WHAT a weekend June 14 to 16, 2013, had been!
When I think about it, I still couldn’t believe that I did two things – no, make that three – that I had never imagined I would ever do in my entire lifetime. I went riding the waves and battling the raging rapids in white water river rafting along Cagayan de Oro River, and I threw my cares away and went sliding 20-feet down a waterfall straight into a waterhole. Worse, I repeated the water sliding adventure off another waterfall just minutes later. What had gotten into me?
It happened during a three-day trip to Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, upon the invitation of Seda Centrio through good friend Bheng Loretizo and her boss Berry Marfori of EP Marfori Business Communications. Berry, daughter of the late former Philippine Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez, and Bheng had brought a large group of Manila-based food, lifestyle and travel journalists to Cagayan de Oro City to experience the luxurious lifestyle being offered by Seda Centrio, an urban lifestyle hotel that stands right in the midst of the Ayala mall called Centrio, and also catch a piece of the extreme action that people go to Cagayan de Oro for. There were more than 20 of us in the group, one of the biggest groups my husband Raff and I had ever travelled with, and the CDO trip was, by far, the most action-filled trip of my life.
Action began as soon as the group stepped out of the PAL Express plane and into the Lumbia Airport, which was on its last day of run the day we arrived in CDO, June 14, as the new airport in CDO, the Laguindingan Airport, was starting operations the next day, June 15. It was around 10:00 a.m. Right in the airport, as soon as we all got our baggage from the carousel, we deposited our stuff – baggages in the Seda Centrio van; and personal belongings, such as bags, laptops and mobile phones, with Berry – and packed up our cameras and gadgets in waterproof bags (dry bags), then geared up for white water river rafting adventure. Yes, we went straight to river rafting from the airport. We boarded two passenger-type jeepneys with inflatable rubber boats tied to the roof, life vests in the passenger seats and paddles on the floor. The jeeps took us to the starting point for the Beginners’ Course along the banks of Cagayan de Oro River, where the highly experienced Bugsay River Rafting team served as our river guides on the first river rafting experience of quite a number of us in the group.
The Bugsay team leaders asked us to gear up in life vests and helmets, secure our dry bags, and pick up a paddle. Raff and I had packed our cameras into his black dry bag, in Ziplock bag inside Lock-and-Lock sealed plastic container wrapped in another Ziplock bag then placed at the bottom of the dry bag, whose mouth Raff folded multiple times before snapping the lock on.
By the bank of the river, the Bugsay group leader taught us the basics of river rafting: maximum of six people in a boat manned by one to two river guides, who will call out the commands to each group to “Paddle Forward,” “Paddle Back” or “Stop” to get through the rapids and/or avoid hitting the river’s rocky walls. When the command is “High Five!” you simply lift up your paddle to the center of the boat and touch the tips of your companions’ paddles like a typical High Five hand gesture, mainly done to ease tension or loosen frayed nerves. In case the rapids should be extremely rough and the boat overturns or you get thrown overboard, do not panic and try to simply ride with the waves and help will come.
The Beginners’ Course, the group leader said, covers a 12-kilometer river stretch with 14 rapids to battle in a 3-hour river run to the end point. The river is 90 kilometers long, with one side belonging to Cagayan de Oro and the other side being part of Bukidnon. Upstream from the starting point of the Beginners’ Course, the river is more shallow and has more treacherous rapids, so it’s reserved for the Advanced Course.
After the short briefing, we grouped ourselves and got into our boats. Raff and I were in the company of Businessworld’s Camille Sarte, Cook’s Winnie Velasquez and Marlon Aldenese, and Seda Hotel communications manager Genny Puno, with Tutang as our Bugsay river guide. The strongest paddlers are supposed to be in front, so Raff stayed up front and I secured myself behind him. Camille was beside me, and Winnie and Marlon stayed behind us, so Genny had no choice but to be the other supposed-to-be strong paddler in front. Tutang, the captain of our ‘ship,’ took up the rear.
The river had calm spots, but the rapids areas were wide and expansive. We spent most of our “sail time” laughing, cracking jokes, screaming and doing High Fives to release tension, and soon we had mastered the” Paddle Forward,” “Paddle Back” and “Stop” commands so much so that we were paddling so evenly we would qualify for the Dragon Boat Team.
About halfway through the 12-kilometer stretch of the river that we were going to “conquer” that day, the group was herded to “shore” through a series of Paddle Forwards. Everyone got off, walked up the wide river bank, and watched in are as the Bugsay team leaders pulled our rubber boats up to the river bank, turned them over in a row, lined each one with banana leaves, and placed prawns, grilled fish, grilled pork and rice steamed in puso (wrapped in woven leaves) strategically in the center, boodle fight style, and scattered wedges of fresh pineapple around. Lunchtime! We all gamely approached the dining tables and, under the shade of the trees by the river bank, shared a filling meal.
Then we set off to the river again for more river rafting adventure, packed with energy to battle the more challenging rapids ahead. Again, we paddled, screamed, laughed and held on to our boats with our lives as our boats crashed with the waves mustered by the rapids, fell rapidly, twisted, turned and sent violent showers that soaked us to the skin. At one point of the river, where the waters were calm and a small islet stood in the middle of the waters, some of our companions got off their boats and onto the islet and took the opportunity to jump into the waters. Not me, of course. Not anyone in our boat, haha!
After the calm came the storm, and that meant lots of violently raging rapids. One such encounter with the raging waters knocked one of our companions off the boat and into the waters, and we watched in horror as the waters quickly swept her away. But the orientation said don’t panic, just ride with the waves and help will come. She did just that and help did skillfully come from the Bugsay river guides.
By the time we reached the end point of the Beginners’ Course, we were all exhausted from all the paddling – and hanging on to the boat – going on during the rafting, but we were all happy and high in spirits over the fact that, hey, we went white water river rafting and we survived!
The jeeps took us straight to Seda Centrio, a four-star hotel with awesome facilities, where we showered and rested for a good few hours of the afternoon.
(To be continued)
(*The Beginners’ Course under the Bugsay Rafting team costs Php700 per person. Aside from the 12-kilometer river stretch with 14 rapids and scenic views along the river whose actual river run lasts three hours. There are advanced and extreme courses, all of which are inclusive of transportation and safety gear (life vests, helmets and paddles). Lunch at Camp Site can be arranged for a minimal fee, so with documentation via digital photographs. For more information, visit www.bugsayrafting.com.)
