Chalk one up for St. Christopher...

I wasn´t actually wearing my St. Christopher pendant at the time, but I´ll attribute my recent life saving moment to him... It all started on Thursday, when Cam and I went rafting with 7 others that we´ve been travelling with. We arranged the trip through an Irish run company in Tena- it´s a great company, run completely by one family that moved to Ecuador 13 years ago. The whole family rafts and kayaks competitively. Anyway, the trip was amazing- we started our day by hiking 45 minutes down hill to the river- it´s a river that nobody else rafts in Ecuador because it´s too tough to get all the gear down. Down at the river we climbed up a waterfall, through a cave and into a grotto that was the most beautiful place I´ve seen yet. After climbing up the waterfall you had two options- jump off a 7 meter cliff, or climb back down with your tail between your legs :) There were only two girls, and we both jumped quickly, so the pressure was on the guys, who all jumped as well. After swimming there for a while we piled in to the boats and rafted 40km down 2 rivers. The scenerey was unbelievable. There were butterflies with wings so blue that you could see them shimmering from 100m! Anyway, after lunch we swapped boats so Cam and I were in the smaller boat with our friends John and Hannah, and our guide Ben. The second half of the trip had much bigger rapids, and the small boat was really feeling the waves. We made it through all the big water, and then it all went bad... On one rapid we got on the wrong side of the wave, and were pushed into a vertical wall of rock. The boat lifted on it´s side, and John and Hannah fell out immediately. From my perch on the high side, I was staring straight down at Hannah and realized that the boat was about to flip right on top of her. Which it did. The next moment I was underwater and wasn´t coming up (we had life jackets and helmets) and the most amazing thoughts were going through my head. I finally surfaced after being thrashed around for what seemed like ages, and when I came up I couldn´t find Cam or Hannah. The boat was upside down. The reason I couldn´t find Cam was because he was UNDER the boat, and Hannah had been washed downstream already. Cam found his way out, but we all continued to be swirled around in the water for several minutes. I made it to shore once, but then got sucked back out. Cam got trapped between the boat and the rock wall and swallowed a good portion of the river in an attempt to stay hanging on to the raft. We finally all got pulled onto the raft, paddled it to shore, and flipped the boat. At this point I was in tears and hyperventilating like the girl that I am. The worst part was that we had to get back IN the boat, and cross the same rapid that had just flipped us, and with one less person paddling since Hannah was now way down stream with the second boat. Anyway, we all survived, but it was one of the scariest moments I´ve had in my life. Overall, the trip was amazing, and well worth the money. Despite the scare it was the best day we´ve had so far.

On Friday we caught a bus to Baños, which is where we are today. Baños is a very touristy city nestled at the foot of an active volcano (and I mean active- you can see it erupting constantly). The city is cool and has a lot to offer a tourist, but it is just that- touristy. We´ll stay here for a few days to relax and then will head south. We may head out to the coast eventually, or save that for Peru. This is probably where we´ll part ways with our entourage also.

Now, we´re off to try and upload some pictures. Seriously frustrating...

We love hearing from you all!
Kristin and Cam