Category: Adventure Travel

Ecuador is a whitewater paradise…perfect for a rafting trip! Before coming here, I had never thought about whitewater rafting before: don’t get me wrong, I am not a coward. I love rollercoasters with lots of loopings, and I would consider myself as very open to trying new stuff and adventurous. But a rollercoaster ride does not bear any risks – being in a Wildwater river without knowing what might expect me to let my adrenaline rise without having even started the trip ;-) But well, if you travel you don’t only want to do stuff you already know, but challenge yourself, fight against your fears and do something you’ve never done before! So for me, there was no alternative: I booked the rafting trip :-) On Saturday morning, I got up at 5:45 am to be on time at the meeting point in La Mariscal, Quito’s tourist area. At 7 am, I headed off towards Santo Domingo in the West of Ecuador to the rivers Toachi / Blanco with an Irish couple and our two Ecuadorian guide Diego and Tuti. The 3-hour-bus ride to the river was already a great experience – along the curvy street, I was fascinated by the beautiful landscape which was slowly changing the closer we got to the coast – more palm trees along the road and the climate was getting more and more tropical. At the starting point of our trip, the guides pumped up the boat at high speed, and we tried on our helmets and life jackets. After a short safety talk and explanation about everything that might happen in the river and how we have to behave in these situations, I felt kind of scary looking at the river, which from my point of view, seemed REALLY wild…OMG, what have I