I survived the Danube!

Today was super long but all in all it was pretty good. We met in the hotel lobby around 9 am and took the tram/bus to the outskirts of town. There were 14 of us! We walked a little way, crossed a bridge, unloaded all the canoes, and got them in the water. We were on a tributary of the Danube River. At first it was difficult to get the boat going straight and keep it balanced but my partner (Selena, the girl from Oxford) and I caught on pretty quickly. The river was beautiful and it was truly relaxing being out since most of the week we are in a classroom. After a few hours we stopped and unloaded for a break. Where we got off there were acres   and acres of corn. Apparently, corn and wheat, and potatoes more east, are the main crops. We all chatted and I explored a little and we go back going in the river. We passed through two small villages and on the river itself we saw many people camping early on and later we saw many fishing docks and even greeted a few people (one even on horseback). I learned that in general most Slovaks are active people and like to be outdoors. I was told also that kayaking is very popular here. As we got further out the scenery was more and more beautiful. Selena and I chatted about a number of things to pass the time including legal systems, healthcare, politics, and our families : ). I was getting pretty late; probably around two o’clock and we still were going. Many people were tired and hungry but we still had a ways to go. Then we came to an area that looked like we should get off maybe but come to find out it was something like a water treatment plant so we kept going. Let me note that there were 7 boats: 5 with 1 man and 1 woman and two with just women; the women’s boats were in front 97% of the time!! So then we came to a long metal strip which was a dam and there was a small passage on the right made just for canoes. We had the SAS assistant that came with us call the canoe people because we were concerned we went to far but the man said we had this dam as well as another, about an hour more a good pace. This was around three o’clock. So we went through and carried on; this particular part of the river was gorgeous and I posted some pictures of it. Then we came to the second dam, which you can see in my pictures. This dam was actually filtering the water and so we had to get out and carry all the boats around. The idea was that 4 people carry a boat; so you carry your own and help carry someone else’s,,, so two boats. I carried about 5 or 6 which was really frustrating but then we had a short break and started loading people on to the river. Here it was a bit more complicated because the slope down to the river was pretty steep and this is where the water from the dam was coming out so the water was moving quite fast. We loaded four boat’s and then ours was next. For some reason our boat was facing the water coming out and so we had to paddle into the current to turn around. As we were doing this our boat flipped. (Don’t freak out… apparently I am still alive or I wouldn’t be writing this blog) We were carried by the current downstream a bit but since we had paddled a bit we ended up back where they loaded us. At this point I was just laughing because there was not much else to do but Selena, who isn’t a very outdoorsy person, I think was a little scared and got kind of upset. I felt pretty bad but there wasn’t much to do about it. Luckily most of our things were in a sealed barrel and we didn’t lose anything. So Selena got pulled up on shore and I stayed with the boat. Peter (said pet-air… he is s native Slovak) came to help with the boat and ended up falling in the river as well. But we got everything out but one paddle floated downstream. The people who were there offered dry clothes and so Selena changed and I put on a dry sweat shirt. As we were changing, they loaded another boat and went to get the paddle. Then luckily Peter reloaded us and everything was fine. From this point, we had about another half hour so us three boats continued on and got to the stopping point around 5/5:30. Then we decided we would be able to catch the first bus out so we helped load all the boats and had dinner. I had a bowl of chicken soup because at this point I was pretty cold and still wearing wet clothes. We ate and got to the bus fine; I fell asleep promptly and woke up once we were back in Bratislava. What a day… but I would do it again. It really truly was fun. I was also talking with Peter earlier in the day and apparently the only two holidays Slovaks celebrate are Christmas and Easter. About 4 days of celebration for Christmas and a week for Easter. I also learned that they eat oplatky but they put honey… and garlic: / on it and they eat sauerkrauts soup as well as babulky. (please excuse my spelling!) And Peter told me they put honey on everyone’s head at the table but they don’t have as many people! Well that was all for the day and I would totally do it again! I survived the Danube!!!