.
Only it wasn't over. There was more going up to do. In all, they said it would take 45 minutes to an hour to get back to base camp. I think it probably took longer, but we made it, and that's what matters. Once we got back to base camp, we had the most delicious homemade lunch and a cold beer to celebrate.
It was super fun (besides the hike) because it was Zach, me and Johnny (friend of Zach) plus 4 guides, so it meant we got a really unique tour and experience that other groups may not.
The taxi driver that came to pick us all up to take us back down to the hotel told us a story of what happened while we were gone. I guess he'd gone into town to run some errands (since we'd be gone a couple hours at least) and he said he witnessed a bank robbery, guns and all.
The drive back was pretty quiet as we were worn out but also my sinuses really hurt from all the water that rushed into them jumping off these high ledges into the water.
That evening went for dinner at the Chicken Shack with Maya, Monica and the British couple (Simon & Cynthia).
