Today the Gibson family headed off to raft the Urubamba river, which is the river flowing between the Andes mountains in the Sacred Valley. This river drains the glaciers from the Andes. However, we were assured by several people, including our river rafting guide, that it would not be too cold and the boys would be safe. One of these was correct. After a 1.5 hour drive to the drop-in point, we were all told to strip to our undies or a bathing suit and put on a wet suit, rain jacket, and helmet. At this point, the weather took a nasty turn. The wind began blowing, the clouds moved in, the rain began pelting and the temperature dropped. The air temp had to be around 40 or 50F and the water temp about the same. In the wind and rain, this is a setup for misery.
Stuck in the middle of nowhere, Don and I put our three little boys in this raft and began the frigid journey down the river in Class 2 and 3 rapids. Our guide, Edwardo, was excellent and told us exactly when to paddle like a drill sergeant, so that we never turned over. The waves pounded us and drenched us and within the first 30 minutes, Graham was crying from the cold. Owen joined him later on. Wyatt was very brave and only cried in joy when we finally saw the base camp 2 hours later. There were 10 or so rafts in our group and all made it successfully. We then got to enjoy a smoky sauna heated by a wood stove and a good hot lunch.
Needless to say, this was not our most pleasant adventure, in fact I've never been so cold and miserable in my life. Back at the hotel hot showers and a Daddy run to McDonald's impoves spirits. But everyone survived and now we have a good story...but it may take a while to get over it.
This concluded our stay in Cuzco, tomorrow a long trek by taxi, plane and boat to the Amazon Rain Forest. Probably no further Internet access until Lima on Thursday.
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