Adventurous White Water Rafting

This weekend Audrey and I took a trip with the NOR Center (Navy Outdoor Recreation) it was absolutely the most incredible weekend ever!! It was very refreshing to do something different and outdoors. We went to Rafting Adventure Lao in Calabria. It is located in the Parco Nazionale del Pollino. Calabria is about 3-4 hours south of Naples. 

View from the camp ground

We left first thing Saturday morning and it was suppose to be about 3 - 4 hours of driving, however there was construction on the highway and they detoured us an extra 2 hours! A positive note about this detour is that we saw some of the most beautiful scenery and beautiful beaches!! So it ended up taking us 6 hours to get where we needed to go! As I struggle with motion sickness this also includes car sickness. So I took motion sickness medicine and slept the whole entire time. This was perfect for me because I was exhausted and I didn't get sick :) We got to our final destination around 230 and we got all of our gear on - this includes wetsuit, booties, a jacket, lifejacket, and helmet. At this time I am thinking - oh shoot what did I get myself into? They loaded us up in a bus as we sweat to death in our wetsuits and took us to our drop in point. There were about 15 of us including the NOR Center staff. We took 3 boats and each boat had a guide (it was absolutely amazing to watch the level of talent and understanding of the river!) When we got there they briefed us on all the things we would need to know, such as paddling and what to do incase you fall out (this came in handy later on!).  Facebook photo was taken during this time - hilarious. We then hoped into our boats and off we went. It was really exciting and a little intense. We all got to paddle and there were some really exciting rapids! FYI - This is nothing like "floating" the Kettle River - haha. 

My boat!

Calabria was the most beautiful area I could ever imagine (yes another place). There were mountains and trees and I felt like I was home!  The water was FREEZING cold, but it was such a clear green color and we probably could have drank it right from the river! It was beautiful! The whole river was lined with steep rock walls and there was water running right off the growth hanging over from the forest. There were beautiful waterfalls everywhere and one we got to stop and walk into! It was freezing, but so so cool! Because of the steep rock walls there was not much sun that creeped down to us! I was a very chilly girl by the end of our trip! 

RAPIDS!

The most eventful part of the rafting trip hands down was a very rough patch of rapids. There was a lot of chatter about this patch before we even got on the trip, but it got a little intense when we finally got there!! There were ropes lining the rock walls in this area where we pull off to the side of the river and hook up our boats. The guides make everyone get out of the boats so they can get out and check out the situation and decide what exactly needs to be done!! So we stood and kind of waited it out to see what would happen! So the decided we were good to go and everyone loaded back up in to their boats. They told us to be prepared to move if it was needed! So the first boat goes and everything goes pretty smoothly, they did not have any problems. Then it was our boats turn … It apparently was the first time our guide had gone through these rapids and it unfortunately was not a success! We got wedged up against a rock and he shouted for us to get over to the left and it somehow got lost in translation. The first lady was gone instantly, she flipped right over the edge, then it all happened so quickly. All I knew was that I was headed in, face first, directly into these raging rapids!! AHH!!! It was definitely a little terrifying. I could not tell you what exactly happen, I am pretty sure I was under the boat at one point!! Luckily, I quickly came up with my helmet wrapped around my face, with probably the most traumatized look on my face. Luckily the first boat was there to quickly rescue my whole boat crew. Audrey was the only person who stayed in the boat, and it was quite an entertaining story to relive! One of the guys in my boat said he wished he had a camera to capture the look on my face as I was going in the water because he said I had the fear of God in my face. I would have paid money to see that!! That ultimately is the part you fear the most, falling in. Luckily I got it out of the way and it wasn't really all that horrible. The rest of the afternoon luckily was fairly uneventful, it was pretty smooth through the rest of the trip and we really took the opportunity to soak up the beautiful surroundings and enjoy the great company. 

Beautiful beach I spent the afternoon on!

The people in my boat where just the kindest people ever! They were friendly and they just made the rafting trip and the whole weekend even more enjoyable! We finished up early evening and it was just awesome! We got back to the main area where we set up our camp and got all cleaned up. They then prepared us some incredible dinner, pork steaks, spicy sausage, pasta salad, and some kind of bruschetta and of course some wine. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of this day I enjoyed my dinner a s'more and I headed off to bed fairly early :) 

Funny side note about s'mores - there was a group of Italians there camping and we had all the Italians eating s'mores!! It was so funny and they loved them!

Short hike over this ridge to more beautiful beaches!

The next morning we all got up pretty early to get the day started. We got up and cleaned up camp, Pete (one of the NOR staff who has been incredibly awesome to the whole Camp A staff - including BBQ-ing for us and just being super awesome) made us all steak and potato breakfast in a dutch oven (YUM!) We then loaded up and we headed home. On our long detour we passed by some of the most beautiful beaches and we decided we needed to head back and experience these beaches!! We spent the day laying around on the beach, swimming, and doing a little hiking. It was just the perfect afternoon! We stopped off at a little random restaurant for some DELICIOUS lunch after the beach and then headed back home to Naples. 

The weekend was absolutely perfect. It was something very unique that people visiting Italy may not necessarily get to experience. It was a amazing and just another reason why I am absolutely loving Italy.