The rafting camp was a half hour drive back on a dirt road from the small town of La Acequia. After the USA-Paraguay match the night before, we had located two taxis that would drive us from Barinas to La Acequia, where one of the Guamanchi guys would meet us and take us to the camp.

The taxi ride was a very quick hour and it cost about $15. Along the way, we stopped at a gas station, a liquor store, and a truck stop. The gas station was a mess and there was a smell of gasoline everywhere. The pavement was wet with a mix of water and gasoline and the place looked like it had been the site of a gasonline hose fight. They have hoses at the pumps so people can wash their cars while they pump gas. It was an insane scene with people lining up in their cars to wait for a pump, a guy hosing off his taxi, people milling about, and the strong smell of gasoline in the air.

When we got to La Acequia, the Guamanchi Land Cruiser was waiting for us. The driver, John, had taken our luggage to the camp earlier in the day after he had left us in Barinas, so we only had the two cases of beer we had bought to load up.

The camp itself was set amongst some hills. It was a peaceful place, and there were some chickens, a horse, and a donkey roaming around. Wes, Andre, Dante, Bryan, Patrick, and I stayed in a big common room with bunks in a building set apart from the rest, while Juan had his own room in the main building. Everyone else would be arriving the next morning and staying in bunk rooms in the main building. The others had decided beforehand to stay in Barinas that night so they could party.

Everyone sat around a table chatting and drinking beer for a while. I sprayed some DEET on my arms and legs to keep the bugs away. Wes kept complaining of mosquitos, but I think they were actually gnats. They weren't bothering me with the DEET on.

I got up around 8:30 AM for breakfast. They only other person up was Juan, and he was watching toucans in the trees. As the others started getting up, breakfast was served. It consisted of arepas (a cornmeal flat bread with jam or butter) and fruit. There were two women from the town who had come up to cook and clean.

After breakfast we had the rest of the morning to hang out. The rest of the group would be coming in, we'd have lunch, and then we'd spend the afternoon learning rafting on class 3 rapids.

After lunch, we put on yellow helmets and red life vests and lifted the rafts on top of the Land Cruisers. A half hour drive later, we pulled into some guy's ranch and drove down to the river. There was a rocky shore where the trucks could get in and we could put the rafts in.

There were two rafts and fifteen of us, plus one guide for each raft. There were four new guys in our entourage, but I did not have much chance to talk to them. Me, Wes, Andre, Dante, Juan, Patrick, and Bryan got in the purple raft and the others got in the red one.

The guide explained the basics of paddling and steering to us. He would shout a command in Spanish that would instruct us to paddle forward, paddle backward, shift to the left or right, or hunker down in the middle of the raft. We practiced in the calm area of the river in front of our landing spot for several minutes before heading down the river.

The first day of rafting was light, and we only spent about two hours doing it. The next day would be longer and on more difficult class 4 rapids.

After stopping in La Acequia to get more beer, we headed back to the camp for supper. The supper was chicken, rice, boiled yucca, and fried plantains. We had the rest of the night to relax after that, so everyone sat around talking and drinking beer before turning in for the night.