Rafting Tour (August 15 & 16, 2006)

The rafting tour involves driving from Merida to the Rio Arauca in the Los Llanos of Venezuela, doing a little bit of rafting in the afternoon, sleeping in a simple camp, rafting again the following morning, and driving back to Merida in the afternoon. We left Merida at 8:30am and started the beautiful drive up the valley to the pass that goes across the mountains. At the pass we stopped to have a look at Lago Mucubaji, a mist covered lake surrounded by sparse vegetation. We also stopped for lunch at a restaurant, where four of the group in our truck left us to join a Los Llanos four-day tour. Two of them, Ton and Amanda (a Dutch/American couple) were lots of fun and we enjoyed chatting with them during the drive. In our rafting group we also had a pair of Dutch brothers (Martin and Jay) and Chris, the bloke from England that we had met the previous night. They were all lots of fun so we had a good group.

We finally arrived at the camp at 3:30pm (seven hours later when we were told it would only be five hours of driving) and suited up for our first rafting trip. The section we were doing today was supposed to be easier and shorter than the one tomorrow, a warm-up and practice for the next day. According to our guide Hector, the river was lower than usual and we were hoping for rain tonight to make the river higher tomorrow. It was still loads of fun nonetheless and we all survived the practice run, despite Chris trying to pull me in with him when he almost fell out. Luckily I had my feet wedged in good and managed to save both myself and him.

Back at camp (which was a room with bunk beds) we had some time to kill before heading up to the neighbouring house for dinner at 7:15. Dinner was quite good, and the family that does the cooking for Guamanchi has quite the little farm going on – they had one or two of every kind of farm animal, plus a parrot and two cute little Chihuahua dogs. After dinner we played cards (we taught the others the game called “40” that we had learned from the crew on the Encantada) and drank a case of beer before hitting the hay.

:: August 16 ::

It had rained during the night, but unfortunately not enough to raise the level of the river. The rafting this morning was also fun, but it would have been a lot better if we had another foot of water (as Lincoln kept saying). The rapids were only around grade 2 or 3. The scenery was lovely, it was nice and sunny, and we had a great time. At one section we managed to get ourselves stuck just at the bottom of a rapid so the water was crashing into the boat and we couldn’t get out (Hector stuck us there on purpose). Lincoln lost his paddle and Hector had to dive in after it. Lincoln, Martin and Jay were trying to flip us over but they were unsuccessful. We stayed there for a few minutes enjoying the rush before Hector pulled us out. We finished up rafting around 12:30 and had lunch at Old MacDonald’s farm again before starting on the drive back to Merida.

Around halfway back to Merida a huge downpour started, making road visibility poor. Darn, why couldn’t we have had this rain yesterday?! Heading up towards the pass, we passed a few waterfalls alongside the road that had grown much larger than when we had driven past yesterday. Our driver looked worried about what might be coming up ahead. Sure enough, we soon encountered a part of the road that had a big waterfall streaming down onto it, with large rocks pummelling down from the cliff and piling up on the road. Hector said we should try to drive past it right now because in five minutes we won’t be able to cross. The driver (unfortunately I never caught his name) was hesitant because the Toyota Land Cruiser that we were in was only two weeks old and he was worried that rocks would hit it and possibly break through the window. So he decided that we should wait it out until the water flow slowed down. He said that even if we got through, there was another spot two minutes up the road where the same thing was probably happening, given that there were no cars coming in the opposite direction. Eventually the rain and the water flow did die down, but not before at least a metre of rubble was piled onto the road, sloping towards the low barrier at the cliff edge. After much consultation between the vehicles that were also waiting it out, another Toyota pickup truck decided to go for it. He made it over the rubble, so next it was our turn. Our driver asked if we wanted to stay in the truck or get out for the drive over. We decided it was more exciting to stay in the truck, but halfway across the truck started to slide into the barrier so we all got out and helped push the truck out and away from the barrier. Luckily it got across without a scratch on it, much to the driver’s happiness, and ours!

Back in the truck, we continued down the road to the next obstacle, a river flowing across the road that had formed proper banks on either side of it. The water was flowing very rapidly, and apparently an hour ago had been much higher than when we saw it. There were also a few logs and large boulders in the road. People started trying to clear a path across and after a while our driver decided to go for it. This crossing went more smoothly than the last one, but was equally as exciting. We have some videos of the whole ordeal but haven’t figured out how to post videos on our website yet (sorry!). On the other side of this washout was a very long line of cars waiting for the road to clear. There was no way small cars could get across either of the washouts, so they would be waiting for a long time. Only large trucks or vehicles with 4x4 could have made it across. We finally arrived in Merida at 8pm, happy to be back alive! We went out for Mexican dinner with Chris to celebrate.