The spoiling of ourselves continues. After our "perfect day" we decided it was time to challenge ourselves a bit, so we'd signed up for a whitewater rafting tour on the nearby river Pastaza. We were a little nervous about it (okay, mostly Kelly) - was it going to be safe, would the guides speak enough English, were they REALLY going to be class III-V rapids as advertised? - but we took a leap of faith.
It paid off - we had some of the best rafting that either of us have ever experienced. It turned out that they were Class IV+ rapids - not exaggerated at all. Not only that, they were one after another - no leisurely floating down the river in between to recover your senses. Huge waves, broken paddles, screams of disbelief, kayaker trapped upside down, dangerous water dynamics, the guide always yelling "FORWARD, FORWARD," and so on. Chris has never heard as many, um, un-pastorly like words out of Kelly's mouth in one sitting before. Sitting at the front of the raft, Chris never swallowed so much river water in his life. But we both stayed in the boat (a real achievement, we'll show you the video!), pulled more than our weight in terms of paddling, and greatly enjoyed the camradarie with our fellow boatmates. No sea-sickness this time around.