After a failed attempt in 2009 (not enough water in the river), I finally succeeded in going rafting today!
We rafted on the lovely Petrohue river - what noone told us before, however, is that Petrohue means something like "mosquito place". As the Romans used to say, nomen est omen, and so we constantly had a cloud of big horseflies (tábanos) around us. The guide showed us towards the end of the tour that they have a small bag of honey hidden in their back. So as a small revenge for their bites and general annoying behavior, you can catch them, kill them, and eat the honey. Delicious!
But back to rafting:
In between the rafting, we also did some jumping off rocks:
Rafting is a group effort:
Yes, that's me in front. So much fun!
At some point during the tour, another participant said to me that I looked like a small child at play - probably because I was grinning madly for most of the tour ;-) But honestly, I think that's a good thing - something I'm aiming for: to preserve and nourish and cherish the child in me. That sense of fun and fascination. That ability to see the world with new eyes every day.
In the afternoon, I strolled around town for a bit, looking at all the historic German houses. Historic in this case means that they were built around 1900.
This, for example, is the hostel I'm staying in:
Probably the most beautiful of all the old houses is this villa:
And, finally, this church is supposed to be a replica of a Marienkirche in the German black forest (where I've never been, shame on me, so I can't confirm if it's true):
We rafted on the lovely Petrohue river - what noone told us before, however, is that Petrohue means something like "mosquito place". As the Romans used to say, nomen est omen, and so we constantly had a cloud of big horseflies (tábanos) around us. The guide showed us towards the end of the tour that they have a small bag of honey hidden in their back. So as a small revenge for their bites and general annoying behavior, you can catch them, kill them, and eat the honey. Delicious!
But back to rafting:
In between the rafting, we also did some jumping off rocks:
Rafting is a group effort:
Yes, that's me in front. So much fun!
At some point during the tour, another participant said to me that I looked like a small child at play - probably because I was grinning madly for most of the tour ;-) But honestly, I think that's a good thing - something I'm aiming for: to preserve and nourish and cherish the child in me. That sense of fun and fascination. That ability to see the world with new eyes every day.
In the afternoon, I strolled around town for a bit, looking at all the historic German houses. Historic in this case means that they were built around 1900.
This, for example, is the hostel I'm staying in:
Probably the most beautiful of all the old houses is this villa:
And, finally, this church is supposed to be a replica of a Marienkirche in the German black forest (where I've never been, shame on me, so I can't confirm if it's true):
