Kindnapped and Waffled

I think I have a bit of culture shock going from Iquitos, Peru to Quito, Ecuador...and I don't think it's just the altitude of 2800m. The wealth! The organization! Cars and seat belts! Colonel buildings?

Edward was an incredibly generous and hospitable host, as well as a very stimulating conversation partner.  It warms my heart that there are still people in the world who appreciate randomness and spontaneity as much as I do. I realize how weird it must sound to folks back home that I spent 2 nights in the home of a stranger I met in the airport, but I promise you it was the best random offer I have ever accepted.

I slept in the most comfortable bed in my own room, I took a hot shower with water pressure, I did laundry, I got to cook for the first time since I've traveled, I felt incredibly safe, and I got to sit in my pajamas while cuddling a ceramic mug of fresh coffee. Wow, I didn't realize how much the hostel-jumping backpacker life can take a toll on you! What a blessing to be "kiNdnapped" :)

Edward set me up with a map of Quito, helped me get my bearings, and I would set off to explore the city during the days. I wandered markets, drank fresh fruit just in one of many city parks, explored the Astronomical Observatory and other museums, and sat on a bench in the center of Old Town to people watch for hours. I can't even begin to tell you how many people would come up to me and just ask if I would like to practice my Spanish. That obvious, huh? Sure! I love the days that I'm so immersed that my brain even starts thinking in Spanish. And I had some really cool conversations to boot! I also received 4 different invitations to go Salsa dancing from some seriously flirty 20SomethingYearOlds. Yeesh. Just one more reason I desperately miss traveling with Matt and Rob by my side. I kindly declined, as my dancing skills are absolutely atrocious.

Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Edward and meet my mother at her hotel. Oh boy, and I thought I had misadventures in Spanish! Hola, Mom! We got to bed early in preparation for a crack of the dawn departure for a whole day of white water rafting out of Tena.

My parents raised my siblings and me with a love for white water rafting - beginning with the Middle Youghiogheny at age 5. So when my mom booked her tickets to Ecuador, she really didn't have any choice in the matter that we were going white water rafting. Ecuador has one of the world's highest concentrations of rivers per square mile, and Tena is home to the World Rafting Championships. Saweet!

A van picked mom and I up super early in the morning. I had full intentions of sleeping for the 3.5 hour ride to Tena, but the bumpy cobblestone streets of Quito kind of got in the way of that plan. We climbed up and through the Andes and then descended into the start of the mesmerizing Ecuadorian jungle. How cool to watch the transformation to lush, waterfalltastic landscape!
We had a half hour hike down a super muddy hill to the put in point. I now realize who I inherited my

certified clutziness from. By the end of the hike, we were up to our knees in mud, and my mom wasn't too thrilled for the terrestrial part of this rafting adventure. But the second we went over our first rapid, she was smiling a bigger smile than I have seen on her face in years!
The river we picked was full of mostly class 4 rapids and wandered through impressive canyons and the Ecuadorian jungle. Every turn in the river was breathtakingly beautiful, and it was so hard not to get distracted by all of the butterflies, colorful birds, and roaring waterfalls that we passed.

The most eventful part of the day hands down was a class 4 rapid called "The Waffle Maker". It's a river wide hydraulic, and about a 2m tall drop. We went over it, but the back of the raft got stuck under the waterfall. This is a term known as 'surfing' - essentially getting the raft stuck under the waterfall and it stays there as the raft fills with water, flips toward the waterfall due to the force, the

water dumps out of the raft, the raft flattens out again, and the cycle repeats. We surfed for supposedly 30 seconds - a new record for one of the guides in the boat. The whole experience was quite surreal and everyone is our boat has their own story. I'll give you mine.
I watched Mike, who was in the front left of the raft get ejected from the raft the second we went over the rapid. Mom fell out of the boat, only after laying down in the raft getting hammered by water from the falls. The guide got knocked out, and Steph was trying to stay in the raft with me. I think once she fell out, the weight distribution was such that the raft completely flipped into the waterfall. I took a big breath, and just like when surfing and a wave breaks on you, I calmly waited underwater while I got tumbled around. It took about 10 seconds for me to realize that I was stuck under the waterfall and that I wasn't just going to magically float to the surface. I tried grabbing for the raft to pull myself up, but it was also stuck under the waterfall and I would just get trapped underneath it. I opened my eyes, still quite calm, and tried to see if I could figure out which way was up. Just bubbles. A thought crossed my mind that at least I was surrounded by lots of people who knew CPR. I swear I must have

blacked out because the next thing I remember was floating down the river on my back, looking up at the beautiful jungle canopy above, just coughing up so much water. I remained calm, knowing that it was going to make it a lot easier to get my breath back. I was pulled into the rescue raft, the last of the people in my boat to be rescued, and looked down at a giant pool of blood forming around me. I was so happy to just be breathing - I really didn't care! The guide in the boat came on over and pinched the gash  next to my eye shut until they could get the first aid kit out. I don't know what hit me, but I assume it had to be either a paddle or a rock. The whole experience sounds really scary, but I didn't really feel fear during the whole incident. I just kind of knew I was going to be ok. No panicking allowed from the audience!
The guides patched me up and I still had a blast rafting the next 10km of the river until the take out point.  I had no idea how bad it looked, but I could only assume when staff from the company would look at it with the WOAH face. I joked with them, "You should see the other guy."
They took me to the ER in Tena for doctor clearance purposes, a service that was completely free! Ugh, that would have been easily $600 in the States. On the bumpy 5 hour bus ride back to Quito, I had the uncomfortable feeling of blood dripping down the side of my face. Crap, the gash opened. I tried catching the blood with my sweatshirt, but in the end I kind of just looked like I had been in some huge gang fight. It

probably didn't help our case as we collected stares for being the only gringos on the bus. Thank goodness Dr. Mom was there! Too tired to deal with another ER, we went to bed and decided to deal with it in the morning. The wound was in need of at least 3 stitches, but the doctors claimed too much time passed after the accident to sew it up when we went in today. Dr. Mom wasn't very pleased with this, but the language barrier was too difficult to fight it. I'm actually quite stoked about this decision - now I can still go snorkeling in the Galapagos without worrying about getting stitches wet! Yahoo!
While I feel a bit ridiculous walking around Quito with a black eye, I am comforted to know that someone would think twice about messing with me - seeing as i'm hardcore as what :)

So much for showing my mother that I'm perfectly safe traveling in South America haha. Regardless, we are off first thing tomorrow morning for the much anticipated GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!!! When you don't hear from me for 8 days, just think of me kickin' it with giant tortoises and blue foot boobies :) My inner bio major is squealing with delight! Yes, I even have Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle to keep me company.

Cheers!