It was my first trip in USA. I stayed there one month, in May 2012: two weeks of language courses in San Francisco, at the home of an English teacher and then two weeks of white water rafting in the Grand Canyon of Colorado with Outdoors Unlimited.
The first two weeks in San Francisco were ideal. I visited all the places I wanted and more. All the people I met were very friendly. I spoke in English a lot and I listened a lot too. A good warmup!
And then, the rafting trip was one of the most exciting and memorable trips of my life. It will probably stay in the TOP 5 of my adventures around the world. Everything was so perfect : the white water rafting, the guides, the group, the food, the good weather and obviously the scenery of the Grand Canyon.
Here’s the photobook I made from this trip :
The scenery of the Grand Canyon is fabulous. It changes every day. It’s never boring. And there are many surprise in a lot of places : Little Colorado, Lava Falls, Havasu Creek, Travertime canyon… At this time of the year, because it wasn’t raining, the water was very clear and gave the river a nice color.
About the Grand Canyon, my three fears disappeared after the first day we spent on the river :
How difficult would it be to do white water rafting on this river ?
Our guides were excellent. They made the trip so easy, so safety and so funny that I never felt in danger. We ran The Grand Canyon without getting flipped. Nobody was hurt. With these guys (6 men / 2 women), it was just excitement and fun.
How was I able to speak English during 2 weeks with 24 (first week) to 28 people (2nd week).
All people were very nice and very patient, they spoke slower with me and they helped me when I had some difficulties. I was sometime tired, especially the evening, after a day on the raft, because It’s hard to focus all the day when people are speaking to each other. And there are many different accents in the US, Canada and UK, which are sometimes more difficult to understand.
How cold would be the water and the nights ?
In reality, yes, the water is very cold (9°C), but the air is hot. After the first day on the raft, I made some adjustments with the shoes and the clothes I was wearing to stay warm, despite the rapids.
I spent all the nights sleeping under the stars, it wasn’t very cold. It was just very sandy twice because of the wind.