Hola amigos! There was much anticipation for this day by many students on the trip. On January 16th, we started our hour and half bus ride to Cascada de las Animas. On the bus we met Max who has been working with the tour group company for about five years advising outdoor and adventurous activities. Finally after passing through the Andes Mountains and down dirt trails, we finally arrived at Cascada de las Animas. Rushing rapids, beautiful scenery, and nature surrounded us all. When we first arrived, we were greeted with a light snack and the sounds of roaring rapids below us. Many of us were filled with excitement or nervousness about what was awaiting us.
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| View of the rapids from our eating area |
After our brief snack, we were lead to an outdoor area to receive some safety and general instructions. The guide that was instructing us on how to white water raft properly, made us all feel very comfortable. Finally, it was time to suit up. In total, four different layers were worn; we were given wet suits, neoprin boots, splash jackets, shorts, helmets, and a hefty personal flotation device, all on top of our own bathing suits. It was a tight fit with everything on, but worth it in the end. We divided ourselves into groups of between 5-10 including our guides.
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| Students and advisors are all geared up and ready to raft |
Next, we traveled down narrow dirt paths to where our rafts were and hopped in ready to go. Inside our rafts, our tour guides taught all of us certain commands and how to react to them, and then we were off. The rapids ranged from white water and wild, to calm and peaceful. Many had fun and said it was an experience like no other. The beautiful Andes Mountains surrounded us for our hour long trip down the Maipo River. Only one boat ended up flipping over in the water, but they all made it out safely, but a little cold. Student, Kay Bauerline had said "The fact that the whole day had the view of the Andes Mountains made the experience ten times better."
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| Students prepare themselves to start white water rafting |
Once we finished our ride down the river we were bused back to Cascada where we had started our ride. Getting out of our layers was definitely harder than it was getting into them. Student Caitlin McCosh had said, "
I was really nervous at first because I had never gone white water rafting before, but my group and I worked so well together that once we were actually in the rapids, I had no fear at all and it was a lot of fun." No matter, we all made it to lunch in one piece where we were served classic Chilean food, such as ceviche. After a nice lunch it was finally time to zip line.
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| Students and professors alike looked at GoPro footage of rafting |
Once we arrived at the start of the zip lines we were taken through what we should and should not do while on the zip lines. Then, we all had our trip across and over the river and mountains. Unfortunately, we could only go once, to many of our disappointments because of how much we enjoyed the zip line. Finally, we relaxed by the pool for the remainder of our day before we had a silent and tiresome bus ride back to the hotel after a long day in the sun.
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| Students begin their journey down the zip line over the Maipo River |
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