Mexico

Well we have arrived safely into Mexico, a place that is familiar and yet so different. THe weather here is crazy - hot mostly but today out of the middle of no where we had a crazy rain storm. We were beginning to pack up camp ( which is quite an ordeal) and I was helping with the kitchen supplies. We have a trailer that is packed full with water jugs, coolers (5 or so) food, dishes, garbage stuff and well you know all the stuff you need.... It drizzled a little and before we knew it we wer all soaked and laughing at ourselves. The place where we´ve been camped is at the bottom of several hills. When it rains things get totally muddy. It is one big mud pit. The vans and bus don´t really do well as they slip and slide everywhere. One of the days we had to push the vehichles out.

The river is just a stone´s throw away - at the bottom of ravine by the campsite. It is turquois- green colour and you feel as though you are in paradise. We have put for kayaking about 8km from our campsite ( it is a luxurious spot) and we take out when we arrive back at the campsite. However to get there you need to go over 7 (I think) waterfalls/slides to get there. THEy vary in height from 10 to 25 ft. The first day was intimidating but we have done it several times since and it is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth that I have ever been.

Yesterday we had a scenario where on one of the instructors was running the third last waterfall. It is the highest watefall. She went over the waterfall and then needed to be rescued. In this situation she had a broken femur ( the big bone in your upper leg). This is a life threatening situation so we had to pretend to treat the break and then evacuated her out off the river. To get her safely to a vehicle we must carry her out on a back board. But before that is possible we must apply traction (pulling her leg and applying pressure to ensure that the broken, "fixed" bone would stay in place) and build a splint. As you can imagine this is no easy task.

I had taken the day off to rest as my shoulder was a little sore and suddenly Jon (another student) had paddled back to the campsite and explain what had happened and listed off the supplies that we´d need. We then took the supplies (mainly a raft) and one of the vans to a hotel part way down the river. As a team we try to divide into smaller groups with specific tasks. We got the raft ready, while others took care of the medical side of things and others tried to scout routes for taking her off the river. Everyone´s adrenaline is pumping. We got her off the river in about 2 hours. Everyone remained positive. Jason was complimented twice during our debrief time for being level headed and seeing the big picture really well!!! Not a surpise at all.

The gear that we had gotten used to wearing (dry suit tops, Neoprene tops and bottoms) have been stashed away for a while. And shorts and rash guards (spandexz like material that keeps the sun out and offers a little warmth)ave replaced them. We use alot more sun screen though. I got a good burn while we were in Texas.

We had no problems getting into Mexico. In fact this trip was one of the smoothest border crossings they´ve ever had. Maybe it is because of the great story they created. We were all told before hand that there were certain words that we could repeat often if asked any questions and they were Xalapa and Veracruz the two main places we´d be stying in and even then we were supposed to butcher the pronunciation. If needed we were going to explain that we were world class athletes training for the Bejing ´08 Olympics. We sure had a good laugh about that.

We´ve adjusted well to the food. It hasn´t upset our tummies too much. Probably the hardest thing is learning to drink large quantities of water because you sweat all the time. Sometimes it cools down at nights but not always - and cool is relative to the hot days. Probably most of you at home are not even feeling a little bit sorry for me now because I hear it is a little cold there.

Yesterday morning we awoke at 4:40 ( yes in the morning) to get up a see swallows fly out of the cave that they live in. The place is called Sotano de las Golonodrinas. If you are wondering if we were mad but this is a world renowned place and really it is quite spectacular. We sat in a smelly, wet van ( we use the van to transport us to the river and the afternoon before it had been raining) in the dark going up this crazy narrow, steep path. We had to get to the cave as the sun began rising. And we made it just in the nick of time. The cave is 500m deep and teh birds start near the bottom and weave there way up in circles until they fly out. IT takes over half an hour because there is thousands of birds. Some of them were swallows and others were parques(?) that were a bright green colur. We were able to look into the cave by using a rope. It was a great way to start the day.

Tonight we board the bus at 11pm and travel all night to an ancient ruins site. I can´t wait.

The Rupert River

There are a multitude of words that I can use to describe this wonderful and amazing river. Since this trip (which we took ~ a month ago) we have been rafting or in Jason's case kayaking on class v(five) rapids. The rapids and water channelling that we saw on the Rupert totally don't even compare to the biggest class v rapids that we have seen. The rapids which had initially been described as "meant for giants" are so massive and loud that you stand beside them and feel small. You are immersed in a very awesome expereince, particularly since this river way is scheduled to be damed in 4 years. The pictures that follow are a small taste ofwhat we heard and saw.

The five day trip included so much diversity in terrain, weather and activity for the day. They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well that was the motto for this trip in particular. Each day we paddled with different people. We ate like king and queens at the end of some crazy portages. The one day we had two portages that were each ~ 2.5 km and instead of going from beginning to end we leap frogged our gear as far as we could and then went back to the last pieces of gear. We always went back until we were carrying the first aid kit. If you had the first aid kit that meant that you were the end of the trail and everyone could continue to move forward. Another day we paddled ~ 30 km against a strong wind in amazingly warm weather and sunshine. The first night we arrived at 10pm in the dark to the park where you could hear the roar of the rapids butnot see them and the temp. was close to zero that you could see your breath.

We spent one evening with a group of Cree people. They cooked us a traditional meal which included smoked fish. They included a demonstration of how they traditionally catch the fish as well. Once the meal was done we snuggled up together to sleep in a teepee or wigwam. Despite the occasional drips of rain that we felt and the skunk that wandered in during the middle of the night, this accomodation felt like a five star resort.

After I got hit with a food barrel to the mouth I was evacuated (by foot,canoe, motor boat and truck) to the local village. There I was given the most prompt medical treatment I had ever received. I had registered and before I had time to pee and check out my fat lip and gash they had called me into the room. I was stiched up by a nurse. I was kind enough to wait until after he was done to tell him that I was also a nurse. He did an excellent job. Once the freezing was in the only thing I could feel was the pressure as he tied each stich off. The wound is healing well. The medical center was new and the atmosphere that it created was one that was dedicated to thte people they served. It certainly gave me a small taste of what it would be like to nurse up north. I was very impressed and was honoured to be taken such good care of.

Rupert River Trip

On the road again

We've been travelling a lot, and have had very little internet access, which is why:

1. our blog isn't all that up to date
2. I'm writing this at 1:00am b/c that is when I can get on a computer and have a bit of spare time while we're not either on the road or the river

WILD While On The Road

Since leaving the Esprit basecamp on the Ottawa river we've travelled through the entire Eastern US, stopping at numerous different rivers along the way.

1. Black River (New York)
2. Youghiogheny River (Pennsylvania)
3. Gauley River (West Virginia)
4. New River (West Virginia)
5. US National White Water Center (North Carolina)
6. Nantahala River (North Carolina)
7. Ocoee River (Tennessee)
8. Atlantic Ocean (Texas) [where some of us were able to surf the 8 - 12 foot waves in our kayaks]

We've been able to do everything from Open Canoe class 2 rapids, to raft (both of us) and kayak (just me) class 5 rapids. We've stayed everywhere from this nice Travel Lodge Motel (huge treat before crossing the border to Mexico tomorrow), to nice campgrounds, to sleeping on the bus, to sleeping in parking lots beside the bus! The longest stretch of travel between kayaking was our straight haul from Tennessee to southern Texas that ended at 3:00am yesterday morning which took a crisp 35 hours. To be able to see this part of the continent from the perspective of from the bus, or from our kayaks, has been an extreemly interesting way to travel. The group that we're with has continued to be awesome, though some nerves were getting rubbed a bit thin after being on the bus with the same people for 35 hour straight (with the occasional pee break, of course).

The whitewater has been AMAZING!! You'll have to wait until we get our DVD of pictures from Esprit at the end of WILD to see pictures of that, because when we're on the river we certainly do not have time to think about catching nice pictures. We've both been improving leaps and bounds over what we were able to do in a kayak 6 weeks ago, and are now both competent raft guides (where as 6 weeks ago, I had never actually been in a raft...).

Now we are setting our sights on Mexico.... where the first river we are getting to has been described as a paridise - a river where almost nobody has a bad day (and that is REALLY saying something, because whitewater can be pretty tough on people some days). I am particularly excited about this river, because that is where I'll be able to try running over some waterfalls in my kayak for the first time, which is one of the things about this program that I've been the most excited about since the beginning!!

I've got to run, only got about 2 hours of sleep yesterday because of the travelling, and that was made quite restless by the healthy population of sand flies on the Texas coast (and we weren't allowed to set up tents, so we were just in our sleeping bags out in the open - sand fly / moquito buffets!!) also a big day tomorrow, we'll be crossing the border to Mexico and then start our 14 hour drive to our first river and it's waterfalls!!

A typical day continued

So to jump forward from where I left off from the second last entry that I made. I just briefly reread what I had written so some of this might be repeated.

WILD While Based at Esprit

Breakfast is eaten between 7 and 8:30 because at 8:30 we are on the bus and driving out the drive way. The bus ride to the put in is about 40 minutes. We board a school bus that makes alot of noise and the roads are bumpy. Depending on what the group is doing ( rafting or kayaking) and whether or not we are all together or in smaller groups will dictate how many buses we take and whether we are the only people on the bus.

If we have clients on the bus, the guides for the day tell them all about the area and the history of the county. It is very informativve. It takes about 10 minutes. As students we've heard it several times but each guide does it differently and adds there own personal touch and joke. The bus makes a stop at Auberge Albert (I think that's the name, I may have forgotten already.) This is a hotel where they pick up people who've commuted from Ottawa for the day. At the end of the day this is also the spot where they sometimes stop to watch the movie and photos that are taken from the day.

From this spot until they reach the river the guides do the bus paddle talk. This talk includes tonnes of info about the day - what to expect, what do if you fall out and the gear that you will be using. As participants in the program we have had an opportunity to do a little practice ourselves. We were given two topics that we had to chat about from teh front of the bus while we were travelling to the put in. One of the topics we knew about and choose ourselves and the other was given by a fellow participants. These topics included anything from why kids pick their noses to animals to the planets. It was great challenge for some people and easier for others. Everyone did really well.

Once we get to the put in it is a mad scramble to get everything unloaded and into the water. As students we are being trained on how to do this quickly and efficiently. The rafts and kaykas are placed on the roof ( some of the buses have racks) and we have to climb on top ( some of the buses have ladders) and take them all off. There is a roller bar that you can slide stuff up and down. Let's just say that at first I was afraid to be on top of the roof but now it is part of life and I also am getting much stronger so things are easier.

All of our personal gear is transported in mesh bags. Theoretically the gear (shorts, tops, lifejacket, helmets, throwbag with 70 ft. of rope and wet suit) is supposed to air out and dry ( but that rarely happens.) We try to find a quiet corner, hopefully behind a tree and change into our gear. I have a sarrong that I change behind but let's just say that people have lost their pride and I've seen alot of bare bums. If it is a particularly cool morning you would hear alot of groans and complaining about having to put on wet cold gear. It takes awhile for your body to warm it up.

Esprit has some land that is used for the lunch spot. It was donated by one of the local farmers. We spent one weekend here camping and learning swift water rescue techniques. This is at the end of the Middle channel of the Ottawa River. [more to come later... it's lunch time now!]

West Virginia..... the place of the hill billys?!?!?!

So here I sit in my first internet cafe, one of many I'm sure...

West Virginia is a place all of it's own. We have spent five days hang'n out at North American River Runners (NARR.) The Gauley River is amazing. We have spent a day or two rafting and then two or three days kayaking. The restort area is a pretty rock'n place that has great, warm showers.

To take a step or two back in time.... The last few entries that I"ve written have kind of ended abruptly and the details that I had inteded to included weren't because i ran out of time. So instead I'll talk about a few of those events and attempt to bring you all up to speed with our lives as a WILD student and let me tell you this is some very vigourous training.