What are we doing here? Day 2

Hello! I hope all is well in Columbia, but I promise it can't be better than what's happening here!!

Group three (official nickname pending) spent it's first night in San Jose, eating two extraordinarily wonderful meals and walking around the city. We left our (actually super nice) hotel at 5 am our timr and drove up a SUPER windy mountain road to the river we would be rafting down. We ate a breakfast of strange fruits, quality coffee, and (you guessed it) rice and beans, and then began our rafting adventure.

My raft consisted of Stephen, Chevez, Franny, Mr. Abrams, our guide Kendall (Kendale? Kindall?), and myself. With shockingly little practice or knowledge of what was to come, we started off down the river. The rafting itself was pretty fun as long as you ignored the various aches and pains it caused, and after about an hour of some pretty solid (so we thought) rapids, our guide informs us that those were just class 1 and 2 rapids, and the real ones were yet to come.

And so they were. By lunch time we were sore and hungry enough to eat anything put in front of us. Luckily, after coming ashore on a rocky island, lunch looked super promising. Whether it was actually good or we were just hungry enough to like anything, the assortment of bean paste, tortillas, cheese,  salsa, tomatoes,  cucumbers,  and a bunch of other random stuff I don't remember, was delicious,  if a bit soggy, seeing as though it started raining pretty hard right as we got ready to eat.

After being fed and the sky clearing up,  we were all much more cheerful and ready for the last 2 hours of our 5 hour journey. And the last two hours went by much quicker than the previous, mainly because about half way through, our guide pushed us out of the raft and we floated along in the current through a canyon that looked straight out of a disney movie. It was truly beautiful, and we were all just so darn happy that we started giggling. Because how on earth did we get here? How did THIS get here? And how did we of all people have the blessing and the ability of getting to this place at this time, all together and happy as can be?

I don't know how we got here or why, but I can tell you one thing: as I'm driving to this home stay, warm and dry on the bus and surrounded by this fantastic group of human beings, I am so happy.

I love you Mom, Dad, Grace, William, and Ginger! I'll see you all after this fantastic week!

Lots of love,
Liddy