Blurb about rafting

About a month ago I went rafting on the great Rile River. The source of the Nile is Lake Victoria in Uganda, near Jinja town.  Sorry, didn’t take any pictures. But here’s the highlights: Several, several grade 5 rapids and real water falls. I wasn’t scared going into it. I’ve been rafting before, in Chile during a study abroad. But, let me tell ya on a rapid they call the ‘G’ spot I really thought I was going to die. I had fallen out of the boat before and made it back to the raft with out any problems. The ‘G’ spot was a different story. It was extra long and powerful. The current kept pushing me down again and again. And, I needed to breathe. Just when I thought I made it back up to the surface, I was pushed back down by another rapid and took in more water. I have never felt this way. The key is to not freak out. But, when you are under water being tossed around without a sense of which way is up – who doesn’t freak out? Death by drowning is no way to go.

 

The rapids eventually calmed down. I hacked and coughed my way into some sort of composure, laid on my back with my feet up and just drifted until a rescue kayak came to pick me and bring me back to the raft. As they hauled my exhausted body back into the raft, I thought…Man; I can’t believe I just paid money to feel that way. Will I do that again? No, I don’t think so!