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“Quatro,” Marge answered, pointing at the fourth photo. “We’ll do quatro.”
“What did he ask?”
“He’s asking what rapid we want to do. I picked the fourth one.”
“Is four hard?” Doris asked, worry seeping into her voice. “I don’t want to go on a scary one.”
Marge scoffed. “Nah. They won’t take us on a bad one. These tourist places are just like lazy rivers. I just picked one that looked like it may have a few little rapids we can go through. You know, gotta have a little excitement out there.”
“Just a little, though,” Doris warned her. “I don’t want to get hurt.”
“None of us do,” I said to her, then looked at Marge. “So, nothing crazy. Just a nice, fun ride with a few bumpy spots. Is that what you picked?”
Marge said something to the man, and he nodded along, smiling.
“Yeah. We’re good.” She gave us a thumbs up.
“You’re sure?” Sylvie arched an eyebrow.
“We’ll be fine. Julio here is gonna show us a great time.”
Julio closed the kiosk door, locked it tight, and then waved at us to follow him to the white van.
“A white serial killer van? Really? Isn’t ‘not getting into a white van with a strange man’ like Survival 101? Great. This is the part where we get kidnapped,” Alice whispered to me, and I laughed.
“We’re not getting kidnapped,” Marge whispered back. “I can take this guy. No question about it. He’s what, a hundred and twenty pounds? Cripes, that’s nothing. I can squish him with my left boob, I bet.”
Alice recoiled. “Now there’s a visual I’ll never unsee.”
Marge ignored her. “Julio seems cool. I don’t think this is some underground kidnapping ring.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” I whispered back.
Before we got in, Marge double-checked she had our IDs and passports in her secure little satchel. Knowing we’d be getting wet in the rapids, we all left our purses and phones at the hotel so they wouldn’t get damaged, bringing only one phone, all the passports, and a few credit cards in Marge’s satchel.
Once we were set, we got inside. The van bumped down the road for several miles before veering off down a dirt trail. Alice and I exchanged a look, careful not to let Doris see and get her panicking, but Marge stiffened her jaw and narrowed her eyes, cracking her knuckles while she let us know she’d take this guy.
Luckily, when the van stopped, we were at a river and not some compound where they’d hold us hostage until Alice paid our ransom. Julio hopped out and grabbed the life jackets and helmets, then brought us over to where a giant orange raft was secured and padlocked to a tree. After unlocking it, he dragged it down near the winding river cutting through the beautiful jungle surrounding us.
He gave us a little safety demonstration even though we didn’t understand a lot of it. Marge relayed his words to us, but I was fairly certain she was just making them up as she went along, likely understanding his fast-talking about as much as the rest of us. When he finished, he gave us a big grin and thumbs up, then pushed the raft into the water.
One by one, we piled in, each taking an oar that he handed us. After we were all in our places perched on the sides of the raft, Julio pushed it out and then jumped in. He settled into his spot on the back and dug his paddle in, using it like a rudder to steer us out into the center of the river.
“He said to paddle,” Marge relayed his words, and this time I decided she was actually correct.
We started paddling along the lazy river. The slow speeds gave us plenty of time to enjoy the incredible scenery surrounding us. It was so much better than I’d expected, and I paddled along for over an hour, mesmerized by the lush green foliage covering both sides of our path.
“Oh, wow!” Marge said from her seat across from me as we turned a bend. “Look!”
I gasped when I saw the beautiful waterfalls cascading down the sides of the rocks just up ahead. Rainbows covered the air where the spray splashed up, and it felt like we were paddling right into some magical land out of a storybook.
“Isn’t that something,” Alice said softly. “Wow.”
“Magnificent,” Doris breathed. “Absolutely magnificent.”
We all paddled silently through the beautiful oasis with the water cascading down all around us. The sun sparkled on the water but disappeared when we slipped into a large cave that took us away from the magical little spot.
“Okay. This is amazing.” I marveled at the weathered rock surrounding us.
