The Incas and the Amazon, pt. 10

Day 11 / July 1, 2013 This morning in preparation for our rafting trip on the Urubamba, we made sure we had our bathing suits, water shoes and a towel. We traveled the road along the river to the put-in point, which had nice changing rooms. After changing into long wet suits and a windbreaker, we received a short lesson in whitewater rafting and put on our life jackets and helmets.* You can take cameras as there is a dry bag, but it is hardly worth it since the rapids are quick to arrive and the cameras had to go in the wet bag.  Your best bet for a visual memory is to have a Go-Pro or similar strapped on your helmet for some great action shots! Alex, our guide, was very good and he spun us around in the raft as we went through some of the rapids. Despite the natural fear that exist under these circumstances, this feeling soon turned into pure exhilarating excitement and now a long term memory for me! It was better than any ride at an amusement park! Our guide was extremely competent and knew what we were capable of in the conditions of the river, which in our summer months are mild but still a worthy challenge! The Ollanta rafting trip has level two and three rapids, which were just right for us. It had been a while since I had rafted; I felt challenged, but not petrified! We reached the take-out point about two hours later, where we used changing tents to get into our dry clothes. Once we changed, we had a delicious picnic lunch - something we were all ready for! After lunch, we boarded the bus for the hour drive to Ollantaytambo. This is a town and one time ceremonial center that were established by the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. Our local guide Sheila took us through the ruins that required some steep climbing, which our group managed without a problem. At the time of the Spanish conquest this site served as an Inca stronghold of the Inca emperor, Manco Inca, or also known as Manco Capac II. He made the ceremonial center a temporary fortress against the Spaniards, which had taken control of Cusco. After our visit we returned to the hotel for a couple of hours of leisure before dinner. Tomorrow we visit Machu Picchu and we were all so PSYCHED! Next post >> Previous post >> Learn more about this program >>