White water rafting adventure in Cagayan de Oro

I already planned on doing the white water rafting adventure in Cagayan de Oro, but I had no idea how that would push through. Thankfully, Faye (whose love for adventure is similar to that of Frances and Jil Bocobo) arranged a trip, scheduling it a day after I'd be done with my elective. I immediately said yes when I got the invitation.

We woke up at 4 am and started traveling immediately thereafter. No harm comes with starting the day early, we thought. Jamez—yes, with a "z"—brought his car and entertained us with the chronicles of his love pursuits, leaving his girlfriend, Faye, blushing the entire time. We forgot all about the on-going road construction.

We arrived in Cagayan de Oro City at 7:30 am, had breakfast at Limketkai, and mistook this for our jeepney. Our fault: we didn't know who our contact person was.



Eventually word got in. We were to board the white one. From the city center, it took us 30 minutes to reach our take-off point. Of course, there was the mandatory pose of the six-member gang. Meet my companions: Faye, Jamez, Chryslene, Love, and Tin.



Armed with helmets, paddles, and life vests, we approached the river. We were a bit disappointed when we realized the water was brown, not white. It gets brown during the rainy season, we were told, but we didn't mind. The current was strong anyway.



Our guide, Jojo, the dark man with the chipped tooth, gave us a brief orientation; basically how to execute commands such as "easy forward" or "fast forward" or "stop"—or my favorite, "high five." He warned us that if ever we fell off from the raft, we should not attempt to swim. We should just float; one of the guides would drag us back. He spoke in English until he realized we all understood Bisaya. From then on, he entertained us with a barrage of jokes about the Tagalog and the Bisaya men. In the story, the Bisaya always had the last say.



Cagayan de Oro River neatly divides Cagayan de Oro City (to our left) and Bukidnon (to our right). It was the exact river that overflowed during the Sendong catastrophe, the same river whose waters smashed our faces time and again.



My friend, Mike, was here months ago. His advice: take the Advanced Course, because the one for beginners was boring. I would agree with him. The Advanced Course covered 21 rapids within a 17 km span, with the entire adventure lasting for four to five hours.

"Are you going for Mild or Wild?" Jojo asked us before we began. "WILD!" we yelled back. My companions were adrenalin-rush addicts, and so was I. The wilder we wanted it, the more flipping we got. Those were the moments when I most enjoyed the rafting adventure. The trick is to let yourself fall and to keep your mouth shut lest you swallow river water. Suffice it to say that I fell seven times. I may have taken sips of Cagayan River here and there.



After each successful passage through a rapid, Jojo would cry out, "High Five!" And then we would lift our paddles victoriously.



No rapid was exactly the same. Here we were being led to a narrow rock cleft.



He warned us to lie down. We could almost kiss the rock wall.



Halfway through our adventure, we were treated to a merienda of pastel and Zest-O orange juice.



We took a cold shower thereafter. This felt so refreshing! Thank You, Lord!



We begged Jojo to let us float freely. Thankfully he agreed.



We saw a huge rock, a couple of meters high, on one side of the river. We wanted to jump off from there, then swim our way back to our raft. We asked Jojo to demonstrate how diving is was done—and he did, while flying.



One of my favorites: Love pushing the clouds as she fell.



In my action shot, I felt panicky. I wasn't a fan of heights, and I didn't want to lose my glasses.



I remembered trying to hold back my bladder during the course of my descent.



I wanted to try it again!



My companions seemed immune to fatigue, but were they resistant to mind control? I wanted to demonstrate my Professor X-like powers. They didn't know I was controlling their minds while we were standing on top of the rock.



I was forcing them to jump.



And they did.



My powers worked! Hahaha!



Some part of them may be blaming me for ruining that extraordinary opportunity of a glorious group jump shot. I was just being a sissy for not giving in.

We went on with the rafting, exchanging positions once in a while.



Here was a photo of us inside the Serpents' Cave. Jojo told us there were living snakes, and we saw long, white snake skin on top of the walls.



And then more rafting!



And flipping!



Watch this crazy video of us!



We were nearing the end.



We emerged as darker people. The sunblock didn't work. But we were happy, except perhaps for the lady in purple.



We went back to our drop-off point.



We were treated to an eat-all-you-can lunch. This was part of the package!



Many thanks to Detour and Kalawa-ig Adventures for helping us have a great time. If you plan to try white water rafting, contact Jerome Garcia at 09194043930. We owe Kuya Junbert for taking these amazing photos.