Continuation of the story about our stay in Rize ✨🌿 So, I had wanted to try rafting for a very long time, but my mom and sister just couldn’t bring themselves to do it, even though there really wasn’t anything that scary about it 🙄. As it turned out, the owner of the little house we were staying in had his own extreme sports company. And when he found out that we were interested in rafting, he offered us a discount. That was probably the most convincing factor for my mom 😂. So, the next day, after checking out of the house and getting back into our car, as always, we arrived at the departure point. The day was rainy as usual, which also meant cold, and, well, you can imagine that the desire to connect yourself with water in any possible way had completely disappeared. But there was no turning back now. There were quite a lot of people there, all of whom apparently really wanted to test their ability to stay alive. There was even a little café for those who survived the procedure.
So, we were instructed to go to the changing room after a lady with a not particularly friendly facial expression picked out clothes in our sizes. The rafting set included a life jacket, shorts and a T-shirt so we wouldn’t get our own clothes wet, special shoes, and even a helmet.
So, after we had hidden our belongings, including our phones, in the lockers, they loaded us into a truck together with a whole bunch of people dressed in the same cheerful-looking equipment. Interesting, getting into a truck with complete strangers, without any means of communication, isn’t it? Well, you know, the level of trust in Turkey is apparently exactly the same as the level of kidnappings, so we carefree sat down without worrying about anything, and they drove us somewhere completely unknown. We didn’t drive for very long, but we weren’t going particularly fast either. So, during that time, my companions had enough time to become anxious. But luckily, there had been no way back for a long time already, so the only thing left for them to do was finally overcome their fear. I, meanwhile, was looking forward to the adventure. When we arrived, they divided us into two groups. The three of us, of course, stayed together, along with one other person, while there was another separate boat. The rafting was happening on the same river Fırtına (translated as "the storm river") I was telling about in my previous article. Our guide was cheerful and immediately established a warrior spirit. We were given paddles, and our training on how to behave properly on the boat began, so that we wouldn’t get swept away by the tiniest little rock:
- Hold onto the handles only when there is an emergency command.
- Move toward the middle of the boat when there is a rocky descent ahead.
- Paddle to the rhythm of a song that everyone has to sing along to. He taught us how to paddle properly and which commands to follow. And so, at “Hey!” we raised our paddles, and at “Hop!” we plunged them into the water. And that’s how we began our journey, keeping the rhythm of the song and continuing to paddle.
The scenery was absolutely incredible. The current carried us downstream quite quickly, but slowly enough for us to enjoy the surroundings. Wherever you looked, there was greenery.
I felt as though I was floating through the endlessly green jungles of the Amazon.
When we got into the boat, it was wet, and sitting in the boat in such damp, cold weather, the cold water certainly didn’t help. Nevertheless, the breathtaking views around us made up for it.
Water was bubbling over the edges of our bright yellow little boat. Because of the constant, restless current, the water was brown, which added even more to the Amazon atmosphere. There was absolutely no desire to plunge into those deep, dark waters. Our life jackets hinted that we might get to swim, although that was absolutely not part of my plans.
Green branches from the trees on both sides hung overhead and fell into the current.
Our companion on this journey was the fog, which wrapped around us and the slopes like a blanket, perhaps trying to keep us warm. The slopes, completely covered in tea plantations, stood all around us, surrounding us and flowing into one another in smooth lines.
Little by little, the first obstacles began to appear along our route. Ahead of us was a small descent through the river, with large rocks in the way. And, at the command, we put down our paddles and grabbed the handles inside the boat. We were ready for tragedy, a capsizing, and even casualties (😂), but, to our surprise, none of that happened.
Our instructor skillfully navigated around the rocks, even using just one paddle, and thanks to the way the boat was built, we easily made our way down over the rocks. I mean, he is working there since he was 16!!! and he was 25, so almost 10 years of experience. Seems like he truly lives his job. It's also kind of a family business he said as i remember.
The only thing that lived up to our tragic expectations in that descent was the enormous amount of splashing water. We continued rushing downstream through the rocks, with some occasional breaks.
Our instructor was quite the joker, and from time to time he would “secretly” splash us with water he scooped up with his paddle, adding to the battle spirit. The battle spirit appeared immediately because my defensive reaction kicked in, and the water from my paddle flew dramatically straight into his face. The other passengers on our vessel weren’t falling behind either, and they did a great job fighting back against our annoying mentor.
Later on, we were peacefully floating along a correspondingly peaceful section of the river. And.... this was where the topic of swimming came up. Not everyone was thrilled about the idea, especially my sister. And that was when the instructor decided to make a few minor changes to her plans. Skillfully and effortlessly, as if my sister were a feather, he grabbed her, along with her paddle, with one arm and threw her overboard. It was completely unexpected, and nobody had time to react. Just as easily, he pulled her back onto the boat, later catching the paddle she had dropped. My sister was in shock, and then furious once she realized what had happened. It seems like he had a bit of a crush on my sister, and this was one of his rather strange ways of showing it 😂😂😂
Here's one of the videos from the trip. There are a buch of moments cut out, of the water splashing, etc. In one of the moments you can find the exact one when the instructor throws her in the water. (i would be a cruel person to not say the time when that moment is, and make you look for it, it's 2:23)
Not long after that, we passed the same Timisvat Bridge that I mentioned in my previous post. It towered proudly above us as we floated underneath it. Here our instructor stopped the boat under the bridge so that anyone who wanted to could swim. Honestly, there weren’t many volunteers, but everyone still had to get out and stand in the water.
So, my sister and I thought this was the perfect moment to get revenge on the instructor. We grabbed both of his arms and pulled them down toward the water, and he almost fell. But he was far too strong to be tipped over that easily, so, once he regained his balance, he grabbed both of us by our life jackets and dunked us into the water. What an asshole. 🙄
With such a wonderful mood, we continued floating downstream. After that, we finally arrived back at the base.
It was so sad to part with the paddle 😭.
After finally changing into our warm, dry clothes, we sat down with some tea. It was so nice, after this wet and cold adventure, to hide under a roof. The rain was still drizzling. @olga.maslievich got her favorite Turkish coffee, Dibek. @bugavi demanded compensation because the instructor had thrown her out of the boat like that and could have injured her. Unfortunately, that didn’t get us anywhere. After that, it turned out that the photographers who had been sitting in different places along our route had taken a whole bunch of different photos. And, of course, we had to go and look through them, because: “If they like something, they’ll definitely buy it,” the employees thought. Well, they were right. This scheme always works. We looked through the photos, and honestly, they were all great. (Those are the photos you're seeing in this article obviously, we didn't take phones with us) There was also a really cool video. They offered us a separate price for everything together, but it was quite expensive, so we said that we wouldn’t buy it without a discount. And so, they came up with an alternative. We would buy all the photos and the video, and they would give us a free chance to ride their zipline. And how could we possibly miss such an opportunity? Since there was nothing to hold us back, we decided we might as well try it right then and there. So, after putting on the full equipment (thank God there were no amateurs among them, and everything was tied properly), it was my turn, and they launched me with all their strength.
WHOOOOOOSH —
And there I was, flying over the vast expanse of the wide river. The humid air was filled with even more humid rain. Although the weather wasn’t exactly ideal for ziplining, the views were absolutely breathtaking. Time seemed to freeze for a moment while I was flying. During that flight, you feel like a free bird. I spread my arms wide to the sides and flew as if I were a swallow. Water was pouring from the sky as if someone had turned over a bucket, but it created a special atmosphere.
The raindrops seemed to hang in the air... .....and then fell straight into my face. Yes, the charming moment was slightly ruined 🤣 but it was worth it
Those few seconds were captured on camera, and it was magical. That ⬆️ was exactly the photo they showed me afterward and tried to sell me after the ride. It worked. The photo turned out so beautiful that they said they would post it on the company’s Instagram account.
And so, after that, we said goodbye to everyone and drove off to test out our new apartment, hoping for decent Wi-Fi. More about that in the next post 😄.
The rafting center is called Dağraft, if anyone wants to try rafting in Rize, I really recommend them.
Bye bye everyone! 🚣🏻♀️🏞️🌊🌿
:o)
