Three girls floating

It was end of June and we were in a canoe, the three of us – Astrid, Monika and I - on a really shallow river somewhere in the lake district of Poland, the Mazury. Going through a forest, passing meadows and occasional houses, usually no other human noises than our own. Any other canoe that got on the picture, soon enough disappeared to the distance. We had a unique zig-zagging style and got drifted from one side to the other by the river forces that seemed to leave everyone else alone.

It was so beautiful and often I would just stop paddling to take it all in.

After an hour or so, suddenly the sky turned all dark. So exciting! Storm was coming. I love to occasionally get struck by a summer downpour! When in a middle of nowhere, only sensible option is to surrender to it. Soon enough you are so soaked that it makes no point to even look for a shelter, no point to worry, that you are gonna get wet. A type of freedom, really. I can recall so many different occasions like that while biking or hiking in Estonia and more recently in Tasmania or on a motorbike in the monsoon rain in Malaysia. Well actually in Malaysia, we did have to stop when we found a shelter by the road, because the visibility was so bad and motorway about to turn into a river.

So there we were, sky getting darker and darker and our paddling technique better and better. There was lightning and thunder, rainwater bounced off the river as it hit the surface exceeding the speed limit and our canoe turned into a shallow pool. Rain was so thick you could hardly keep your eyes open. So cool, I yelled, but probably no one heard because thunder was too loud. Smiling.

We did not get hit by lightening and finished safe and sound. There was a wooden shelter where we could wait for the transfer and the wooden pillars were warm from the sun of the day.