March 15th 2009 - Rolling down the river

I woke up feeling fairly fresh for the first time in ages and looking forward to rafting. We had a Chiva ride out there, an energetic safety display and were then divided into groups. Nia, Soren, Katja, Louise, Christine and I were with a guide called Eduardo who was originally from Tena and on the same National rafting team as Jeno which was cool. We had a short icy shower and were off!

The rafting seemed a lot more professional, with a much greater emphasis on the synchronisation of the strokes and teamwork. The rafting was more harsh too, huge swells rising up and battering the raft – even knocking Mia and Christine out at one point! It was great fun again but this time was more sports focused and less time looking at the view.

We had a little break to jump in the river before we changed position – this time with me and Soren at the front. It was so much fun! We got drenched with some waves smashing us right in the face. I loved rafting and feel slightly disappointed with myself that I haven’t tried it since Ecuador.

On the way back we stopped off so Chloe could bungee. This turned out to be the turning point in our frosty relationship as whilst she had an awesome jump, I videoed it on my camera. When back at the hostel we had a chat and decided to get our friendship back on track which was great.

In the afternoon I read my book, made some herbal tea with Mia and had some quite deep conversations with a couple of the group. We had mash and homemade meatballs – which went down a storm – before heading out for the final time in Banos.

The night was a bit crazy. We went to Mocumba first and we all got to whip one of the locals (Andres) with a belt as it was his birthday – Josefine said his arse was very red at the end of it all! Soren, Louise Sk, Mia and I played some more games of pool whilst the others went to find a place to dance but after Soren and Louise headed home, Mia and I went to find the club. At the third attempt we found a club with Hilde, Sophie and Chloe where we had a couple of drink and a bit of a dance before deciding that actually we wanted to play fusbol.

The place with fusbol was closed so it was back to Mocumba where Mia and I played pool until the bar shut before we went to a karaoke bar for me to ruin all of the locals’ night with a version of ‘Unchained Melody’. We had a chat on the way back and ended up back in the hostel at 4am after my longest night out in Banos – and possibly the most enjoyable.