Suited Up!
Rafting Groups Ready to Ride the Waves
We Battle the Urubumba
On Sunday, we joined a rafting group, through Peru Rafting company to ride the waves of the Urubumba River. We wanted to ride upstream of the more polluted parts of the Urubumba and supposedly, the spot we went to was cleaner. It may have been cleaner, but it was still brown and muddy looking…The rapids were a lot of fun, but not as exciting as the Brown’s Canyon rafting in Colorado, or the Kicking Horse River, near Banff, Canada. It was mostly class 3 rapids with one section of class 4.
Also, both Dennis and I got sick after rafting and I’m not sure if this was from the river water or from the food they served us. So, in the end, while we had a fun time that day, I don’t think I’d recommend rafting. Better to stick to Mountain Biking, Hiking, or other Cultural things.
The Walkway to the Cabin, on the side of the Urubumba. The rafting trip starts with suiting up here.
Once the wetsuits are on, everybody piles into vans and drive to the put-in.
Dennis, Graciella & Daniel, and I. We’re ready to raft!
Graciella and Daniel are from Uruguay. They are Hydrology Engineers who were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. We hit it off with them immediately and so the guides put us in the same boat. We were also the “old farts”, considering everybody else was in their 20s…
At the put-in, the river guides review river safety techniques and discuss what to do if (when!) you fall out of the raft. They explain how there are a couple extra guides who are on kayaks who can help you, but it’s important to not claw at their spray skirts, if they are trying to rescue you. It was a very thorough explanation and their English was very good.
In the middle of the trip, we took a water break. Rafting is a lot of work and it made me thirsty.
After one of the rapids!
One of the support kayakers.
In the middle of one of the rapids!
Coming out of the rapid!
After ~3 hours of rafting, we came back to the cabin to drop off the wetsuits and sit in the sauna. We were all pretty cold after the rafting trip, so we huddled in front of the sauna to warm up. It felt great.
After the sauna, they served hot cocoa and tea in their mess hall. There was a fireplace where you could stand for extra warmth. Once everybody had a cup of hot liquid, they started serving lunch. It was bread, with rice, a cold vinegar carrot and pea salad, roasted chicken and a traditional chicken vegetable soup. Daniel said the soup was just like his grandma made and I believe it. I wished I could have just had 3 bowls of that soup!
Dennis and I enjoying lunch after several hours of rafting. Finally after lunch, the van takes you back to Cusco. The whole day was about 7-8 hours of activity.
When we got back to Cusco, I took a nap and then we got cleaned up for dinner. We ate at a very nice Italian/Peruvian fusion restaurant called Incanto. If you go to Incanto, I would focus on the pesto dishes or dishes that do not have a traditional tomato base. Their version of tomato sauce is oddly sweet and not at all garlicky. It almost tasted like there was ketchup in it…but, the pesto dishes were simply amazing. I also got a mushroom ravioli, on another night, which was delicious.
Tags: Peru, Peru Rafting, Rafting, Urubumba River, Whitewater