Canoeing

Sunday, July 17

Today’s adventure was a 14K canoe trip! That’s about 8 miles, if you didn’t do the calculation, and every minute was beautiful.

We got to the landing area, and we were all handed wet suits. Never having worn one, the attire was half the adventure of the day! We wore wet suits, waterproof coats, and lifejackets (have I mentioned it’s cold in Northern Spain?), and we all got a big waterproof jug with our lunch and room for our stuff inside.

We all set off down river, and the trip before lunch was fantastic. The river was mostly calm, with only a few good patches of rocks and slight rapids to worry about. We stopped at a landing to eat our lunches and were dared to jump from the bridge over where we ate (completely safe, made to be jumped from!).

Despite the fact that I’m kind of a scared-y cat, I totally did it! I’m no judge of height, but it was definitely way more than 20 feet. Once someone from the trip puts pictures on Facebook, I’ll steal one and add it. I didn’t take my camera lest it get wet.

It was such a rush to jump into the water, despite the fact that it was freezing. I think it’s one of those things I could’ve only convinced myself to do in Spain. Why not take the risks and the excitements and doing everything possible while I’m here?

The second half of the trip, though still beautiful, was kind of exhausting. Maddy and I got stuck on a patch of rocks where there was a good current. And when I tried to get out to push us into deeper water, I lost a shoe!! It was chaotic and a little upsetting, not least because we couldn’t find it and I had to walk back to my apartment from the bus without shoes.

But it was just a pair of flip-flops, and I have tons of other shoes, so I’ll be fine. And hey, I have a history of losing shoes in water adventures, so par for the course!