Our story behind the Venga Boys
Here in Austria we are in the midst of a huge political scandal! The Vice-Chancellor was caught in a honey trap in Ibiza and currently the number 1 song being played and downloaded in Austria is “Going to Ibiza” by the Venga Boys.
This could not have come at a more apparent time, since the video of our Soča Valley, Slovenia Class 3-4 Kayaking Trip by Gina comes with the music from the Venga Boys….
Why the Venga Boys I hear you ask?
Well…
We were at the put-in for the Otona Section of the Soča River and a German group of kayakers came paddling bye. One of the “young guns” had a waterproof speaker duct taped to the stern of his kayak and it was pumping out some sketchy techno pop. On enquiring why he was blasting such sketchy music, he just shrugged his shoulders and wobbled off!
The group got given the name the Venga Boys and as their songs are near impossible to get out of your head we were humming, laughing and humming again throughout the rest of the week!
However, it is not the first time I have come across the Venga Boys while kayaking. Back in year 2000 Ben and I were in Southern Ecuador looking for adventure on the Rio Upano. It was wild times back then in Ecuador! In the south of the country they were still using the Sucre which was some 26,000 to the Dollar!! We had been warned about “Head Hunters” along the river, huge anaconda snakes that eat fish the size of our kayaks and something you expect from a Jeremy Wade fishing show but the lure of adventure and our first self-supported kayaking expedition was just too much.
By the time we reached the take-out of the Rio Upano we had befriended a local tribe, administered first aid to some of their relatives, drank Ecuadorian Chicha to celebrate, left the following day without being married off, got attacked by a 4m anaconda and kayaked through the Canyon of the Sacred Waterfalls!
At the take-out, we killed time waiting for the minibus to arrive eating chicken feet soup and drinking warm beer. It was not long in South American terms (an hour or so) when suddenly the minibus comes screeching around the corner with none other than the Venga Boys blasting out of the speakers. The driver gave us a strange look, told us to put the kayaks on the roof and sit on the back benches, we were finally on our way to civilisation. Back in what we thought was the relative safety of the town, we spent the night partying to celebrate such a wild adventure. Coupled with a local fiesta there was no better way to celebrate, than with the locals and fireworks! We decided to kayak the Rio Upano again the following week and though the second time everything went pretty much stress free, there was however one incident where I thought we are getting kidnapped while being driven by jeep further away from the river and deeper into the Amazon. That though is a story for another time!!
Thanks Venga Boys, your global appeal has kept me laughing and smiling on some fantastic adventures and times on and off the river!