My Big Fat White Water Rafting Adventure.

Image © 1st Rafting Adventure, used with permission.

The trouble with traveling on someone else's dime is, you don't get a lot of choice where to go.

So for our Cagayan de Oro trip, we were limited to walking through the compact city center, when we had any free time between long jaunts to Iligan City two hours away (and nearby Maria Cristina Falls), and Marawi City three hours away.

Until the second day - the client decided that that was as good a time as any to try Cagayan de Oro's whitewater rafting experience.

Image © 1st Rafting Adventure, used with permission.

Whitewater rafting is the Philippines' adventure du jour these days; the grifter-boaters shooting the rapids of Pagsanjan falls have given way to cooler, cheaper spots like Davao City, but Cagayan de Oro lays claim to having the first truly professional white-water rafting experience in the country.

We signed up with 1st Rafting Adventure, which had served our client a few years back, and who were happy to sign us up again.

The Rafting Adventure jeepney picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 in the morning, then made a couple of stops to pick up passengers before embarking on a forty-five minute drive through rural roads.

We reached the jump-off point in Barrio Mambuaya, some seven miles from the airport as the crow flies. We were asked to sign a waiver before disembarking, so you can imagine how nervous I was.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. The Beginners' Course was a breeze, and I felt genuinely sorry for it to end. Sure, I got sunburned throughout the three hour, 14-rapid, 12-kilometer course, and the helmet and life vest got pretty hot after a while, but nothing the spray of water from the rapids couldn't fix!

More on the whole white water experience in my article: White Water Rafting in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.