2014: Las Peñas, La Jagua, Upper Yuma, Abya Yala.

We had been playing tag for some time now... almost una hora, the boundaries were in the water and the sand and surrounding rocks under the peaks we call, las peñas, that tower above us on the other side of the río. There were four of us playing and it was a mix of leaps and dives, swimming, running barefoot across sand and rocks, doing everything possible to not get tagged. Cristian had been “it” for a minute now and we were all keen on not getting caught. He locked eyes on me once he got tired of the others and came in for the touch, but he wasn’t gonna get it; run, jump, swim, dive, surface, swim to shore, repeat again… I can keep it up but it gets tiring. After that same cycle so many times I swam down river to save energy and Cristian came right after me, still he wasn’t gonna touch, or at least easy, so right as he came in to grab me i dove down, deep, let all the air out of my lungs, felt my ears pop twice, it got cold, real cold and as i sunk the current became faster and before I knew it I had gone where I have never gone before, I was clinging to the rocks of the river bed of the mighty Grand River of so many names: Yuma, Guacacayo, Arli and since European invasion Magdalena. As the entire body of agua hurled its self over and through me I felt the mix of sediments, vegetation and other heavier materials flowing around my body as they are dragged close to the river bed. I was just hoping that no corpse would brush up against me in this cold, light less place where sight was not an option. I started to shiver. Did I mention it was cold? At some point after what felt like minutes but prolly was not even 40 seconds I surfaced, Cristian was down river from me and as soon as he saw me he started sprinting for me, again I out swam him in the river treadmill for under a minute and then pulled myself to shore exhausted, panting and trying to catch my breath, i was dizzy, nauseous, my head ached, the abrupt pressure changes was a lil too much for my physical endurance and i knocked the fuck out, arms and legs splattered on the beach. When I woke up, I felt better, but still exhausted. I sat up and the other three were in the water talking. “How long have I been asleep?” I asked, “almost an hour now” they told me. I told them what had happened at the bottom of the river. Their eyes went big. “Wow! No way! No wonder you knocked out”. Right as I was getting comfortable to lay back down, Cristian says, “On BTW you’re it, I tagged you when you were knocked out”…