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High
Adventure Downriver
At the sight of the first rapid, your heart skips a beat. The tour organizers have briefed you in what to expect, as well as equipped you with a life vest, a helmet and a paddle. They have provided you the essentials and shown you how to deal with the rapids' many dangers. But being told about it and seeing it for yourself, you realize at that moment, are two different animals - like cats and dogs. And this dog is big and about to bite.
 Among
its various packages, Adventure and Expeditions
Philippines can take you on one of its
two-day outdoorsman's adventures - to the wilds
of the far North, spelunking in the Sierra and Callao
caves of Cagayan, kayaking in Tuguegarao and whitewater
rafting in Kalinga.
Now you're clinging desperately to your paddle,
observing in near panic that your companions don't
seem to share your alarm, and you send a final entreaty
into the bright blue of the Kalinga sky. The fury
of the boiling water river claws at you in images
of suffocating white water and sounds of stampeding
rocks. You shut your eyes. Here we go!
The raft's first rush into the foam upends your
stomach. But clears your throat as you let out a
whoop that would have raised the dead of the Kalingas
from Pasil (your drop-in point) to Tabuk (end of
the river run), were it not for the gleeful cheering
of your six companions. The electrifying excitement
of the moment has seized you. Your clothes are drenced
and cold but your blood is hot with adrenaline.
Wow!
Now white wave upon white wave crashes against your
craft, violently buffeting it from side to side,
up and down, then in cycles of random movements
that would put a spin dryer to shame. The prow bucks
up once again and you brace yourself for its watery
downswing. But it continues to rise until all you
see is sky! Suddenly, you're airborne and bracing
for a splashdown in the churning Chico River.
You hit the water with a shock. It's as if the world
shuts down and all you hear is the agitated burble
of bubbles from your mouth. You break surface and
the first thing you notice is the bright yellow
paddle in your face that someone is holding out
for you to grab.
Then, just as suddenly as the rapids sprung, the
water calm down, smoothing out into a virtual mirror
of green and blue. The paddle dips gently into the
water, adrenaline ebbs, pain waxes, and the mind
swings back to yesterday's serenity.
The package also includes a tour of the Callao
Caves. Peñablanca is your jump-off
for another day's high adventure, with first up
being the caves of Callao. The ragged mouth of the
cave, a conspicuous and somewhat forbidding break
on the hillside, jumps into view from behind a sparse
stand of small acacias. A man, standing at the entrance,
beckons. The gatekeeper from hell? Well, almost
- if you're scared of the dark and enclosed spaces.
The man turns out to be your friendly cave guide
for the day, a local who knows the labyrinthine
bowels of the cave like the back of his gnarly hand.
And speaking of hands, watch where those city hands
land, he cautions you. Apparently, the stalagmites
and stalactites are sensitive to the human touch
and for some reason, introduced bacteria - some
unfamiliar chemical in the human sweat - retards
their growth.
Two hours later, you're mighty glad to be basking
in golden sunlight again. The staff leader steers
you toward the waiting shuttle and trundles you
and your group off to Pinacanauan River, 40 minutes
away. Its time for your kayak lessons, boys!
The first thing you learn about kayaking is that
kayaks were built by Inuits - Eskimos to you and
me - for Inuits. There's no way you can float in
one of those, you tell yourself, provided of course,
that you could somehow squeeze your non-too-slim
business end into the kayak's svelte hull in the
first place. But all ye men of little faith behold,
the instructors work a miracle, and voila, you're
suddenly in the saddle with a paddle. The left end
goes up, the right goes down; the right end goes
up, the left goes down. Nothing to it, easy as eating
buko pie. That is, until Mr. Instructor lets go
of the kayak and you boldly go where no man in his
right mind has gone before. The moment you dig the
paddle into the water, the kayak rolls over on its
side and you find yourself head submerged underwater,
drowning. Well, in moments like it, you exaggerate
a bit. But hey, you've just had excellent instruction
in the fine art of staying alive underwater while
applying the exact science of righting a wronged
kayak. In three seconds flat, you manage to roll
your kayak up, and, heads up, you declare your indubitable
seaworthiness. Stay with the basics, Mr. Instructor
chides you. The rollover is strictly for an emergency.
After lunch, you are transported by motorized boat
upriver for your run downstream to Callao. An hour
later, and in the shadow of soaring cliffs, you
slip into the water again in your bright yellow
kayak. The current carries you slowly toward the
first rapids. You try out the rhythm that you've
been practicing. You note with satisfaction that
your extensor and contractor muscles now all work
in perfect sync with the paddle. Ah and the kayak's
bow cleaves the river clean. At last, you and your
kayak are one. You are ready.
The first rapids heave into view as a rippling white
ribbon. Your heart once again jumps to your throat.
It's going to be a long, extraordinarily exhilarating
day. |
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