Ben and Ange - On the Road

Yee Har!! That´s the words that best describe the day, rafting down the river in Bariloche near the Chilean border. The day started with being picked up at 9am and being asked if we had our passports after we had already left our hostel. Of course bloody not was our response. Not really something you think about taking white water rafting is it now? In the end we didn´t need it anyway and so it off for a 1-2 hour drive to near the Chile border to our river ¨Manso¨. First we had to be kitted up. So we were supplied with wetsuits, jackets and life jackets. ¨Where´s your footwear?¨ was the next question asked of us (great start, would of been great if someone told us that as well) Once again though we didn´t need any as we were supplied with booties. And then finally off to the starting point. A few little saftey and naviagtion pointers and away we went. The river was just superb, right up against the national park and crystal clear. You could see every little stone under the water and the scenerey through them was just spectacular. Went through 10 sets oF rapids in total taking close to two hours to do it. And i must say that we didn´t tip the boat at all. That´s not to say we didn´t end up in the water. At one point for one of the smaller sections of rapids we had the choice of going through it in the water. I don´t think he had finished the question before Ange an I were in. Forgot to tell us to close our mouths though didn´t he!! You can´t help but laugh as you go down and then the waves smack you in the face before you`re ready and you drink most of the bloody river. Luckily it tastes good. So although we didn´t tip over we certainly got stuck on rocks a couple of times which was a scream. ¨Left side forward¨ would scream our captain Hector, not realising that the left side of our boat being beached on a rock was now a good four feet from the water and no chance of any paddles reaching it. Not that the people on that side didn´t try. The photos come courtesy of the jogging photographer. Poor bloke is running from rapid to rapid taking the shots while we gently paddle down the river to the next set. We finally finish up right at the Chilean border which of course makes for some good photo opportunities. All in all great fun and we´ll be doing it again somewhere down the track. Afterwards we had a great BBQ back at base camp with a couple of glasses of Argentinian red (of course)