31.07.2011 The Nile’s Fury

31.07.2011 The Nile’s Fury

                      Never have I ever been afraid of drowning—until today.

Oh...Hello wave

            Today Emilie, Kaylee, and I woke at about 0700 to catch the bus to our launch area for the white water rafting.  I felt great and energized; excited for the rapids.  I walked to buy a breakfast chapatti and then hopped on the bus.  Actually, it was more like a small version of a semi flat with metal benches and a wood fence to keep us all in.  The rapids start area was about an hour’s drive away.  During the ride there, I felt nothing but excitement.  The day before a teenage boy had broke his arm at a rapid called, The Bad Place.  Although I’m not the strongest of swimmers, and I was completely inexperienced at white water rafting, I was feeling confident that I had enough common sense that I could prevent anything like that from happening to me.

That's my red head, bottom right.

            When we got to the launch site, we were told to hop into a raft with a guide named Alex and four other people who were from Spain.  Alex was a local with a very sarcastic personality and diabolical laugh.  To be honest, when he first started talking about how he was going to let us all die and flip the boat on purpose, I was thinking, “Shit, what did I get myself into?” 

            We started off in a calm part of the river.  Alex taught us how to row correctly.  You row together, as one unit, and deep.  He also told us that we should expect to be torn off the raft or thrown off the raft as it flips.  If the current grabs us, “Be calm,” he said.  “You may die but what’s the use of worrying?”  Then he flipped the boat.  He told us that unless otherwise instructed, we were to keep hold of the raft if we were thrown or if it tipped. We were also responsible for keeping hold of our ores (oops…I lost mine about a half a dozen times).  As he flipped the boat, I held on tight.  To be honest, it was nice to get a dip in the Nile.  I was getting hot from the sun.  We swam a bit before he flipped the raft right side up.  As he did this, we had to submerge ourselves and push over to the other side, while still holding onto the raft and the ore.  It was simple in calm waters.  I was nervous to try it in the rapids.  “Hopefully,” I told myself, “We just won’t flip.”  Ha.

            The first rapid was a grade 3.  Good, medium start. We flipped.  I swear Alex did it on purpose.  We were the ONLY raft that flipped.  When I felt myself falling into the water, survival mode kicked in.  I stayed calm, and felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins.  No current grabbed me.  I just got submerged by a couple waves.  No biggie.  I was back in the boat within a couple minutes.  As soon as I was back safe, I was excited that we had flipped.  That was fun!  Not dangerous…yet.

            We went through a few more grade 3 and grade 4 rapids, all separated by each other by pools of calm water.  The boat didn’t flip again at any of these, and we celebrated these small victories against the Nile.  We followed Alex’s instructions. “GET DOWN!” “GET UP MOTHER******S!”  “PADDLE.  PADDLE HARD!  FASTER!”  At each calm pool, he’d make fun of us.  “I watch your eyes change….I watch your face change.  You all were scared.”  [Insert diabolical laugh here.]  Finally, I pushed him off the boat.  He landed in the water, and when he went to pull himself back into the boat, Kaylee pushed him in again.  Then he pulled us in, got himself back into the raft, and refused to help us!  We didn’t have enough upper arm strength.  He said he was going to leave us for the crocs and black mambas to get.

I never did grab onto that paddle. Clearly, I tried though!

            The next rapid was the first grade 5.  It’s called The Bad Place, and for good reason.  We were the last raft to go, and all the other rafts had flipped.  There were people floating down stream and people kicking and attempting to swim to safety in the rapids.  “Don’t kick, don’t swim.  When the raft flips, tuck your arms and legs in.  Let yourself float to the surface, and take a breath, because you’re going back under.  Do NOT attempt to hold onto the raft.”  What Alex failed to tell me was that the current was going to make me feel as if I was being ripped apart, and it was going to hold onto me for what feels like forever.  I let go of my ore, and just let the current drag me.  I didn’t fight it.  I just told myself, “Hakuna shida.  I’ll be back up soon.”  Amazingly, I was more worried about losing my ring than I was about not resurfacing quickly enough.  I wear a ring on my thumb that says, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  It’s a Gandhi quote, and a reminder to myself about who I want to be.  I never take it off, and forgot to before going on the rapids. I didn’t realize until I felt it slipping over my knuckle.  I made a fist and prayed I wouldn’t lose it.  About fifteen seconds under, I resurfaced.  I saw a kayaker coming towards me, but was grabbed under by the current.  This one didn’t have hold of me for as long, and I resurfaced within ten seconds.  I grabbed tightly onto the kayak and he took me back to my raft.  I was never so happy to be in calm waters, or on a raft.  To celebrate, we ate pineapple and glucose crackers. 

            We had a couple more small, grade 3 and 4 rapids.  It was rather uneventful. The last rapid, however, was another grade 5.  When Alex told us that, I felt my chest get tight and my stomach turn.  For a split second, I thought of going into the safety boat for the last rapid.  Safe or dangerous and fun?  I chose dangerous and fun.  We were sucked into the rapid, and paddled fast and strong.  Alex yelled, “DOWN.”  I hopped down into the center of the raft, and then saw the big wave coming towards us.  It picked up the front of the boat and flipped it straight over on top of us.  People were spilling over the sides.  I held fast onto the raft until I remembered we weren’t supposed to because the pressure could break your arm. I let go. The current grabbed me, but I resurfaced quickly.  I saw a kayaker and started swimming to him.  I grabbed onto the front of the kayak, and he told me to grab onto the back.  The false sense of security the kayaker gave me and the rush from the rapids made me laugh.  I let go of the front of the kayak to grab onto the back and a large wave came behind me and swooped me under, mid laugh.  I had no warning and no time to take a breath.  I was under.  While my body was spinning in the current, I started to panic.  I had no air and had to breathe.  I found myself trying to inhale while under water.  I stopped myself from inhaling more and closed my eyes tight.  “Just a few more seconds…just a few more seconds,” I told myself. I put my arms above my head, hoping the kayaker would see me.  Nope, they were under water too.  I didn’t even know if my head was facing up or down.  Finally, after what seemed like forever, I resurfaced.  I took a deep breath, and coughed. And coughed a lot more.  The kayaker was there waiting for me.  “Sorry,” he said.  I grabbed onto the front and just coughed.  He took me to a raft, and I got pulled in by the guide.  He was laughing, probably at the terror on my face.  Finally, I started laughing too.  That was the last rapid, and I survived.  As I write this, I feel like I’m being melodramatic.  But as I was stuck in a current, I felt as if I was being stupid for taking such a reckless risk with my life. In the end, I had an amazing time and wouldn’t change my experience a bit.

Still holding on, bottom right corner.