In the meanwhile...

Its been a bit since the last post, mostly for lack of boating... Here´s whats up:

Nov 11, my grandmother passed away at the age of 94 in Miami.
Nov 12, I got on a flight Cuzco to Lima, Lima to Panama, Panama to Miami.
Nov 13, I met up with the family in Miami.
Nov 14, funeral and family stuff.
Nov 15, more family stuff.
Nov 16, went to Lake Placid with Cousin Bryan for an awesome few days.
Nov 17, more Lake Plancid, getting sick off bad food.
Nov 18, Lake Placid and return to Miami to sleep in Airport for AM flight, more food sickness.
Nov 19, back to Lima, continued food illness.
Nov 20, back to Cuzco, feeling a bit better.
Nov 21, siteseeing in Cuzco, feeling ill again.
Nov 22, market in Pisac, still feeling ill.
Nov 23, laying low in Cuzco, feeling worse, took Cipro.
Nov 24, headed to Machu Pichu for Inca Trail, hopefully feeling better!


There is great irony in my sickness coming from Miami. After spending more than a month in Peru, drinking all the water, eating all the food off the street, eating the salads, all that, it took a few days in Miami to really mess me up... More to come after Machu Pichu, then down to Chile for Pucon, the Futa, and more rivers... Ciao.

Some other sites...

Here are a few sites of other people traveling with me:

Liz´s stuff:
http://findingconsciousness.blogspot.com/
http://picasaweb.google.com/gingerwatergirl

My picasa with all the photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/blumjonathan

This list will grow as more come up.

11/7-8 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 6/7

Getting off the Paucartambo was smooth but slow. The sunrise ferry came as promised at 5am sharp. The launch driver wanted 20 soles ($6.60) a person with our kayaks and we consented, knowing we could talk him down later. The driver was amazing cruising up the Urubamba against the current, running rapids, tipping the boat from side to side. It was like a 60 foot long wooden canoe with a 75hp outboard. We cruised on the 'Yoga':

Ben and Jonathan on the 'Yoga':
When we got to the small town at the end of the boat ride, there were a few busses waiting for us to begin their journey to Quillabamba. We got a 12 hour bus there for 18 soles each including out kayaks ($6). Its interesting that the luxury bus lines charge an arm and a leg to load a kayak, while the cheap chicken busses never even blink an eye. Sadly, this bus ride was long, spine jarring, hot and sweaty, and even stopped for an unexpected 2 hour lunch. The driver must have been hungry.

We arrived in Quillabamba around dark and went to the Cuzco bus station to get our tickets. We got an overnight to Cuzco for 20 soles each on the Luxury bus and then went to town, hoping to walk off the ride to Quillabamba before taking the ride to Cuzco. The market in Quillabamba was sweet, and I managed to get my board shorts stiched in the street for a sole. This was interesting because I didn't have other pants to put on or underwear. It took some convincing but they stitched them up for me. There was a ton going on in the streets with vendors, kids, acts, shops, and tons of motor taxis:
The ride to Cuzco wasn't much of a sleeper, but we caught a minute here and there between the bumps. Upon arrival in Cuzco at 4:45am (24 hours after we caught the water taxi) we slept on the parked bus till 6am, headed to the Hostal, crashed hard. The Polica in Cuzco were confused by our kayaks, as usual:

Out.

11/6 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 5

The highlight of Day 5 was the confluence of the Rio Paucartambo and Rio Urubamba. We started paddling at 8:30 and didn't stop till lunch at 1:15pm. We knew we had to be getting close but we didn't really know how close. I asked a local farmer how far at lunch and he said, 'Cerquita! 20 minutos!' (Very close!). Of course, he had never seen a kayak before, so we took this with a grain of salt. He was pretty close and 25 minutes later we were sitting in the eddy between the two rivers. Sucess! Self portrait of the crew in the eddy at the confluence of the Urubamba River and Paucartambo River:

We paddled across the river here to ask when the next water taxi or bus would be passing by to pick us up. We had expected there to be some there or something which was unrealistic since we were in the middle of nowhere. Ben, Todd and Scott walked to a small 'town' where the drunk/sleeping/crazy radio controller guy was unhelpful. It turns out that we were in good luck because the water taxis only run on Monday and Wed (it was Sun) and the road is unpassable once it starts to rain (which it had been). We got mixed messages, but bottom line, boat leaves at 5am, be there at 4:45am and you might get it.

Some local kid, Daniel, invited us to stay on his property on river right. We watched in awe as he skillfully pilotted his 20 foot long wooden canoe across the Urubamba with fewer than 3 strokes. We followed in suit and were soon camped on the right side.

Andy pumping water from the Urubamba at the confluence:
The house where we were invited to stay at the confluence:
The rocks outside where we slept at the confluence:

Daniel was very hospitable, and we invited him to dinner with us. We also fed his dad and friends. He showed me how to scale a tree and cut down plantains to eat. Its really quite easy:

1) Find tree with plantains
2) Find machete
3) Hack into trunk of tree until it falls down
4) Pick up plantains off ground

The next morning was an early one for the sunrise ferry...

11/5 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 4

Flow guesses day 4:
J: 3150 4500
A: 3000 4350
B: 3200 4196
S: 2998 4450
T: 3000 4200

The guys who paddled the Paucartambo in 6-8 days clearly didn't know Andy Round, nor were paddling with him! We probably paddled an estimated 60-80km today, mostly flatwater. The amazing thing about the river was how just when you expected it to be done, you'd round a corner and be faced with more great whitewater. It just kept going. The jungle scenery got better and better, with dense, lush, green folliage, birds, and of course, the jungle humidity. It was HOT!Jungle butterflys like the green Mystic:
We began the day at 8:15 and paddled mostly flatwater until we got to a HUGE rapid around 11:30. This was a stomper. The whole river (at least 4,000cfs) crashing down over fairly steep gradient. It was awesome! This rapid was in a huge open valley with some braided channels. The right side had a bit of a sneak Class II line with 300cfs or so, but the main flow was unreal. Andy ferried down to the eddy on the left side, and signaled that I should come down and take a look. The move was difficult and as I caught the eddy, I clipped a rock under my hull. As I slid slowly off the rock, my stern caught and I flipped over right above this massive rapid. I hit a quick roll and oriented myself just in time to hear Andy yell, 'Left then right' and drop backwards into the brown maelstrom of holes and waves. Dropping blindly into a rapid where you can barely see over the wave in front of you is interesting because you don't know what's coming, but you can't focus too much on what's in front of you. You need to look at the bigger picture. It all went well and I made it through to the bottom right, no problem. Tood for scale inthe middle of the main drop:This big water canyon continued on for another 15 minutes of huge holes, towering waves and great fun. It was the highlight of Day 4. We paddled till 3:45, passing under the blue Puente Penetracion at a small town. Pierro had told us we could take out there, but we kinda missed it and all had our sights set on the Urubamba confluence. The camp that night was hot and humid on wet jungle black sand beaches:



I think Day 4 was the longest I have ever paddled in one day. Sitting for the hours was painful but rewarding, reminicient of rowing crew in high school. After 4 days of being in wet, stinky gear, the jungle made me long for a cold shower and clean clothing. A difficult but fulfilling day for the team.

11/4 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 3

Day three started early at 7:45 with the anticipation of a big day of whitewater. The first 30 minutes were mellow until we reached 'Go Left and Flip II', a big move left of a boulder into a hole. The river backed off again until 9:00 when a steep creek entering on the left signals the entrance of 'Steep Bouldery Canyon Rapids'. We scouted the first series here on the left, which had a tricky entrance down the left side into an ender hole. I got squirted up and Todd got flipped over backwards here. Then it moved through the center passing some huge holes, and ending with a tricky move right in front of a boulder. We scouted this series for an hour or so and the rapids below it. It was 250 fpm gradient with close to 2000 cfs. Epic:
Todd running the move at the bottom:

The second part of this series involved a hard move into a narrow slot, off a 3 foot boof into another manky channel that dropped rapidly into a minefield of holes. Todd and Baker run the mank:

Scout right, portage right. The holes at the bottom are monsterous. Below the first few monster holes, the river mellows to steep gradient, high flows, and lots of super high quality lines. We loved this section of the river. Almost every hole was big and pushy, but they all went for at least a mile, maybe a few miles.

At 10:45 'Dos Amigos Creek' entered from the right, and we had a great run down 'Balls to the Walls Left' (just like the Wind River, only 5x bigger!):




We ate an early lunch at 11:15 at a beautiful creek on the left. It was our first day of Manhar Blanco (carmel) and jam on totillas, a nice change from bread and avo.

We boated down a bit more to a line of huge boulder across the river. We knew this had to be the 'portage grande' as described by Gian Marco. The entrance to the portage was pretty obvious, with boulder choked channels and sieves everywhere:

The full portage took us a little more than an hour using ropes, teamwork and going over and under the huge boudlers. It wasn´t very dangerous, but carrying 80lb loaded boats over sharp rocks is quite difficult. At the bottom of the portage is another rapid that Gian Marco recomended we ferry left and then portage. Andy saw a line and we both ran down the center with no problems. Jonathan running the portage line:

With the 'Portage Grande' behind us, we were happy, but knew there was one more canyon up ahead. 15 minutes later we approached a vertical walled canyon choked full of huge boudlers. We scouted left and felt pretty stuck with some lines we couldn't run, walls we couldn´t climb, and a sketchy portage situation. The line on the right looked like certain death, with the entire flow going under a house sized boulder. The line on the left went off a ledge and directly into another rock ledge, posibble pin or piton.

We portaged the entrance on the left, and then Andy did a sketchy climb out of his boat onto rocks above the meat of the rapid. He figured out a line that looked iffy to the group, so everyone portaged and he and I ran. Andy seal launched off the rock into the wall, pinnaing vertically out of the water. Ben had to come pull him out. Then we ran the line down the middle, through the first hole and off the left of the second hole. My line was pretty bad, but went through the two huge holes without getting worked. The rapid below was sweet, and there was an amazing slot canyon on the side of the canyon we were paddling through. I don´t know how many people have ever seen this canyon, but it couldn´t be much more than 100. Truley amazing spiritual place.

We found a perfect camp of black sand right below the canyon at 4:15. We had a celebration dinner of pasta with mussels, garlic and soup. Perfect way to end an incredible day of whitewater.
The final canyon on Paucartambo:

11/3 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 2

Day two began early on the river at 8:15. Right below the giant boulder portage was a narrow slot no more than 3 feet wide, and then right into a Class V rapid we called 'Wakeup!' The rapid drops quickly down the left side around a tall pillar rock, and then into a series of other boulders. Scout left. Ben got worked a bit but it got us all fired up about the day to come!

Before exiting Orange Canyon, we ran a huge rapid in a tight gorge where a boulder splits the river. The line was down the left side, right was gnarly.

At 9:00 we passed under the cement Puente Sahvey (car bridge that looks like its about to fall into the river), signaling the exit of the Orange Canyon. Below the canyon, the river valley opened up a bit with some crystal clear tributaries and open Class III-IV boulder gardens. At 10:00 we reached a significant horizon line of boulders with multiple slots and sieved out channels. There is a huge boulder on the right signaling the rapid, but it is best to scout on the left. Scott and Andy ran the third slot from the right, Scott got worked pretty hard in a hole before dropping back into the main flow. Ben, Todd and I opted for a sweet rock slide sneak on the left:

The main flow below the channel Scott and Andy ran:
15 minutes below there was a marginal portage. Gian Marco had told us about a 20 foot seal launch into a pool below a riverwide ledge, and this spot matched the description. It probably would have gone, but we all took the seal launch on the right. The portage ledge:
Below the seal lauch the canyon got really spectacular, like something out of a Hollywood Set. There were steep limestone canyon walls with vines all the way to the river, thick jungle folliage, and a new diversity of plants and birds. The river kept picking up more volume from a bunch of clear, jungle streams entering the milky brown Paucartambo: We stopped for lunch from 12:15-1:15 and ran a great narrow slot on the far right after lunch. This slot couldn´t have been more than 6 inches wider than my boat. The character of the river was beginning to change from manky, creeky to normal river flows with more hydraulics and waves.

Around 2:00 we reached a great pair of rapids. 'Go left and flip' went right up on a huge boulder in the center and then kicked back hard left. Right below that was a huge pushy hole on the right, but it all went well. We were feeling really good about our progress down the canyon, and enjoying every minute of it. Todd loving it:
At 2:45 we passed under a local bridge (of sticks and rope) that had an awesome rapid below it. Ben mystery moved into the hole and the rest of us just held on for the ride:

We camped at 3:15 on a great beach on the right side, below a campesino's house. We didn´t see them, but they didn´t seem to mine we were camping on the black sand. That night we were treated to an incredible display of fireflys and jungle sounds.


We slept easy knowing we had a big day ahead, but that we were making great progress into the canyon. We also discovered that the elbow noodles with the bacon and chicken soup stock make for a mean Bacon Chicken Noodle Soup.

Day two flow guesses (start/end):

J: 1300 1725
B: 1175 1800
A: 1200 1500
S: 1325 1680
T: 1190 1680

11/2 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 1

Day 1 on the river began with an early breakfast and packing. There was also quite a bit of local interest in what we were doing, as many of the people of Challabamba had never seen kayaks before. There were a few kids hanging out, watching us back, one of whom had an oldschool Patagonia jacket. Where do they get this stuff?!

We put on at 8am, which continued more or less as a trend through our trip. We paddled about 30 minutes where we passed under a big orange car bridge. This was probably the putin we were aiming for, but couldn´t find in the dark. About 1:30 into the river we went under a brown and white bridge that had a sort of gauge under it. The river was at 26-27cm, whatever that is. We did a daily flow guess at the start and end of each day to monitor the level. On the Paucartambo it is especially important because upstream rains can make the level in the canyon unrunable. Day one guesses (start/end):

J: 750 1320
B: 800 1200
A: 800 1000
S: 650 1375
T: 700 1200

Around 2:15 min into the day we got out of the initial flatwater, and began some manky class III-IV rapids:
We passed a small village where the entire town came down to the river to see us. Everywhere we went there was quite a bit of local interest in our travels. We came through the first real gorge in the river, the entrance to the Orange Canyon:



We got to the first big rapids at 12:15, right in time for lunch. We ran the first Class V at 1:00 after lunch of pan and avo. This section of Orange Canyon was steep and tight, with big moves and some huge features. The first big rapid has a huge rock in the middle and you need to enter left, then move right of the rock, then back behind it, then back left again. Todd and I totally botched this and ran the far right channel backwards after nearly pinning on the same rock in the far right channel. Baker styling the first:

Next up was a huge landslide rapid coming from the right wall. The left side had a small sneak and then dropping down into the middle down below the landslide. This part of Orange Canyon was dramatic, with shear walls and powerful hydraulics.

We ran down through the canyon at a strong pace till 2:15 when we got to a riverwide ledge/ hole dropping about 7 feet. Andy and I probed the middle with good results. 15 minutes further downstream we got to the first portage, a small one where a house sized boulder on the left bank signals the entrance to the rapid. The lip of the drop on the right looks tempting, but drops 15 feet into sieved out boulders. Carry on left. Right below the first portage is one of the steepest rapids in the Orange Canyon. The rapid is scoutable and portageable on the left with four distinct parts. The entrance is gnarly with a huge hole on the left and small slot drop on the right. The next move is the crux, a 20 foot pool leading into the right cliff wall. The hole and hydraulic next to the cliff is huge. If you drive right to left at the rock on the left corner of the hole, there is a sweet boof into the pool below:


The next move is tricky, sliding over a rock slab center or going left around the slab through some tight slots. The final part of the rapid was three consecutive moves left through some big slots with sticky holes. The second one is tricky, and endered a few of us. Andy, Baker and I ran this serries with good lines. The second move, although intimidating was amazing, flying off the lefty rock below the hole. Sweet move.

Below the big rapid were some other Class IV+ rapids including a sneak line left where there are a bunch of boulders and logs choking the center channel. We ran down until 4:00, camping next to a margianlly runable Class V rapid where the entire river goes under a HUGE riverwide boulder. It was an insane rapid. We all portaged it and were glad to find a sweet small camp amongst the boulders beside it. Deep in Orange Canyon we made our first camp:

Just out of the picture is a riverwide boulder that the entire rapid goes under.

11/1 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 0

We took an overnight bus from Arequipa to Cuzco. Andy, Todd and I decided it would be advantageous to split the kayaks amongst the bus companies. In the end it cost an extra S/.30 which is about $10 per kayak. Bummer.

We arrived in Cuzco at 5:30am to fog and cool weather, much like the PNW, only at a litterally breathtaking 11,000ft. It was a great change of pace from the dry, desert-like Arequipa and canyonlands. We had a fantastic breakfast at Jack's on Emily's recomendation. AMAZING FOOD. We met Ben and Scott in the Plaza de Armas and decided how to proceed with our attack on the Rio Paucartambo.

Ben and Baker were totally hagared from the night before (Halloween) but they had managed to do a stellar job shopping for the trip the day before the party. They visited every supermarket in Cuzco and managed to salvage for our 5 people for up to 8 days:

Desayuno: 4 bags of special energy mix including granola, quaker oats, rasins, quinoa, puffed stuff, instant milk

Almuerzo: Bread & avo for first 2 days, 48 tortillas & manjar blanco, strawberry jam for other 6 days

Cena: 5kg pasta, 1kg pasta elbows (for variety), 8 soup mixes, 1pk bacon soup cubes, 2 garlic heads, 3 cans mussels, 6 pasta sauces dry

Other: 1lb Special Peruvian Dark Chocolate (Gringo edition), 2 candy bars/person/day, 2 liters of white gas

Getting ahold of all of these things in Cuzco was actually quite an acomplishment. Shopping in Peru is quite different than back home, and getting things (especially tortillas and gas) here is really tough.

We split around 9am to get a few things done and figure out logistics for the trip. We needed a ride to Paucartombo, so Andy and I rolled to Piero's place to figure out where we needed to go. Piero is Gian Marco's brother who runs an adventure company in Cuzco (www.terraexplorerperu.com). He gave us tons of useful beta, and sent us on our way to see when the busses were running. Sadly, it was a national holiday and all the busses were full, then not running the next day, then running again on Saturday.

It was a mess, but in the end we hired a private transport to Paucartombo. We worked $110 for 5 of us and our gear with Luis, who hated us once our kayaks began littering the top of his nice van. Then he really hated us when we put on two more at Ben's hostal. Then he really hated us when they fell off the rack halfway through town. We were on our way.

We went about 3.5 hours to the town of Paucartombo, but Pierro had suggested that we go to Challabamba, the further downstream put-in to avoid about 30km of flatwater. We found the Puente at Challabamba, but it was only 14km from Paucartombo. We ended up paddling the rest of the flatwater the next morning. Once we had made camp alongside the river, Andy, Todd and I went up to town to scope the scene and look for some dinner. The whole place was closed down around 7pm, but we still managed to make friends with the local kids. Especially in the smaller villages, the kids have often never seen photos of themselves, so they love to get in on them and frequently ask if we have cameras. I´m burried in there, somewhere...

Rio Paucartambo Wrapup

The Rio Paucartambo is a real gem of a river, and it has only been run in completion a handful of times. Andy Round, Todd Collins, Scott Baker, Ben West, and I were fortunate enough to complete a full decent from 11/2-11/6, logging one of the fastest decents known to date. The river requires huge versatility, starting high in the mountains with an estimted 750cfs, ending 250km later at the confluence with the Urubamba River, at nearly 5000cfs. The rapids are in the hundreds with many Class IV-V and a few mandatory portages. We completed the canyon section of the river in 3 days, ending our third day camping below the final canyon. The last two days are more than 120km of bigwater jungle boating with one steep secton and a lot of Class III-IV and a lot of flatwater. The Paucartombo is amazing.

Deep in the canyon we often found ourselves dumbstruck at the beauty of the place with its huge orange boulders in Orange Canyon, and Indiana Jones-like limestone cliffs and traces of the Inca Civilizations that have inhabited the canyon for thousands of years.

Our team was excellent, and that contributed hugely to the success of our mission. As a group we have a ton of river experience in diverse areas. Andy is the main man, leading the trip, probing everything, dropping into stuff that left us wondering, 'Did he really just drop that?' His lines were almost always good, and if they weren´t he pointed us in the right direction. Todd has tons of experience kayaking all over the world as well, including the US, Costa Rica and lots in Ecuador. Ben is from Colorado and knows how to run the mank, which was great for the first day or two before the volume kicked up. He was also a great tent partner when it started to drizzle each night around 2am. Baker has fired up all sorts of stuff from Ecuador to BC, and all over the US. He and Andy knew each other from Ecuador, I know Baker through Ben, and Ben, Todd, Andy and I work together at Wet Planet 7 months a year. We had a very strong team with no reservations.

Our trip was graced with both excellent weather and water levels. The levels were a bit low, but that made it posibble to boat scout a lot more and keep the group moving. The group of 5 was a good size to have, both for division of food, group gear, and stuff, but also to break into teams of 2 and 3, as well as running down rapids together. It was pretty ideal. We didn´t get any rain while we were in the canyon, and the water level we marked each night seemed to drop a bit by each morning. We had a bit of rain in the jungle section of the canyon, but not enough to force a hike out or portage of rapids. November is the edge of rainy season here, so we were hoping for no rain, and we got very lucky. Being in the canyon with heavy rain would be terrifying, as the numerous Class IV rapids accelerated into one giant Class V mele.

We moved through the canyon quickly as a result of fast motivation in the AM (on the river 8:30 or earlier every day), as well as our teamwork scouting and probing rapids. Although Andy did most of the probing, we were all waiting in the next eddy to drop as soon as he signaled clear. It was a smooth dance by day 3. We were well prepared with decent beta, positive attitude and provisions to spend 8 days out. We only eneded up spending 5 days on the river, but it is easy to see how it could take 7-9 days if you swam, it rained, injuries, hike outs, or any sort of mishap. We also are a lot of chocolate. That helps.