White Water Rafting

For three years in a row, Cory has gone white water rafting in the northern Philippines. I have joined him for two of those years. We have never brought our camera, but persisted this year in getting hold of some photos from the two years we went together.

Rafting the Chico is a unique experience. An American founded the rafting company and trained locals to guide adventurous tourists down the river, house guests in their "hotels" and prepare food for them, creating a sustainable income for these local families.

While our first time rafting included rain, a scary as hell jeepney ride upriver (due to one lane rutted mud roads and landslides), a less-than-delightful stay at a guesthouse, panicked rafters, a canceled flight and a whole lotta drinking...but an overall safe trip down the river, our next one included bright sunshine (and sunburned bodies), a pleasant jeepney ride upriver, a wonderful stay at a religious hotel, panicked but enthusiastic rafters, an on-time flight and a whole lotta drinking...but an overall somewhat frightening encounter with the rapids for almost everyone. Turned out that our trusty American tour guide could not be with us this year and we had to rely on the shall we say "inexperienced guides" to tackle the class 3 and 4 rapids. While everyone made it out okay, there were several hairy turns and flips, which could easily have been avoided had our guides communicated what to do with the people in their boat. At least half of the 15 people on our trip this year tumbled into the water at some point, and some, more than once. And to think Cory and I were contemplating running Dead Caribou, the infamous class 5 rapid...ha! Nevertheless, it was a great time - beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery and lots of laughs. Til next year...