I almost died and went to heaven…


This is going to be the hardest blog entry I´ve ever posted. It´s only been three days but it feels like I have changed so much that I am a completely new person. That´s what happens I guess when u come face to face with death!

Lemme backtrack to Monday morning Oct 5th. We arrived at the airport at 7 am to take our flight to Canaima, the base camp for our trip to Angel Falls. I am a nervous flier to begin with but when I saw what the aircraft (.if you can call it that) looked like, I almost shit my pants. It was a little mosquito …. A single engine Cessna that was going to fly us out. I tried to overcome my fear by telling myself that I would rather die on a vacation than at work back home. Anyway I psyched myself and braved the one hour flight to this little landing strip called Canaima in the middle of the rainforest. The flight, however scary, was absolutely spectacular. The dense rainforest, the rivers making their way through the forest ending up in gorgeous waterfalls and small huts in the middle of nowhere. The tribal people still live in the middle of the rainforest with no contact with civilization! So we arrived in Canaima and met the 5 other people who were supposed to join us on our tour to Angel Falls. Jim(bo) from England, Jerhoun and Miriam from the Netherlands, and a couple from Venezuela. We walked from the landing strip to the jungle lodge we were gonna stay in for the next 3 days. The plan was to pack up a small daypack with anything we´d need for the next 2 days and make our way on the boat to a campsite close to Angle Falls. The boat ride was supposed to be about 4 hours long. After lunch and an hour of tossing the Frisbee about, we made our way to the boat. The boat was a long wooden motor boat driven by two people…one driver who drove the propeller sat at the bow and another guy who was the navigator sat at the hull. Anyway, we started on our journey up the river to our campsite. It was a fun boat ride, getting to know the rest of our group, enjoying the view of the oldest landscape on the planet. I´ve never seen mountains like this…with jagged peaks…almost looked like stone henge. Halfway up the river, dark clouds started to roll in and before we knew it we were in the middle of a tropical downpour. It suddenly changed the whole experience. The river rose almost suddenly and the rapids got stronger. It´s one thing going downstream with the rapids but it´s a whole different ball game trying to go against them. It was one of the most harrowing experiences, we were drenched to the bone, it was getting dark, the rapids were getting stronger and to top it all…the river was apparently full of anacondas! I think it was a combination of our prayers, and the navigation skills of the native incas that eventually brought us to our campsite. We were told that we would be sleeping in hammocks that nite. I was already starting to forget the boat ride and getting excited about the upcoming nite and next day. We had dinner and stayed up pretty late, playing cards. The nite was pretty nice sleeping in the hammock listening to the rapids.

Next morning started with a hike up to see the world´s tallest waterfall. It was a good two hour hike but the sight was a great reward for the hardwork required to see it. The falls are quite unbelievable but what I loved the most was the pool at the foot of the falls. We could actually swim in this pool with falls falling on us. This area, even though quite popular with tourists, is still practically untouched. I lay on the rocks, looking up at the mouth of the falls and around me the vast jungle and I could literally see dinosaurs walking there. It´s quite amazing to be on a land which apparently is older than dinosaur time.
Needless to say I am shaken and very lucky to be alive. Having a near death experience like this makes you realize how precious life is and how fragile life is!! I love and miss you all. Everything in this world looks a little more beautiful now! Only thing is I still can´t seem to fall asleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see that boat coming towards us and hear the crunching sound of the wood breaking, and I smell petrol. I know we are very lucky to be alive and I think the 10 of us really bonded after this incident. But I really needed to talk to my mom and Ashley to hear a familiar voice. I spoke to mom today and cried over the phone. I haven´t been able to get a hold of Ashley but I´m sure I will soon. I am still having a great time but just needed a hug from my kuchu. We are in the Grand Savannah today. Will write the next entry in a week after our 4 day boat ride down the amazon.

After our trek, we went back to our campsite and had lunch before setting out on our boatride back to the jungle lodge. It was a lot easier going downstream, especially since the sun was shining and there were no dark clouds in sight. Then, about an hour into our journey, we came upon a bend and then everything happened too fast! We saw a boat coming up the bend straight for us. Our driver was trying to tell them to move away from us, while trying to turn away but the rapids were too strong for us to avoid each other. Before we knew it, our boats collided head on at full speed. My hands are shaking even as I type this 3 days after the incident. The front of our boat split into two and all I saw was pieces of splintered wood flying everywhere and our boat going under the other boat. One minute we were sitting on the boat, joking around, laughing, and the next we were in water. Everything happened in slow motion…I saw the boat hitting us, and then I was in the water, in complete shock. I think I came to when I realized I was sinking. I wasn´t wearing my life jacket coz I was using it as a cushion to sit on. When I felt I was sinking, I realized I had to swim. Then the first thing I thought was hopefully no one was still under the boat or badly hurt, or dead!!!!! I looked around and did a head count. Everyone was scrambling to the shore, our bags were scattered all over the water, the boat was in pieces and there was an intense stink of petrol. I was in the water when suddenly I remembered our tour guide telling us that there were anacondas in this river. Needless to say, I swam faster than I ever have in my life and made my way to the other boat which was still in one piece. The people on that boat helped me up and I sat there shaking like a leaf, stunned at what had just happened. Finally after about 15 mins of complete chaos, everyone scrambling to find their bags, we were all on the boat that hit us. This boat drove us to the closest beach where we all got off and checked our damage. We all had cuts and scrapes but surprisingly no one got badly hurt. A boat going downstream, stopped at the beach to see what was going on and after a lot of negotiating, agreed to take us with them. As soon as we got on the boat, the dark clouds rolled in, and we were once again caught in a tropical downpour. Now this boat was too overloaded with people and luggage and it was raining too hard for it to make it down the rapids. So, before any big rapids, some people had to get off and walk through the woods past the rapids. It was a hairy ride back, one that I still have nightmares about!