Hello dear #Topfamily community! What a pleasure to meet you again on this ThursdayTbt, very grateful to for his invitation to recall moments of our past. This time I bring you a moment as pleasant as it was the international swim across the Orinoco and Caroní rivers, in the state of Bolivar, Venezuela. I have attended this crossing challenge on 7 occasions.
Este momento fue súper especial para mi, porque en esa oportunidad nos inscribimos más de 900 nadadores, fue súper emocionante. Llegamos a San Félix el Viernes por la tarde para hacer el chequeo de inscripción y médico el sábado por la mañana, y por la tarde era el congresillo de seguridad, con todos los atletas, allí nos explicaron que los niveles del agua de los ríos, estaban muy altos y las corrientes de los ríos era muy fuerte, pero estábamos preparados para enfrentar el reto.
This moment was super special for me, because in that opportunity we registered more than 900 swimmers, it was super exciting. We arrived in San Felix on Friday afternoon to make the registration and medical check on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon was the safety meeting, with all the athletes, there they explained to us that the water levels of the rivers were very high and the currents of the rivers were very strong, but we were prepared to face the challenge.
Muy temprano en la mañana del domingo salimos del hotel, solo con los lentes, el traje de baño, el gorro y el ticket de salida, nos reunimos en la ribera del río para montarnos en la chalana de la Armada venezolana, quienes se encargaron de pasarnos a la otra orilla, en los barrancos de Fajardo, de allí nos metimos al río para esperar el momento de salida, por categorías. Una vez cruzando de primero el río Orinoco, que estaba bravísimo, los organizadores ponen para guiar a los nadadores, unas boyas gigantes. Pues resulta que estaba nadando por encima de las boyas y de repente, levanto la cabeza para orientarme y vi la boya que paso rápidamente frente a mi, resulta que el río me arrastró boya abajo y tuve que remontar ese río bravo.
Very early on Sunday morning we left the hotel, only with our glasses, swimsuit, cap and the starting ticket, we met at the river bank to get on the barge of the Venezuelan Navy, who were in charge of passing us to the other bank, in the ravines of Fajardo, from there we got into the river to wait for the time of departure, by categories. Once we crossed the Orinoco River, which was very wild, the organizers put giant buoys to guide the swimmers. It turns out that I was swimming over the buoys and suddenly, I raise my head to orient myself and I saw the buoy that passed quickly in front of me, it turns out that the river dragged me buoy down and I had to go up the river bravo.
Just as it happened to me, it happened to many. I managed to get back up and for a moment I held on to a rope that they put on the buoys so that the swimmers can hold on and find their way around more easily. I really thought about abandoning the competition, because the river was super strong and at that moment a very old man grabbed the same line and I made the comment that I was thinking of taking off my cap, which is the signal to abandon the competition, and the man answered me that this would be the last thing he would do, because he did not know if he could participate again next year and he wanted to take the memory of having passed that personal challenge.
Eso fue una enseñanza de vida...
Pues quedé con el señor, el darnos la oportunidad de cumplir el reto y arrancamos otra vez a nadar, juntos, cuando comenzamos a pasar el río Caroní nos perdimos el uno al otro, pero les digo que llegue al final de la competencia, pisando la manga de llegada y poniendo un pie en la orilla, se me acalambraron las dos piernas, tuvieron que sacarme a rastras del río, pero ya había clasificado como tercera en mi categoría y me tocaba premio en metálico.
Fue una experiencia espectacular... lo volvería a hacer 🤭☺️. Al señor no lo volví a ver, pero me enseñó que la frase de la señora Eleanor Roosevelt que dice el maestro Oogway, en la película Kung fu Panda es muy reveladora: "el ayer es historia, el mañana es un misterio, pero el hoy es un obsequio. Por eso se llama presente"... y por eso hay que aprovecharlo.
That was a life lesson...
Well, I stayed with the Lord, giving us the opportunity to meet the challenge and we started swimming again, together, when we began to pass the Caroni River we lost each other, but I tell you that I reached the end of the competition, stepping on the finish chute and putting one foot on the shore, both my legs cramped, they had to drag me out of the river, but I had already qualified as third in my category and I got a cash prize.
It was a spectacular experience... I would do it again 🤭☺️. I never saw him again, but he taught me that the phrase of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt that the master Oogway says in the movie Kung Fu Panda is very revealing: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present"... and that is why we must seize it.
Muchas gracias por visitarme y es muy emocionante recibir sus comentarios, los sabré apreciar. ¡Muchos cariños!
Thank you very much for visiting me and it is very exciting to receive your comments, I will appreciate them. Much love!
📷 foto sacada de mi álbum de recuerdos y digitalizada por mi teléfono /photo taken from my scrapbook and digitized by my phone Samsung A13
📸 fotografía tomada por/ photograph taken by , Samsung A13
📓 traducción por/ translation by Traductor de DeepL
🌄 banderas editadas en/ banners edited in Canva