Wanderlust: Lunahuaná

This past weekend, I also took a trip to Lunahuaná, a small town about an hour and a half from where I work. Lunahuaná is situated on the banks of the Rio Cañete and is known by those who want to indulge in adventure sports while in Perú. Canotaje (white water rafting) is the main draw here, but cuatrimotors (ATVs), canope (zip lining), and abseiling (rappelling) are popular as well.

View from the combi on the way to Cañete

My friend Ivan and I were eager to try the canotaje and now is the perfect time of year since the river is strong with the runoff coming from the mountains. We ended up going with a package deal that included canotaje, cuatrimotors, and canope. I know it has been a long time since I went rafting in the US, but I´m pretty sure that the price we paid for all three wouldn't even cover one rafting trip in the US. (Yes, this is a plug for you adventure seekers out there-come to Perú!)

We started out with the cuatrimotors. Though it wasn't really adrenaline-filled, it was fun, and let us see some of the area around the town.

The canotaje was our afternoon adventure.

#raftingselfie

As advertised, the river was swift and turbulent. In addition, it rained most of the afternoon and the waters were even more swollen.

But the trip itself was awesome! I highly recommend it. While the rapids are exciting, you also get completely soaked-no matter where you sit in the boat.

In the evening, we decided to chill out and go wine and pisco tasting at some local viñas. I can't remember if I mentioned it before or not, but the wines from this area are typically super sweet, whereas straight pisco (grape brandy) is strong and not very smooth going down. We did, however, find a few that we liked-including one bottle of a wine-pisco hybrid that went down much more smoothly.

In the morning, we went for our canope adventure. For me, this was the most terrifying activity. I was almost petrified throughout most of the experience, but our guides were calm and patient and on the return trip I almost enjoyed myself.