Things you tell your parents about AFTER they are done…

Ok…so from the title of this entry, I’m sure you can all tell that I had quite an adventurous weekend that I’m not so sure my parents would have exactly signed the permission slip for. But here’s the thing…there are no permission slips here in Ecuador. Nope. No permission slips. No warning signs. No waivers. Just pure crazy adventure and I’m still here to tell about it!

So this weekend a group of 8 of us went about 3 hours away from Otavalo to a city called Mindo. Now this trip had always been described as really “chill.” I’ll leave it to you all to judge but somehow, ziplining and white water rafting don’t fall into the “chill” category. Ok…let’s back up to Saturday.

We boarded the bus at 8 in Otavalo. I had packed my backpack and a snack bag for the rides (which for any of you who have ever traveled with me, know that this is my most important piece of luggage…my “starvation food”)

Anyway, in the hustle of boarding the bus, I left my starvation food behind at the bus. Just to be clear, despite the fact that during the next two days, I would be flying among sharp rocks and jumping off cliffs tethered to a thin cable, realizing that I had forgotten my snack bag was possibly the most traumatic moment of the trip.

Somehow I made it to Mindo without starving to death (it was a close call). We checked in to our adorable hostel (I am really becoming a hostel connoisseur at this point and this one was great) and grabbed a bite to eat (thank god!).

After about 5 minutes to digest, it was off to zipline on teh back of a pick-up.

I’m sure for some of you, this feels like déjà vu. This is my 3rd ziplining experience since I started this trip but this one was definitely a bit different!

It started out the same. Strap on the “oh-so-fetching” gear, fit on your highly attractive helmet and laugh at the boys who are moaning and groaning about their gear and how it just doesn’t leave much room for error if you know what I mean.

For those of you who don’t…here are some pictures…
So we started on the first line and it was absolutely gorgeous. A long trip across the valley, above the cloud forest of Ecuador…amazing.

On the 2nd zip, the guides asked if anyone wanted to do the “Mariposa.” Mariposa means butterfly in Spanish so I figured, “That sounds nice…sure!” So I march to the front of the line and suddenly, they are switching my straps around, rehooking things, I have no idea what’s going on.

Before I know it, I am completely upside down. Yep…legs in the air, arms hanging below my head and off I went flying, tandem with a guide, across the clouds of Mindo. I think we need a visual here…
Needless to say, it was incredible. I’m not sure if it was the pure fear or the blood rushing to my head but I loved it…and even did it again on the last cable! Here’s a video…

Sorry Mom and Dad…I know that was probably scary to see…but there is more.

Usually, ziplining upside-down would be enough adventure for one weekend for this girl but nope, Sunday was still ahead of us.

But first, after recovering from the afternoon, we all went out to a great dinner in Mindo. After opting NOT to go to one restaurant that was just called "Burger":
As I was sitting there eating with the 7 other volunteers and our driver, I looked over at our driver (who is an Ecuadorian native) and took a serious double take…was this guy honestly wearing a University of Wisconsin-Madison t-shirt? YES!!

Crazy. Set off with the others and the most random Badger fan and set off for a night of salsa with the locals. One of the other volunteers is only 18 and this was a very big night for her…her first beer! Go Amanda…
Not too long after, the beer turned to water and after that, it was a piggy back ride home for Amanda.
We all headed back to the hostel for a quick few hours of sleep before our next big adventure. So morning came sooner than any of us wanted but we definitely didn’t have to worry about feeling tired on this trip.

We shoved some eggs down and off to “White Water Tubing.” Now I mentioned this earlier but Ecuador does not believe in waivers. Now for a girl who grew up having to sign away her life before playing on the Tanglen Elementry school playground, I always just figure, no waiver, no real risk. Wrong.

Basically white water tubing is when the strap together about 7 innertubes together with twine and send it down a CRAZY river of rapids full of huge sharp rocks, enormous turns and drops…oh and a waterfall.

So we strapped on our helmets (seriously, I have never spent so much time wearing a helmet in my life) and had our “lesson.” This “lesson” went something like this (in Spanish):

Ok…you sit here, yes? (we nod) Hold on to these ropes, yes? (nod) And if we say “fuerte”, hold on tight, yes? (we look terrified). Ok, let’s go!

Now hopefully you are getting a picture of this in your mind. So there are 7 of us (one stayed back…probably the wise one of the crew), sitting precariously in this tube contraption, we have two guides wearing boots, we are wearing stretch gloves and we are sitting among some insane rapids. Got the picture? Great.
Now…to that image, make the water about 3 degrees above freezing, absolutely no sun and a pretty substantial breeze. We were freezing! But I’m not even sure we realized how cold we were because at this point, we were all just pretty scared.
But off we went! And it really was AWESOME! Terrifying..completely and utterly terrifying…but awesome! There were times when I was either flying in the air holding on by nothing more than the pinky of my stretch gloves and there were other times when I was completely under the icy water but it was amazing!
The ride was great. But it was LONG! We were actually navigating these insane rapids in the freezing water for just under 3 hours!! So, when it was all over, let’s just say, other than just being happy to be alive, I was very happy to have some dry clothing waiting for me in the truck.

So we crawled out of our tubes on our very shaky legs and up to find this truck that was supposed to be waiting. But we had another surprise waiting for us…no truck! So there we are, soaking wet, freezing cold, still with no sun and plenty of chilly breeze and no truck.

After waiting for about an hour, one of the guides thought it was a good idea to go pick us some fruit to eat. Seriously, am I on Survivor right now? And as long as he was picking fruit, he picked a fruit that is essentially war paint inside and painted on all of us.
After about another 45 minutes of hypothermia, the truck appeared! We managed to change (not so discreetly) behind a towel into dry clothes and head back to the hostel.

We grabbed some pizza on the way out and back to Otavalo.

I realized on the ride that it was exactly one year ago from Sunday that was my last day at General Mills. One full year. I remember as I left my cubicle last year thinking that for the first time in my life, I honestly had no idea where I would be or what I would be doing one year from that date.

Well, I’m not sure I would have been able to imagine flying down icy waters in Ecuador with 7 complete strangers.

And you know what? I think I can say for the 2nd time in my life, I again have no idea where I will be one year from now. Let’s just hope it’s something that doesn’t require a parent’s permission slip!

xoxo,
Debra