days on the river

Blogging continues...

2009-03-23T19:00:00.001-07:00

I'll be keeping all of my blogging at: http://www.daysontheriver.com.

I finally got the site all updated with WordPress, so I'm back up and ready to go. Check it out there. Cheers-

JHB

Salto Nilahue, Region X, Patagonia, Chile

2008-03-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

Salto Nilahue was the last stop on the "Epic Patagonia Kayak Roadtrip." After 3 weeks paddling the Futa, Baker and other big rivers, the boys were fired up to run a big drop. In between Puerto Montt (where the ferry dropped us) and Temuco (where we needed to return the rental truck) lies the Salto Nilahue, the perfect end to a perfect trip.

A year and a half ago this waterfall was first run by LJ Groth and Trip Jennings as a straight 60+ foot drop. Shortly after their run the drop collapsed and has been constantly changing since. The new version was first run at the beginning of this season by Ian Garcia, Cris Korbulic and Rodrigo Tuschner. Since their new first its only been fired up by a few other crews. Tom, Phil and I ran the huge falls on Feb 23rd, 2008. Tom ran three times... it was THAT good. The first 30-35 feet are a near vertical ramp which terminates in a 30-35 foot freefall.

Phil Caravick down the middle.

Tom's first run, a little off.

Tom's second, nailed it.

Jonathan about to freefall.

The drop was the largest I've ever paddled and had a softer landing than expected. The spot is very photogenic and not too hard to get to. If you go to Rio Bueno, Chile and head east 50km to Lago Ranco, the road turns to dirt 1km past the town of Lago Ranco. Follow the road 22km and you'll see signs for the falls. We paid 800 pesos ($1.75) for access and picnic area.

Rio Baker, Region XI, Patagonia, Chile

2008-02-18T05:43:00.001-08:00

The Rio Baker is one of the classic big water runs. With flows ranging from 20-40,000cfs, the holes, waves, seams, boils and features of this behemouth dwarf anything I have ever paddled. We guestimated a flow of 32,000cfs for our runs, although it was really hard to tell.

We arrived at the Baker after a shorter than expected 13 hour drive from Futaleufu. Our team of Tom McLay, Ben Bedingham, Phil Carrivick and myself setup camp in Puerto Bertrand (at the birth of the river) and then headed down the road to scout out the first canyon. The scouting missing revealed 4 rapids in the canyon which we anticipated running the next day.

Jonathan scouting the second rapid.

Above the first Canyon is Salto Nef, a riverwide waterfall cascading 30 feet over two tiers and terminating in 'The Pit of Death'. There was a good sneak on the far left side which we ran.

Tom running the sneak at Salto Nef

After the Salto Nef, the first canyon fires off three rapids back to back. The first is a big move through the middle right to avoid the monster hole on the left. The tounge on this rapid must be 20 feet deep as you plunge into the cascade.

The second rapid follows closely after the runout of the first, with a left entrance, cutting behind 'the dragons back' behind a huge lateral to the right to dodge another huge feature. Then making it back into the middle to run down the center wave/hole train to the end.

Ben and Phil in the bottom of the 2nd rapid.

The third rapid is the most consequential, with most of the flow crashing into the right wall at the bottom. The move cuts accross from right to left. At the bottom of the first trough is a small rib that you fly past as you cut left. This single tounge is the largest I have ever seen. Standing at least 20 feet tall, you can´t see anything in the rapid once you´ve dropped down it, and the stoke of cruising up the wave face is unmatched.

Ben dropping into the tounge on the 3rd rapid

There is a 2km break in the action before the 4th and final rapid in the first canyon.

The second canyon takes a mere 15 minutes to paddle, and has no real 'rapids'. The whole canyon is full of whirl pools and constrictions. In some ways, this is more nerve racking than the first canyon, as house-sized whirl pools open up under you at any time for no real reason. Its hard to see them coming and they suck you down further than you´d like to think. At one point, I got pulled under for5 seconds in a Pyranha G3 275, a huge boat to be logging downtime.

The second canyon ends at the orange arch bridge. Below the bridge is a great playwave/ hole with eddy service.

The third canyon is the location of the proposed site of a hydro project courtesy of Endesa, a Spanish company set on ruining Patagonia with a network of dams and powerlines headed North. Because of the likelyhood of this section of river being lost forever, paddling this section of the Baker was a main goal of our Baker Mission. The third canyon proved stunning and full of great whitewater.

The third canyon has 6 distinct rapids. The first is a massive channel full of boils and unpredictable features that come out of nowhere. Scout right.

The second rapid is a portage (at least for most). The entire Baker drops through a mess of a channel, maybe 20 feet wide, creating unfathomably big holes/whirls/seams/death... Portage left over the hill.

The third rapid is the biggest in the third canyon. The huge V shaped hole/wave caught Tom on the first run, ending in a 20 second ride/ rag-dolling in one of the largest features on the river.

The fourth rapid goes from the right, then cutting back left towards the bottom. The waves are super erradic, and you have to cut through the middle of the mess.

The fifth rapid is unscoutable and unportageable. A giant pointy rock on the right signals its approach. There is a huge hole on the left, so center to center right is best here.

Tom and Ben above the 5th rapid, next to the pointy crag.

The sixth rapid is fairly straightforward, dropping down through a few big waves and holes, cutting left to right.

The Rio Baker is a classic trip. Between its remote setting along the Carratera Austral (Southern Highway) and the huge scale of the rapids and river, it will set the bar for all bigwater trips I do from here out. A strong team is a must on the Baker as a blown skirt or swim on the river isn´t really an option. Most of the rapids are scoutable and portageable, although portaging in the first canyon would basically be a hike-out to the road. For those boater who can catch the third canyon of the baker before it is lost to the dam, get down there. For info about the damming of Chilean Patagonia, check out: http://www.patagoniasinrepresas.cl/final/

Rio Futaleufu - The Rundown

2008-01-25T11:34:00.001-08:00

The last week on the Rio Futaleufu has been awesome. I've been able
to paddle some incredible rapids, surf huge waves, get worked in some
big holes, and not swam (yet). The backdrop for the Futaleufu is
amazing with rugged mountains, lush green forest, and some glaciated
peaks in the distance. I've been staying with Aaron and Sarah along
the Rio Azul and they have been gracious hosts at their riverside camp
(http://www.regionxrivers.com/). The days have looked like:

1/19 - Rio Espolon (slept at Treehouse)
20 - Bridge to Bridge Section with Liz (slept at Treehouse)
21 - Hitched ride to Region X at Rio Azul
22 - Rio Azul to Terminator to Bridge to Bridge
23 - Inferno Canyon to Rio Azul
24 - Rio Azul to Terminator to Bridge to Bridge
25 - day of rest
26 - Bridge to Bridge
27 - Rio Azul to Bridge to Bridge
27 - Rio Azul
28 - Rio Azul to McCall
29 - Inferno Canyon to Rio Azul

Some of the highlights include:

1) Bridge to Bridge Section: The 'B to B' section of the Futa is the
commercial day trip for the raft companies. It is a quick 10km of big
water class III-IV. There are some epic playwaves like Aquarium,
Pistola, and Rodeo Hole, with some huge rapids Mundaca, Entrada,
Tobogan, and others. Ran this a bunch and its always a good time.

2) Inferno Canyon: The Inferno is the uppermost section of the Futa.
It starts on the Rio Espolon, meets the Futa, and then drops into the
Canyon. There are five big rapids through here, and they are BIG.
Entrada, Wall Shot, Wall Shot II, Dynamite, and Exit all have narrow
lines, ass kickingly big holes and big whirlpools and boils.

Entrance rapids
Dynamite, line is down the middle

Exit Rapid, the last of Inferno Canyon. At least 50 feet above the river.

3) The Throne Room: The Throne is the biggest rapid on the Futa.
The whole mess looks like a giant white rollercoaster that crashes
down onto a huge rock on the right side. I dropped in on the right,
but started to cut left too early, accidentally dropping into the big
hole in the middle. I went super deep, resurfaced rolling up into the
pillow on the rock at the bottom, got surfed half upright, half
upsidedown across the river and rolled up just in time to paddle hard
and go under the final hole. It was a rush.

4) Espolon Pools, The Espolon flows right next to the town of Futa, and has some great swimming holes as well as local play spots. Its also totally beautiful. I spent my first afternoon in Futa here borrowing kayaks from the locals and hanging out with my Argentine friends Laura and Sonia. So sweet.

5) Zeta: This is a seldom run rapid on the Futa. Most people portage because the risks outweigh the reward of running it. None the less, its an amazing rapid just to look at, and the bubble pool below framed by the huge boulders and blue skies can´t be beat.

The Futa is a magic place and I can´t wait to stop through here again
my next time South. Logistics are hard, but the boating is amazing.

Hitchhiking towards real disaster on Ruta 40

2008-01-16T09:18:00.001-08:00

Wow, where to start... the last few days have been a very intense experience.

After the last hitch hiking debacle getting caught out in Rio Gallegos, Nadia and I hopped a bus to El Calafate. Calafate was a cool but very touristy kinda place, reminiscent of Hood River in the summer. There are lots of good outdoor activities in the area, and its the main hop off city for the Glaciers National Park. The main street is lined with outdoor gear shops, cafes, restaurants, bars and tourist agencies. The locals say the place is very relaxed in the winter, when all the tourists have left and it returns to just being a quiet little town (very similar to HR!). There is also an endless amount of good ice cream and bakeries, making it a dangerous place to stay for too long.

From El Calafate we did a day trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier, the most popular of the local activities. What makes the glacier so famous is that you can stand from a viewing platform and watch the ice tumble into the lake. We saw a couple of big chunks shear which was sweet and did a boat ride in front of the glacier to get a different perspective.

After the glacier we got a bus to El Chalten, the small community that has developed around tourism around the northern part of The Glaciers Park and Mt. Fitz Roy. From the windy town, you can see Cerro Torre, an inspiring Granite Peak that towers 2000m+ over the valley. You can also see Mt. Fitz Roy, equally inspiring (if you can see it!). We arrived and stayed 3 days in the campground, with endless amounts of wind, bit of rain and lots of cold. The irregular winds were collecting clouds up around the peaks, so we never actually got to see Fitz Roy, a bit of a disappointment. We did a hike around the park, circumnavigating the area below the two peaks and the valley in between. The scenery was spectacular, with occasional views of the Torres.

From El Chalten we wanted to go to the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway), Ruta 7, in Chile, which begins in Villa O'Higgins. The only way to get there is from a water taxi that goes only on Saturday if there isn´t wind, which there always is. Apparently it goes less than once a month. We missed the boat, so we decided to try to head up Ruta 40 (the inland Argentine Highway), made famous by Che Guavera's Motorcycle Diaries, much of which was traveled on this desolate, baren, dry, dirt road in the middle of the pampa (high desert). Our plan was to travel 600km up Ruta 40 to Los Antiguos, cross the border there into Chile, and follow Ruta 7 up through Chile, hiking in San Lorenzo Mastif, Cerro Castillo, Coihayqui, Futaleufu and other spots along the way. The next bus wasn´t for 2 days, so we decided it would be better to try our luck hitch hiking, rather than waiting the extra days for the bus.

We got lucky heading out of El Chalten and got picked up quickly by a nice couple, Merlin and Marina, who own Mountaineering Patagonia (http://mountaineeringpatagonia.com/). They gave us a ride about 100km to the 40, sharing stories, mate and grease cookies (kinda like croissant cookies, only better and more addictive). They dropped us at the intersection of Ruta 40 and 23 where they were headed south to El Calafate. We got lucky again and after 20 minutes got a ride to Tres Lagos, another 40km up the road. At the intersection of Tres Lagos and Ruta 40 were 4 other hitch hikers, so we decided to wait as the gas station to try our luck asking people there. This is the last gas station for more than 300km, so anyone heading north has to stop for fuel. Seemed like a good idea.

We met a really nice group of Argentines who were headed north to their farm on the side of Lake Cardiel. They took us to that intersection and left us around 5pm. The sun was high and hot. We waited patiently for our next ride. Sitting for a while, we realized there weren´t many cars on the 40. The longer we sat, the more we realized how few cars there were. A few passed but no one made any intention of stopping. Most sped by rapidly, as if they had somewhere more important to be, or couldn´t be bothered to slow down to even see us. It was discouraging.

The sun began to set and we were stuck with the realization that we would be sleeping out in the middle of the desert. This wasn´t totally unexpected, and we had food, water, camping gear, and were okay sleeping out. At the sun set into the horizon, it was impressive the solitude we experienced. We were at least 100km from anyone or anything, surrounded by flat plans of desert dust and sand. Vegetaion was sparse and the panoramic vistas reached far into the unknown. At one point as the sun was setting, I looked around to see the sun illuminating the rain clouds to our north, the bubbly storm head to our south, the sunset to the west, and pure blue skies to the east. It was like 4 different climates surrounding our desert camp. Pretty spectacular.

The cross where we had been left off had a cement culvert under the road, and we decided to sleep under the road, rather than braving the windswept plains around us. The breeze was stiff, strong enough to keep a tent rocking to its ebb and flow all night. Our culvert was lined up perfectly East-West, so we had a sunset view from the window. The road also lined up that way, giving way to some wild shadow photos as our dark spaces climbed up the road toward the horizon, getting taller as the sun got lower.

Around 11:45pm it got really dark, and the temperature dropped to a cooler, 40s farenheight. This wasn't so cold, but it was quite windy, so we blockaded the end of the culvert with out backpacks. The night wasn't so bad, but it was short, maybe 6 hours. The sun set in front of our tunnel and rose 6 hours later 80 or 90 degrees to the left of the tunnel, not making it all the way east for the sunrise.

We started hitching around 8am and we were optimistic. As 8am turned to 10am, we still hadn´t seen any cars. After 10am we saw a few, mostly full of people, not interested in the two people sitting in the middle of the desert so early in the morning. Some waved, some began to slow down and then sped up, but mostly, not a single car stopped fully.

Around noon we began to worry. The sun was getting high in the sky, powerful and hot. The wind also began to blow again, washing dust up into our eyes. We could see cars coming from miles away, spotting the small tail of dust blowing across the horizon. Heat waves distorted the horizon, dissapearing up into the long blue sky. We watched clouds rise, cross the 180 degree panorama and fade into the distance. We were there for a vey long time.

We were getting low on water, so we began waving arms holding a water bottle, hoping to stop someone who had a bit of water. Most of the cars didn´t understand or didn´t care. We could have been lying there on the side of the road dead and I don´t think they would have stopped.

Around 4pm a overland transit vehicle (like a big truck, only full of people with a few windows) turned at the lake and headed off into the distance. A few hours later we saw two bicycles heading down the road towards us. It was an interesting encounter. They couldn´t believe we were there, and the could have been a mirage. They were from the overland tour and had gotten stuck in the sand at the lake. They were riding the 40km to a small farm on the other side of the lake to get a truck to help them out. We explained our situation and they said they would pick us up if they got out that night; not likely. So we waited.

It was difficult waiting, not sure if you could expect anyone or no one. At what time do you call it a night and go to sleep when you NEED a ride. We waited till darkness, around midnight and were about to call it a night and hunker down in the culvert for another windy, desert night. As we were discussing our options, we saw lights coming down the road from the lake. It was the overland truck, unstuck and headed our way.

They took us all the way back to El Calafate, where we began our trip a week earlier. It was a great relief to be back into civilization with food, water and shelter. Out of the desert. Although our situation didn´t become serious, it could have, easily. We were well prepared with food, water, shelter, but in a harsh and unpredictable climate, these kind of provisions only mean so much. It was disheartening to see all the cars passing, as if no one cared if we were there or not. We became part of the landscape, another things to drive past without a second glance. Not really people.

Now that I´ve put my time in on Ruta 40, I think I´m going to bus back up towards Futa and catch a few weeks of boating before heading further north towards Mendoza, Cordoba, and Buenos Aires.

Hitching towards disaster in Rio Gallegos...

2008-01-10T19:14:00.000-08:00

It turns out that the next great adventure was right around the corner...

Once we got off the Sierra Valdivieso we needed to get back to Ushuaia (13km down Ruta 3). We tried to hitch but there wasn´t much traffic at 9am. So we started to walk down the highway, waiting for a ride to pick us up. About a km down the road we stopped a colectivo that gave us a ride back to our hostal for US$3 each. We got some stuff together, repacked our bags, picked up our stuff from the Refugio del Mochillero (thanks to Sebastian, Fernando and crew) and headed out to hitch to Rio Grande or as far as we could make it.

We walked a few blocks towards the edge of town where we tried to get a ride. After 15 minutes a van picked us up and took us to the real edge of town. Here, at the sign claiming, 'Welcome to the Southernmost City in the World!' we awaited the next ride. In short time we got picked up by Ricardo, an amiable truck driver carrying air conditioning units from Korea that had arrived at the port. He was taking them to Rio Grande, some 200km from Ushuaia. He took us all the way there, which was great. In between his sentiments about the government, Che Guavera, and crossing himself every time we passed a cross or place where he knew a trucked who had died there in an accident, he was a really smooth ride for us.

He brought us to the warehouse laden edge of Rio Grande where we began to walk towards town. A few minutes later a taxi stopped to solicit his services, and we asked to be taken to the other side of town. For US$6 he took us all the way to the far side of Rio Grande, next to the beach. He said all the trafic would be passing through headed to San Sebastian, the border with Chile where we would need to cross to get off of Tierra del Fuego and back onto the continent.

We waited a while, ate sandwiches, waited some more, and finally got picked up by a very friendly, larger man with dark skin and no teeth named Oscar. Oscar was headed to northern Argentina, maybe 26 hours north of where we were headed. His mother had passed away that morning and he was rushing home for the funeral. Normally people fly, but since it is imposibble to get a flight out of Ushuaia (which is why we were hitching in the first place!), he was driving home for the funeral. He agreed to take us to Rio Gallegos, roughly 500km from Ushuaia, which is way further than we expected to get that day! We were smooth sailing all the way to the mainland.

Oscar was a very fast driver, rarely letting the speedometer drop below 140kph. This was good becuase we got there fast, but didn´t get a chance to relax very much. To get to Rio Gallegos from Ushuaia, you need to cross the border into Chile (exit Argentina, enter Chile), cross Punta Delgada across the Straight of Magellan, cross the border into Argentina again (exit Chile, enter Argentina) and drive another 150km to Rio Gallegos. Oscar helped with all of this and we made it to RG around 11:30pm. We were feeling good, even though he dropped us off outside of town.

We walked into town, maybe 2km, which was quite an effort considering we were carrying everything we owned. We started asking at each hotel we saw if we could stay, but suprisingly they were all full. We figured there would be more downtown, so we kept walking and kept asking, to no avail.

When we got downtown, we were worked. IT was close to 12:30am, we had been hiking at 6:30am, made it back to Ushuaia and then to Rio Gallegos and all we wanted to do was rest a bit. Every place we went to was sorry, and sent us to the next place. After 10 hotels, we had had enough, and decided to convince the hotel people to let us sleep wherever we could. The conversation went like this:

Jonathan: Estas completo, verdad? (You´re full, right?)
Hotel: Sì. (Yes)
J: Estamos muy consados y caminamos todo el dia, tienes algun lugar donde puedimos descansar? El sofà? (We're really tired and just walked all day. Don´t you have any place where we can rest, maybe that sofa? )
H: No. (No.)
J: Tenemos carpa, bolsa a dormir, todo! Por favor? El jardin es tan bonito? (We have a tent, sleeping bags, everything! Please? The garden looks nice?)
H: No. (No. )
J: Sabe donde podimos preguntar? (Do you know where we can ask?)
H: La comissaria. (The police station)
J: Gracias por nada. (Thanks, ass.)

So that was about it until 3am when we gave up. We caught a taxi to the bus station where we were sure we could sleep, at least lay down for free. As soon as we rolled up to the bus station, it all made sense! The entire bus station was FULL (really, full) of people, sleeping on the benches, floors, corners, phone booths, the whole place. Every backpacker in the city was there. I´ve never been so relieved to sleep on the floor of a bus terminal. And so we rested.

1/6-1/19 - Sierra Valdivieso Circuit, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

2008-01-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

The reflection of Monte Olivia on Lago Argo Iris (Rainbow Lake)

1/6 - Ruta National 3 to Refugio Bonete to Salto del Azul, 18.5km, 10 hours

We began this circuit with a few interesting circumstances. I wanted to go and do the trek, but didn´t want to do it alone. I met two Israelis (Oshri and Pleiah) who also wanted to do the trek, but couldn´t leave until Sunday because of Shabbat. Additionally, the Israelis had bought a bus ticket to leave Ushuaia on Wed, making the normally 4 day trek into a forced 3 days. The book said this would be possible, mostly because the first day is really only 4.5km to the Refugio, a short day at the least. I ended up doing all the shopping because they couldn´t shop on Shabbat, which was fine, but made things a bit difficult, making decisions for the group without their input. We had a small planning session, but Israelis don´t really plan the way American´s do, and when the plan isn´t to have a real plan, that doesn´t work well for me. So I made a plan according to my plans.

The night before leaving I got an email from a French-Canadian girl staying at the same hostel who had seen my posting about people to do the trek. We met and decided she should forgo the Tierra del Fuego National Park for this trek; a wise decision on her part as the trek was much more impressive than the park. I was also glad to have someone else to talk with in English (although French is her first language) and someone with North American sensibilities. It was a bit of a relief to have a fourth.

The group of four met at 10:30 and got a ride with a colectivo to 17km out of Ushuaia at the trailhead. From the beginning, I though we were starting late (especially for a day where we had two mountain passes!) but the group was sure we could make good time and get over the passes. The track was easy to find, but after 30 minutes, it was obvious that the 'trail' was disintegrating into low alpine forrest without markers. We had a topo (1:50,000) and compass, so we figured we could navigate our way out of anything.

We wandered mostly lost through the lower forest for close to 3 hours to cover the first 4.5km of the track. We walked up, down, north, south, did circles, were mostly lost. Oshri was convinced that we could find the Refugio and that was very important so we could know the exact spot we were at on the map. Finding the small cabin was much like finding a needle in a haystack blindfolded, and we never did find it. Eventually we gave up on it in favor of heading into the valley towards the first pass.

Up the valley we saw it turn left and we followed the small stream up the valley. The directions said to follow the valley, but there was a large hill in our way, and we weren´t sure if it was the valley in front of or behind the big hill. This was nerve racking and we consulted the topo every five minutes or so to try to ascertain our exact locale. This was Patagonia navigation hell, with poorly contoured maps, vague directions, and pressing night time. Fortunately the sun doesn´t set in southern Patagonia until 11pm, but I wasn´t really interested in pushing these limits. We chose to go in front of the hill, and in the end the hill ended and we were in the same valley as the other lead to. Go figure.

At this juncture, we were surrounded on all sides by stellar, glacier cut valleys and steep granite walls. In front of us, the first pass, Paso Beban Este (830m) appeared, a small afterthought of the dramatic mountains towering thousands of feet up.

We got to the top of the first pass, a steep climb up shale and snowfields. There was totally amazing geology with big pieces of shale, granite, lots of quartz and rose quartz, and a very waxy green mineral.

Then we crossed a high scree field across a caldera to reach Paso Beban Oeste (850m), a windy pass looking down the valley towards the Rio Torito Valley and other high peaks. We descended rapidly, starting our decent around 7pm. We passed some beaver dams along the way, creating cascades and pools as we headed down into the valley. Around 8:30 we decided to camp, about 30 minutes short of our destination at Salto Azul.

1/7 - 30 minutes above Salto del Azul to Valley Carbajal, 16km, 8 hours

We broke camp late, around 11:30, another late start. It is really difficult to get the momentum in the morning when its cold, and has been raining a lot. Everyone was cold and getting the group going took some doing. Once we got hiking, we had to follow the river down for 30 minutes to Salto del Azul, then along river for another 1.25km before heading back up the valley towards the Laguna Azul and the next pass. We started to climb a bit early and got really lost. I didn´t think we had gone far enough down the valley to be climbing and the map looked like we were still short of the trail. After climbing for an hour through very thick brush, trees and streams, we got back to the river. We headed downstream in search of the supposed trail, but were unable to find it. Frustrated we headed back up the valley towards the waterfall, completing a big circle of maybe 4-5km. This loop brought us back to where we started around 1:30pm. From here we decided to climb up the valley again, this time heading due south up the steep valley walls. We finally got high enough to orient ourselves in the valley around 2:30pm, but the fog and clouds were so dense, that it was very difficult, if not impossible to navigate.

We continued south and up the valley, resting frequently because of the inclination of the slope. in places, we were climbing 45-60 degree rock and dirt up the valley. We got glances of the surrounding mountains, but couldn´t figure out exactly where we were. Around 4:00pm I decided that we were going to go until 5pm, and if we were still feeling lost we would descend the 600m or so we had climbed from the river and go back to where we had camped the night before. It was a harsh reality, but we couldn´t be starting the crossing at 6pm with 4-5 hours of hiking to be done. I wasn´t willing to take that risk.

We were headed up in search of the Laguna Azul, which was very impossible to find. We came across some small ponds, but nothing that would warrant a Laguna. As we neared a high summit, I said we should go to the top of the ridge, thinking we might have missed the laguna and that this was the pass. We headed up, but at the ridge line, it was clear that we hadn´t found the pass. Regretfully, we began to head down towards the river valley, resigned to the fact that we weren´t going to finish the trek as planned. We stopped to take photos of the cloud-filled valley, joking that we were less than a few hundred meters from the Laguna and couldn´t see it, or that the small, pathetic looking boggy pools below were the Laguna Azul.

As we descended, the sun broke for a second, the clouds cleared, and as I looked north up the valley, I saw something blue. Very blue. It was the Laguna, less than 200m across the ridge. We had found it. We triumphantly traversed the scree slope, heading to the Laguna around 5pm, right at the cutoff time. From the laguna, we could see the pass and the sun was shining. We decided to go for it. Reaching the Paso Mariposa was a trip highlight. From the pass we had a high view of the surrounding mountains, the Laguna Azul and its smaller counterpart, the 4 lakes on the other side of the pass. It was magic.

We glisaded down the scree on the back side toward the Lago Capullo, more than 500m below. We reached an early camp aside the Lake around 7:30pm amongst some large boulders. About 30 minutes later we were treated to a rainbow over Lake Capullo as we made dinner. We stopped 2 hours short of our Camp in the Valley Carbajal as we were all totally worked from the day. I think we walked more than 20km with more than 1500m vertical. It was an exhausting day.

1/8 - 2 hours short of Valley Carbajal to Ruta 3, 16km, 12 hours

We left camp early this day and headed straight back up the valley wall toward the Paso Valdivieso. There was again some discrepancey about which direction we needed to head this morning, but it was pretty clear after close inspection of the Topo and compass. We needed to head south away from the Kami Lake, and from the ridge it was clear which way we needed to go around a large rocky mountain/ ridge. Around 9am we reached a high rib overlooking the 5 lakes below including Kami, the large lake that bisects Tierra del Fuego. Around 11am we crossed Pass Valdivieso and descended towards Lago Valdivieso. This was a steep decent, and 15 minutes down Nadia sprained her ankle, not a good way to start a huge day.

We reached the Valley Floor around noon, with roughly 7 hours of hiking left to finish the circuit out to Ruta 3 and back to Ushuaia. Again, the valley proved unwilling to let us out. As soon as we got to the Rio Olivia Valley, the trails went crazy. The entire valley has been taken over by the pesky North America Beaver, who has managed to flood every part of the valley, fall trees everywhere, and build knee deep pools that make everything that isn´t inundated with water, deep sticky muck. It was a mess. Nadia and I were feeling very worked and had the time to stay another night, so we stopped about 2 hours early while the 2 Israelis headed to Ruta 3 for their bus the next morning. I imagine they arrived in Ushuaia around 11pm.

1/9 - 2 hours short of Ruta 3, 5km

We camped at Lago Arco Iris and were treated with amazing pre-sunrise fog and reflection over the still morning. It was another trek highlight for me. Watching the steam rise over the lake and the cold, stillness that can only be found in the early minutes of the day was relaxing in the cold air.

The rest of the hike out was mellow. We saw a beaver slap its tail in the water as it crossed a pool. Then hiked the rest of the way out to Ruta 3 where we hitched back to Ushuaia and on to the next adventure...

Why I love Argentina, Day 1

2007-12-31T04:51:00.001-08:00

I just arrived in Ushuaia today, the southernmost city in the world! It is in the southern part of Tierra del Fuego along the Beagle Channel. This is also the first time I have been in Argentina thus far. As best I can tell, Argentina totally rocks, and I´m already feeling better about being here than I´ve felt in Chile in the past few weeks.

Tierra del Fuego is stunning. On the trip down from Punta Arenas, we crossed the Straight of Magellan, and then continued accross a desolate, gravel road through the Tierra. The first thing you notice is the sky, which spans endlessly as far as you can see in all directions. It is a rich blue, dotted with clouds like you might see from an airplane at 36,000ft. Then as we cruise the barren, windswept nothingness, we pass by some ponds, teaming with bright Pink Flamingos. Really. Thousands of them. They effortlessly run across the water, like ice skaters doing a well rehearsed performance. We make a rest stop in San Sebastian, 5km short of the border with Argentina. The bus stops for 30 minutes, but in the short time its easy to see why people call this 'the

As I get off the bus, the sun is shinning. A stiff breeze blows, but not too hard. In the distance, a grayish haze lurks. The wind picks up to a gusty 50-something MPH and the air turns cold. The Grey haze advances rapidly, like a swarm of bees disturber out of their hive. Within minutes, the rain begins to fall. It gets colder. Then the hail comes, hard and biting, clicking lightly on the plastic cover at the rest stop.

Just as fast as the hail starts, it eases off to a pounding rain, drops hitting hard and splattering the gravel; attaching more dirt to the already dusty Bus. The wind continues to usher the torment along, as if it has other things to do and can't afford a bit more time with us. And then it is gone. The flamingos fly by, a pink flutter signaling the passing of a nemesis.

The rest of the drive is scenic and beautiful, easing into the Tierra del Fuego Andes, the southernmost part of the andes that rise dramatically from the Beagle Channel. The mountains are dramatic and we´re graced with clear weather and great views of lakes, mountauns and sky.

Shortle after passing km 3000 on the Argentine Hwy 3, we round a corner to a spectacular double rainbow, as if signaling the entrance to Ushuaia. The rainbow streches from mountain to mountain, arching over the arid forrests that look like they belong at 10,000ft, even though we are at sea level. The windswept land and rugged mountains rise from the sea, streching into the blue sky, and then dropping in front of us into the Beagle Channel and behind Navarino Island. Boats dot the horizon of this stunning sea scape. Welcome to Ushuaia.

12/17-12/24 - Grand Circuito, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

2007-12-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

The Grand Paine Circuit in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile, is an 8 day, 124km trek through some of the most spectacular scenery in Southern Chile. The trek is one of the most popular in Chile, so it has been developed for tourism with hostals, accomodation and transportation within the park. I´d say the development is more complete than a place like Yosemite, although not designed to handle so many people. The play by play is below, but if you want some interesting tidbits without reading the whole thing:

-The actual Torres (Towers) weren't nearly as impressive as the Grey Glacier

-You can drink the water anywhere in the park without treatment (lakes, rivers, streams, glaciers, huts...), so you don´t really need to carry any

-There are places along the way to buy food, gas, and rent gear, so you don´t really need to bring any of that either...

-The weather in Patagonia in the middle of the summer is erratic and unpredictable. We saw rain, snow, sun, hail and knock-you-on-your-ass winds almost daily.

-Paying US$7 per person to pitch a tent is the norm

-Passing day trippers with daypacks is infuriating when you're carrying a 40lb pack with 8 days worth of gear and food

-There are some good first decents to be had if you´re willing to carry a kayak 10-20 miles
-Climbers on the Torres often spend 15-30 days on the wall; way more core than kayaking
-The Torres at sunrise cast a red glow for about 2 minutes if it is clear outside
-The Torres are particularly spectacular because they are granite spires capped with a dark layer of shale, a rare geologic formation

12/17 - Day 1, Puerto Natales to Laguna Amargo (bus), Laguna Amargo to Camp Seron, 20km (7km in bus)

The first day of the trek began early with a 7am bus to the park (US$18R/T). The three hour bus ride stops at the guard house, where you purchase a park pass (US$30) which allows unlimted stay in the park. From the entrance, you are still 7km from the Las Torres Hostal, so we opted to take the park shuttle (US$2) for the 7km gravel road to the trailhead. We had a bit of trouble finding the start of our trail, but the views of the Torres (towers) from afar is quite impressive.

At Las Torres, Day 1

Once we got to the trailhead (well indicated by two blue sticks that were falling over), we climbed gradually along the Paine River on a 4x4 track. The color of the river is glacial grey, a milky white haze that only comes directly from glaciers. After an hour of gradual climbing, we stopped for lunch, and then pushed on to the meadow. The meadow is a huge flat riverplain where we stopped to just lay around in the grass. The field was full of daisys, which make a nice click against the toe of your boots as you swish through them. About an hour later we reached Camp Seron, the first night's campsite.

The camp is nicely situated along the river in a big open pasture. Hardly a bargain at US$7 a person to pitch your own tent, the campsite had bathrooms and a small house with beds. We were some of the only people there to our suprise. However, we had been on the first bus into the park. By the time we went to sleep, there were at least 40 others camped with us. Throughout the trip I was suprised by the sheer number of people in the park.

It rained a lot, maybe all night long. One of my biggest concerns for the trip was rain and snow, so this was a good night to test out the tent. By morning, we were swimming. It was a good litmus test for how well the tent was going to work for the rest of the trip. Or at least we knew what to expect.

At Camp Seron, Day 1

12/18 - Day 2, Camp Seron to Refugio Lago Dickson, 18.5km

After a long night sleeping in the rain, we were relieved that it cleared a bit for the second day. It was mostly cloudy (as it usually is in Patagonia), but the rain was holding off. After packing up our wet gear, we headed out for Dickson Lake. We continued up the river valley, passing a small lake, and then continuing up to Lake Paine, the source of the Paine River. Heading up to the head of the lake was unbelieveably windy. Not just wind, but fierce, cold, through all your windproof layers chilling wind. From the lake we cruised up towards Lake Dickson, finally arriving later in the afternoon, maybe around 6pm. This wasn´t much of a problem as the sun doesn´t set until at least 10pm, and it doesn´t get dark at all until 9pm or so. Lake Dickson was nice, with glaciers coming down into the lake on the far side, and great views up the Hidden Valley. Anat and I river crossing between Seron and Dickson
Lake Dickson before sunset, Day 2

12/19 - Day 3, Refugio Lago Dickson to John Garner Pass Campsite,

This day was a shorter one then the others, but had some good vert. We began climbing up the Rio de Los Peros, a steep creek full of wood. I think there is potential here with nice gorges and a clean 25 footer, but it would require hauling a kayak 30 or so km... I don´t think it has been paddled before.

Anat and Arik heading towards John Garner on Rio de Los Perros, Day 3

Anat above Lago Dickson, Day 3

12/20 - Day 4, John Garner Pass Campsite to Campmento Paseo

The intense wind on John Garner Pass, Day 4

Looking over Glacier Grey after coming down the pass, Day 4

Glacier Grey, Day 4

Lago Peohe, Day 5

The girls at camp, Day 6

Heading towards Las Torres, Day 7

Bienvenidos a Patagonia

2007-12-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

''Patagonia (wikipedia): Patagonia is a geographic region containing the southernmost portion of South America. Mostly located in Argentina and partly in Chile, it comprises the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateaux and low plains to the east. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagon used by Magellan to describe the native people who his expedition thought to be giants.''

The trip to Patagonia is a long one. I got a bus from Osorno (just west of Pucon) to Punta Natales, the southernmost city in Chile. The ride left around noon and didn´t arrive until 6pm the next day. The trip passes from Chile into Argentina, and then crosses back over the border 20 hours later. As you head south, its like driving from Washington north towards Alaska. The trees change, the landscape flattens out, and you cruise for hours through high plains. The windswept high dessert makes you wonder how the flowers and trees cling to the arid ground amidst the torments that hammer all winter.

As you head further south, the days get noticeably shorter, changing from a 12 hour day around Peru to a nearly 20 hour day here in Patagonia. Its easy to loose track of time and dinner usually falls around 10 or 11pm, simply because its sunny until 10pm and light until 11pm. Its a stretch, but is quite enjoyable.

Tomorrow I head 113km north of Puerto Natales to begin the Paine Circuit. The trek is 8 days through the park. I´ll be traveling with 5 Israeli travelers whom I have met along the way: Arik, Danny, Adi, Dikla and Anat.

The interesting cultural experience of this section was this afternoon. There are many Israeli travelers who visit South America after their service, so there are tons of freedom happy, young, fit, extreme Israeli backpackers going around South America. Because most of them speak no spanish and some english, there are special tour agencies that have come up because they can speak hebrew. Since there are so many of these travelers, one agency offers a daily seminar on 'Everything you need to know to not kill yourself in the Torres del Paine Park.' Because I'm with the Israelis, I went to the seminar. Imagine 40 Israelis sitting in a room at the bottom of the world, all decked out in treking gear, ready to go adventure in the park while a Chilean guy rambles on in Hebrew about how the treks work, where the campsites are, what to expect, what to bring, ect... We´re at least 1,000 miles from the nearest real city in the middle of nowhere, desolate, windswept, plains. And there I was.

12/7 - Rio Nevados, Pucon, Chile

2007-12-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

The Rio Nevados outside of Pucon, Chile is a total classic. Between the quality whitewater, awesome scenery, and proximity to town, this ranks as one of the better runs we´ve bagged on the trip. The water was a little low this day, so we started about 1km from the putin at the beginning of the big slide. This is a heady place to start the run as you peel out of the first eddy, bump 30 feet down some shallow rocks, and then go off a 15 foot slide into a 150 foot slide. Big start.

The view from the Upper putin bridge

Baker at the top of the 15 foot lead in

Nick lining up the lead in. You can also boof the rock on the left with a bit more water.

Nick down the gut

Nick about 15 seconds later down on the big slide

5 seconds after that, maybe 200 feet downstream...

Ben at the bottom of the slide

Baker pluggin in the rapid below the slide

The '15 footer', more like 20.

The entrance to the 25ish, about as wide as your boat...

Ben running

Looking back up at the drop

Ledges below the big waterfall

Tight drops below the scary ferry

Ben boofing right in 'Boof right'

Nick below the left-right-left-right drop

The muddy slog up to the car

Kiwi Nick rocking the tunes home in the Suby.

A small taste of the goodness that can be had just 20 minutes from Pucon. Good stuff. Perfect for a few laps a day.

12/4 - Rio Trancura Alto, Pucon, Chile

2007-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Rio Trancura is the most popular comercial run outside of Pucon, Chile. Although the river is not particularly difficult, its proximity to Pucon and easy shuttle make it a popular run for the locals, and for commercial guests.

The river really only has 5 rapids and one portage. The rapids are all big water, pool-drop style. The first rapid is a huge horizon line after the tranquil first 1/4 mile. This can be run any which way, but has an easy tounge down the middle, or a tricky boulder dodge to the far left. The second rapid is the most difficult. The river splits around an island, and then drops significantly. The run is to the right of the island. The river then goes over/next to a huge boulder in the middle. You want to dodge right of the rock because behind it is a huge wave-hole that pushes into the right wall which is sieved out. Emma accidentally went into the sieved out part and swam through the sieve in her boat! Andy roped her from the rocks above, but it isn´t recomended. Stay left here.

The left channel in the second rapid re-enters below the rapid.

Looking back up at the second rapid, you can see the sieve on the left (river right)

The third rapid is a huge hole with a clean line down the left side. There are some big powerful waves and hydraulcs as you drop into the whiteness, but it is super clean. If you look back upstream from below this rapid, you can see the Pucon Volcano in the backdrop with the river. A beautiful spot.

Below this is the forth rapid (portage) followed by the fifth rapid. The portage is fairly obvious with a huge amount of gradient. You can boof the entrance drop to the left and then float down alongside the gnar before getting out to carry the main part of the drop. If you blow this boof, you would likely run the gnarly Class V+ portage rapid.

After the portage, you have one more big water Class IV+ rapid that is most easily run down the left side. You can takeout at the Trancura Rafting company on the right or at the bridge below.

Across the Andes...

2007-12-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

We've been hanging in Pucon, Chile for the past few days. There't tons of amazing boating and outfdoor stuff here. Paddled the upper Trancura River yesterday and the day before. May try to hit some other good stuff before the time is up.

We met up with a really amazing couple, Daia and Gregg. They've been walking for 17 months. Check the out at:

http://acrosstheandes.com/

That's all for now. On to the Futa, maybe?

JHB

The long road to Chile...

2007-12-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Since the last post I did in fact get healthier. I think the Cipro helped. Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail were amazing (photos up at http://picasaweb.google.com/blumjonathan/MachuPicchuAndTiticaca)

Now I´m headed to Chile... but it going to be a long haul. Here´s the deal (I think...): I left Cuzco this morning at 8:30am headed to Puno. The goal is to get to the Peru-Chile border at Tacna. There are lots of busses from Cuzco to Tacna that go through Arequipa, which is lame because of the timing:

CUZ-ARE: 11 hours
ARE-TAC: 10 hours

CUZ-PUN: 6 hours
PUN-TAC: 10 hours

So its 5 extra hours on a bus to go from Cuzco to Tacna the way all the bus companies want you to. So, I´m in Puno waiting for a bus to go to Tacna. Hopefully, this bus will drop me in Tacna early enough to exercise one of two options:

1) Get a direct Tacna to Santiago (33 hours, US$100)
2) Save some money by taking a collectivo (3 hours, US$5? to Arica), then catching a bus from Arica to Santiago (31 hours, US$40)

Then we´ll see where the road leads. With a little luck, Ben, Baker, and Andy (and maybe Liz, Hootie, Drew, and Emily) will still be in Pucon, where I hope to meet them. If not, its another 12 hours south to the Futaleufu. I can´t wait to be back in the kayak firing off some of the great stuff Chile has to offer. More to come...

In the meanwhile...

2007-11-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

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...

2007-11-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-08T13:51:00.001-08:00

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

2007-11-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-08T06:35:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T01:54:00.000-08:00

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.

Lost, Broken, and Stolen

2007-10-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

This will be a growing list of all lost, broken or stolen on the trip. This list will hopefully stay small, but should be an interesting history for the journey. So far:

Stolen: Visa Card and $660 in Miraflores, close to Lima. I noticed my ATM card had gone missing, so I went and checked my accounts and was missing $660. Thanks to the FDIC, its all coming back to me, and Visa sent me a new card in Peru.

Stolen: Black EMS Fleece, Deja Vu bar in Arequipa. I set this down for 5 minutes at our table, turned and it was gone. Real bummer.

Lost: Backup sunglasses on Rio Colca. I always carry an extra pair in my PFD. I set these down on the rocks at the second night camp and lost them in the flurry of the fireline to get gear to camp. I bought a new pair in Arequipa for 16 soles.

Broken: Pentax Optio WPi Camera on Rio Cotahuasi. My trusty old camera gave out after taking its 5000th picture. The viewing screen was already cracked, but this hit killed the lens, cracking it in pieces. Fortunatley, Christina sold me her W10 so the pictures will keep coming!

Lost: Six Six One Elbow pads on Rio Cotahuasi. In the unwrapping scene, I set them down on a rock because swimming with them is nearly impossibble. I was going to remember them, but didn´t. I´m borrowing Brian's till I get new ones... maybe in Chile?

Lost: Food, oar, oarlocks, oar sleaves on Rio Cotahuasi.

Broken: Oar and cooler on Rio Cotahuasi.

Lost: Nalgene Bottle, in taxi coming back from Paucartambo to hostal in Cuzco.

Lost: Petzel Zipka Headlamp, somewhere between Paucartambo-Urubamba Confluence and Cuzco. Bummer.

Lost/Broken/Stolen: Wairo, Gian Marco's dog, somewhere around Cotahuasi. We took the dog for the first dog decent of the Colca, then it stole a wheel of cheese and dissapeared in Cotahuasi. Not really sure if we lost the dog, the cheese broke the dog, or he was stolen.

10/30 - Rio Chili, Arequipa

2007-10-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

Andy, Ben, Christina, Todd and I got to run the Rio Chili into Arequipa yesterday. The river was mellow Class IV to III. Its a fun one because it goes into the center of the city, taking out at Puente Grau, in the center of town. Now we´re headed to Cuzco to begin on the Rio Paucartambo, the most classic of the multi-day Class V runs in Peru. Its 250kms through the mountains and down into the jungle of the Urubamba Valley. I can't wait. More to come, maybe around November 8th...

10/29- Camana to Arequipa, Rio Cotahuasi, Day 6

2007-10-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

We arrived at Camana around 1am, after our other bus broke down. We slept in the ghetoest place I´ve ever seen, paying $20 for the night for 14 people and all our stuff. In the morning Roberto and I hit the street looking to rent a Kombi Bus to get us back to Arequipa. In the end, luck, word of mouth, and Gian Marco scored us this puppy:

We got hooked up, finally. Now I´m back in Arequipa...

10/28- Rio Cotahuasi, Day 5

2007-10-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

The last day on the Cotahuasi was the 6 hour paddle out through the spike fields of the cameron fishermen. They fill the river with spikes to hold their nets, which made paddling the section interesting! Rafter's worst nightmere:

The takeout was in the middle of nowhere, but we were lucky to catch a ride to the nearby town of Icipi, the cameron capital of the world! The takeout:

Ben keepin it real in Icipi:

Andy in front of the town mascot:

Loading our POS bus that would break down in the middle of the night:

The drive out was heinous. 4 hours of spine jaring, brain sloshing dirt road in the noisiest, smelliest bus ever.... more to come later...

10/27- Rio Cotahuasi, Day 4

2007-10-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

We rafted Marpa in the AM, and Gian Marco hit his head swimming across the river. Then we had a great line up of rapids:

Meter canyon where we had to highside the rafts to get them through the narrow slot:

Centimeter Canyon where we had a nasty big rapid above a narrow constriction where we had to portage the rafts. Kayakers ran and it was a great rapid:
Christina in Orange Juice, named after a swim Gian Marco had here where he had all the orange juice in his kayak, and it all swam out. A few big holes with great boofs. Liz had an impressive line down the right on her riverboard. Christina nailed the boof:
High side for your life which looked undoable in a raft, but both totally styled it. Great rapid with two HUGE boulders. Start left, cut right, highside for your life!:
Last big rapid everyone portaged, and one raft flipped being lined down on the right side. Baker totally styled it. It was a complex 7 foot slide with narrow margin of error:

We also got some stellar views of Inca ruins and terraces on the hills:
Long day ending with confluence and GALES of wind.

Liz´s comentary: Drew ran Marpa at the beginning of the day. Styled it. For some reason, Gian Marco decided to jump into Marpa and swim the last drop.. and I guess he hit his head in it.
All the biggest rapids were on day 4. We had Meter Canyon, which was cool, then we had Centimeter canyon, which was one of the harder rapids. An S-turn move into the center drop with a giant wieve at the botton left and a tiny slot on the right with crazy boily water at the bottom. Had to roll off the wall at the bottom of that one. It was kinda gnarly. They lined the rafts.
We had another rapid called Orange Juice with 3 flakes at the top and a HUGE flake/ pourover tombstone at the bottom in the center. We all styled it, and they lined the rafts. There was another rapid called Highside for Your Life. I went super deep in the hole and when I came up, all I heard was Scott yelling " That girl´s crazy!" It was a fun one.
There was one huge one that most people walked and they lined the rafts through, and Drew´s raft flipped while lining it. Only Jonathan, Scott, and Andy ran it. It wasn´t very fun looking.

10/26- Rio Cotahuasi, Day 3

2007-10-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Day 3 on the Cotahuasi began stout. There was some steep read and run rapids until we got to Marpa, the said biggest rapid on the trip. We all got out and scouted it and it was longer and bigger than anything we had seen on the Cotahuasi:

The paddle raft went first and made it look easy, which was great cause we were all like, 'Sweet, so now Drew is going to style it like he does everything else.' All the kayakers were placed along shore with throwropes near all the big hydraulics. Christina near the bottom of Marpa:

Ben stylin the bottom of Marpa:

As the signal went up that Drew was running the rapid, I saw Todd blow his whistle three times signaling a problem or emergency and we took off running upstream. Drew had pinned the gear boat in the top drop of the rapid, right above the gnar between a rock and the undercut wall. This was around 10 am.

Drew had done a stellar job rigging the boat, so most of the gear stayed in, even though the boat was fully underwater. The kayakers ferried across to river right to help get the boat off. After unloading a bit of the gear, we set up a zdrag and started hauling. The boat didn´t budge and we broke a few polypro and spectra lines hauling. Around 2 pm we decided to camp there with the pinned boat, hoping the river would take care of it for us. I swam over with Andy and we started unloading more gear. It was intense being out there on the boat because the water would surge and the boat would go further under water. It was also right above a big rapid, so if I got washed out or fell into the river, my only safety was Ben downstream in his kayak. I was greatful to have such a strong team with Andy upstream and Ben downstream. As I loosened the straps and took off the oars and gear, the boat began to move and buckle a bit more. The more I took off, the more it moved. I started to jump up and down on the bow, pushing off the rocks. The boat was moving! A few minutes later it came off and I jumped into the eddy upstream of the wrap! As Gian Marco put it best, 'Now! We are a lot less fucked than we were 5 hours ago!'

We were all tired and had lost a lot of gear and food. The coolers were empty and most of the pasta and tortillas were soggy at best. As Todd added, 'Its not really an expedition until you run out of food!' We were getting close.

We ate soggy pasta for dinner because that was all we had. It was a quiet night at camp. We camped there beside the largest rapid on the river. It was a long day.

10/25 - Rio Cotahuasi, Day 2

2007-10-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

Day 2 on the Cotahuasi River was a day of nervous energy and tension. After the flips the day before, losing food, and not making it as far downstream as we had hoped, it was clear we needed a change of plan. We got on the water and had some bigger rapids right away. We scouted probably 7 times through the day, including a HUGE scout at 'The Wall'. The rapid was long, technical, narrow, and BIG... and it was all against the left wall. Although there was a lot of nervous energy at the top, everyone had great lines, and it gave the group a much needed boost over our perviously stressful day.

After The Wall, we stopped and ate snack in the boulder garden below the rapid. We were feeling pretty good!

The river continued after the wall with lots more long, steep, continuos boulder gardens and great rapids. With a bit more water than we had, it would have been a nonstop rollercoaster the whole way down.

There was a rapid that we linded for the rafts that had a sweet move for the kayaks to the right, next to a big boulder.

10/24 - Rio Cotahuasi, Day 1

2007-10-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

The first day on the Rio Cotahuasi was crazy. In one of the first rapids Hootie lost an oar. Gone. Baker and I saw it go under a rock and pin, so we tried to get it out but we couldn´t see it... eventually gave up because we had to keep moving downstream.

The river was really low. It was steep, technical, and continuous. There were 2 rafts, one raft with 4 people, gear, and a kayak strapped on it, one gear raft, one ducky, one riverboarder, and 8 kayakers. It was a lot of boats to have on such a steep, technical river at low water. We decided that the best plan was to have 5 kayakers, the riverboarder and the ducky out front to scout and give signals, then 2 kayakers and 2 rafts in the back all running together. Drew Parker was killing it on the oars all day, every day. His rowing ability through the rapids was astonishing. He ended up styling almost everything.

After we changed the Hootie, Sara, Emily raft to a paddle rig, they flipped off the stuck gear boat in a big rapid and we lost some food. Gian Marco was intense in the momment and decided it would be best if he guided the raft, so he hopped in and took over. They got through one rapid and then flipped again!

The river karma was unreal. Gear was floating everywhere, people too. We decided to call it an early day and camp before we crashed any more. Everyone was pretty tired, but it was apparent it was time to pull it all together. We lined a rapid for the rafts that had a sketchy line for the kayaks:

As the sun set over the canyon walls, the red glow of the canyon was impressive. The photos don´t really capture it, but here´s the 'Mars Wall':

The campsite we stayed at had awesome inca ruins and terraces. We dried gear on the terraces and hiked up to the ruins, finding skulls, bones and pottery.

10/23 - Flatwater Canyon, Cotahuasi River, Second Known Decent

2007-10-29T14:34:00.001-07:00

The Flatwater Canyon of the Cotahuasi River gets its name from the first decent, done by Gian Marco and 4 paddlers in 2003. They asked around to all of the local people in the Cotahuasi Canyon if there was whitewater deep in that part of the canyon. The walls are too steep to see down into the canyon, but the farmers and fisherman assured them that it was all flat. They found a sketchy mule trail into the canyon and 5 Class V rapids later, decided it should be named 'Flatwater Canyon'.

The trek began with the hike in. We had left our boats with the burros who were bringing them in that morning to the put in at Belinga. We decided that if we started hiking early, we could meet the burros with out kayaks about halfway, at the put in for the flatwater canyon. The only problem was that Todd wanted to come, and hadn´t paddled with us the day before, so the group carried his kayak aprox 7km to the put in. Our directions to the putin from Gian Marco were 'go up and then down and then up and past the green field and you will see a small trail. Follow the trail and you will need ropes. Ask the burro drivers...' When we got to where we thought the putin might be, we stopped and waited for the burros. We asked some locals we saw on the trail if they had seen burros with kayaks, and got mixed responses from '10 mintues back' to, 'they aren´t coming'. Spanish in the countryside is very difficult because most of the locals speak Quechua as a first, and spanish as a second language. Our boats showed less than 20 minutes later. This was good because we were in the middle of the desert with mid day sun and not nearly enough water or shade!

The hike to the putin may have been the most dangerous part of the Flatwater Canyon. Between the 500-1000 vertical foot drop very rapidly, and the gale force winds trying to pluck us off the hill with our kayaks, it was very scary. Our burro guide led us down the 'easy to find path' which was in the opposite direction than we would have guessed. We were waiting for the burrow driver to turn left toward the small pueblo, but he kept heading straigt towards the vertical cliff. Don´t try this one without a knowledgeable guide for the trail. The burros headed for the cliff:

Once we reached the river, we all breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that all that stood between us and our camp was 7km of mostly continuous Class IV-V whitewater that none of us knew. It was nice to get the kayak off the shoulder and into the water, as usual.

The river started up slow, but within a km or so, it was full on. The first big rapid was a steep boulder garden, ending with a great drop into a tight slot. Once we got through this one, we could all tell that it was going to be an epic run.

The miles down below held numerous big boulder jumbles, but all runable whitewater. The magnitude of these rapids was huge (notice Todd for perspective in photo below, the little yellow spec up high in the rapid)

About halfway down the run we got to a rapid that looked like a killer, but on closer inspection went well. All the water went over a ledge into a huge boulder. Andy probed it and the rest went as well. The entrance was tricky with some sieved out lines, but sliding over the ledge into the boulder was unreal. The entrance:

The rock slide move:

The actual canyon in this section was beautiful. It had steep walls and lots of interesting geology.

The whole run took our team less than 2.5 hours. We spent about two hours running the first half, while it mellowed out a bit for the second half and we just bombed down it. We took out at our camp at Belinga, happy to know we were only the second group ever to venture into that part of the Cotahuasi Canyon. This part of expedition kayaking is really exciting to me: going into places where we are some of the first or few people who have ever passed that way. In Flatwater Canyon, we were persons 5-10 to pass through. Buen hazo!

At camp that night, we prepared Opal Cactus for dinner which turned out to be a bit hard on everyone´s stomaches. The camp was across from the town of Belinga, in a greener section of the desert canyon. Truley beautiful:

10/22 - Middle Cotahuasi, to Puente Sipia

2007-10-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

This mission started out interesting, as things always seem to with the illustriuos Gian Marco Valentino (cusipata.com). We dropped off the crew for the hike into Belinga, the town where we begin the Cotahuasi River Canyon. The hike is 15km into the Canyon, passing by Sipia Falls, a 4-tier, 450 foot cascade in the middle of the canyon. The scene at the putin was crazy with kayaks, gear, burros, and people everywhere.

Andy, Baker, Gian Marco and I decided to head upstream of the town of Sipia to run a short section before our hike into the putin at Belinga. About halfway back out, Gian Marco realizes that he has forgotten all of his gear, so he hops out of the coaster to run back to Sipia to grab his gear that is being taken by burro to Belinga. He managed to catch the buros, get his stuff, and run back to where we were putting in, about halfway between the town of Cotahuasi and Sipia.

From the putin down there were some mellow warmup rapids and busy Class IIIish stuff. When a bridge came into sight overhead, the action really picked up. The rapid after the bridge is a wide sweeping right bend with clean lines to the left. Some big hydraulics through here, and then a big, horizon lined boulder field. We stopped to scout this rapid (left), and it proved to be one of the best in the run:

The line was somewhere down through the middle with a few big moves above the crux. The key move is the left slot on the side of the large boulder down in middle of the rapid. All of the water crashed into this one, and it has a gnarly looking sieved out line on the right. Stay left here.

After this long boulder garden comes the finale, the cascade that is visible from the Bridge at Sipia. The bouldery whitewater maze has a clean line down the middle between the huge boulders, and then two sweet boofs down at the bottom. As we ran down this rapid, a heard of llamas were being forced across the brige over our heads. A true Peru momment.

After we took out at the Sipia Bridge to begin our hike into the Canyon de Cotahuasi, we met up with Lady, the girl who was in charge of our buros down to her town of Belinga. Beautiful canyon scenery and cactus' for the next 15km!

Sipia Falls, not runable...

10/21 - Upper Rio Cotahuasi

2007-10-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

We decided to spend a layover day in the small town of Cotahuasi, after driving from the Rio Colca over the altiplano for 9 hours. It was a long bus ride in one of the most deolate areas I have ever been. The drive took us past Coropuna, one of the highest peaks in Peru at an altitude of more than 15,000 feet. We saw llamas in the wild, roaming accross the plains, as well as an amazing high altitude moss that covers many of the rocks in the area. Although desolate, the altiplano was full of vibrant and extreme colors. Whites and neutrals mixed with brilliant greens and the sky blues. It was amazing.

Once in Cotahuasi, we packed into a small hotel for the night. In the morning I got to walk around Cotahuasi around 6am. The town is most active in the early morning as agriculture and work begins in the early hours. I walked through the narrow street, barely noticed by the local people getting ready for their day's work. Smiles and 'buenas dias' were common through the rural village. I stopped to ask directions to the belltower with a few locals who took great interest in why I was passing through their town. Since the village is in the middle of a deep canyon, more than 13 hours from the nearest real city, tourism isn't a major industry here. It was nice to know that our journey has truely taken us OFF the beaten path.

After breakfast, we loaded up the MicroBus to head to the Upper Cotahuasi. This section is seldom run, and anticipation was high as we cruised up the dirt road along the river. Driving this road was pretty incredible alone. From more than 500 feet up we could see the whitewater, peering over the edge of sheer drops on one lane blind corners. The view down into the valley was intense:

Andy, Todd, Ben, Scott Baker, Brian Lee and I got our things ready roadside, peering down towards the whitewater. We guessed the flow at the putin around 400-500cfs, and it seemed like a good low to medium flow for the run. The first rapid was a beautiful 8 foot ledge dropping between huge boudlers. The right boulder was a bit undercut with a sticky hole at the bottom. One by one we dropped over the ledge, like ducks following the leader. Brian got a bit worked and pushed against the wall, resulting in a swim in the first rapid of this unknown Class IV-V river canyon. He decided that was enough for him and hiked back upto the bus which was thankfully still in reach. Jonathan and Ben in the first drop, 8 footer:

Down to five, we pushed on into the canyon with continuous boulder gardens and good gradient. A bit further down there was a sweet 6-8 foot boof into a pool with a boulder in it, choking the landing zone down to a few small feet. I also pinned in one rapid, a strange side to side pin, as my boat fell in between two rocks, momentarily catching me between the two. I managed to wiggle my hips out of the rocks, but it was a first for me. Ben running other drop:

Downstream a ways was a Class V that had a ski jump down the left that landed next to an undercut on the left and a piton rock on the right. Andy and Scott Baker opted right while I went left. Andy styled it of course, while Baker had an interesting variation involving a broached kayak, a back deck roll and running the rest backwards. I hit the ski jump right on, but got pushed into the undercut wall, bracing hard to stay upright.The rest of the run down to the takeout bridge was good, with mixed boulder gardens, Class IVish.

We crusied back to Cotahuasi by way of Alta, a small agri village, and a few other pueblos that really are off the path traveled. On the river we suprised some fishermen who had probably never seen a kayak on the river, despite having fished it daily for many years. It is these moments of clarity and realization that make traveling and adventuring worthwhile and important for me. The look of shared understanding between people who live next to the river, and those who pass through it in a foreign land.

10/16-10/20 - Rio Colca, An Epic

2007-10-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Rio Colca was an epic adventure. Each day had its own, unique, epicocity. Here is a brief until I have time for the rest and pictures:

10/16- We had to travel overnight into the putin. After loading up 23 buros with gear, we hiked 20km into the bottom of the deepest canyon on earth, nearly 6800 vertical feet. Hotsprings at the putin and bugs eating us alive made this day epic.

10/17- River Day One complete with the Rio Mamacocha doubling the flow of the river, ritual sacrifices of coca leaves to the river gods, and unbelieveable rapids. Rapids One, Two and Three were stompers for the first part of the Colca Canyon. We camped in the middle of a giant landslide above the biggest rapid on the river. Incredible views of the canyon, superb geology, unreal. Epic.

10/18- River Day Two began with Emily swimming the largest of the Class V rapids without serious injury, which was amazing (video to follow). More incredible canyon and scenery as we entered the Chocolate Canyon. We ran into 'Double Trouble' with TWO raft flips in the same spot, off the same wall. Impressive winds kept us paddling, but also kept the bugs off us at camp. Camping in the Chocolate Canyon ended this day, from a spot where we could hear the rocks tumbling into the canyon at night.

10/19- River Day Three began with some intense rapids, and Drew swimming super deep with at least 5 seconds down time. Huge boulders blocked the river twice, forcing two portages. The first potage was novel, going under house-size boulders, the other more typical, carrying around the gnar. We slept well at a very windy, sandy beach before the paddle out the next day.

10/20- The final river day on the Colca Canyon was short and sweet. Easier rapids as the canyon opened up into a huge valley. Rigging the MicroBus was epic, with 8 kayaks, two rafts and 13 people's stuff, but we got it done and now we're on the way to Rio Cotahuasi... Epic.

More to come...

10/20 - Rio Colca, Day 4

2007-10-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

Day 4 on the Colca began with mellow Class III boulder gardens and shallow rapids for a few hours. We began to see signs of civilization including some bridges, concrete constructions, and people fishing in the river. It took about 3 hours to reach out takeout on river right. We had to carry all the gear up a steep hill to Garabato who was waiting for us with the Garabtomobile.

Our next stop was in town for food for the long ride ahead to the Cotahuasi.

After our first food stop we climbed up a huge mountain pass to a small town. We stopped in this other town to pick up avocado and bread for the last haul across the altiplano. It was stellar.

We crossed over a high pass right next to Coropurna, a huge volcano close to 20,000 feet high. Our pass was in the 15k foot range, cold, thin air. We saw packs of wild llamas, and Todd was really sick from the altitude.

We arrived in Coatahuasi around 10pm to an expensive hostal, unrest with group about sleeping arrangement and accomodation, and finally settled with great soup in the hostal.

10/19 - Rio Colca, Day 3

2007-10-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

Our third day began with great Class IV rapids, narrow chutes

Drew swam deep on bouldery rapid, missed Andys rope and had lots of down time.

Narrow chute drop that looked impossible, down and to the right

Huge drop with hole in front of whale sized rock

2 portages, first was on left through caves, took 1 hour and we ate lunch on rocks up high

Second was 40 minutes later on right over rock wall, good teamwork. Polish canyon. Rock fall area. first decent ran out of food here and thought they'd never escape.

After second portage there was a fun rapid with holes going into a spectacular canyon with steep walls.

Camp was shortly after with high winds filling food with sand. Kitchen behind big rock but still sand everywhere. Anticipation of final day, lots of wind! Ugh, wind or bugs!?

10/18 - Rio Colca, Day 2

2007-10-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

We broke camp and went right into the first rapid:

Rhodes Rhodila - First rapid right after camp, Class V rafting, IV+ in kayak, Ben ran upsidedown, good boof on left, Andy ran right down gut. I fucked it up badly but was fine down left sievey line. Emily had gnarly swim, ouch. Hurt left knee landing on rocks in main drop. Gian Marco got her with a bag and Andy with kayak. Probably the biggest single rapid on the river.

Below Emily's rapid we cruised to lunch quickly, breaking for lunch at the Shower of the Condors, an impressive cascade coming down on river left. We ate lunch on the right below the shower, arnicaed Emily's knee, and layed in the sun.

We camped at a sweet camp on the right amongst huge boulders. Big open canyon with lots of rocks. We lost some stuff amonst the rocks because they had lots of gaps and if you dropped stuff, it would fall 5 feet down. We could hear the river running far below us. Drew and I swam the rapids above camp and Gian Marco went with his mask looking for crawdads. There were some perfect rock seats and the camp was spectacualar view of the canyon. A great camp and great night.

10/17 - Rio Colca, Day 1

2007-10-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Day 1 on the river began with the low flow of 500cfs for the first 5km. Barely raftable

Mamacocha doubles flow coming in from river right. We gave an offering to the river gods of Coca leaves.

Had lunch, scouted, Gian Marco portaged Wairo around Rapids 1, 2, and 3.

Scouted on loose rocks, old landslide. Cool sofa rock.

Good lines throguth the rapids.

Last rapids before camp were sweet. They had changed because of landslide, there was a huge pool where Gian Marco had said a big rapid used to be. Dust all over everything from rock fall. Amazing campsite in fall zone of rocks. Small beaches river right.

10/16 - Rio Colca, Day 0

2007-10-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

We drove through the night, about an hour down the Panamerican from Arequipa and then right towards the Andes and the town of Huambo where we met the hired buros and got our stuff together for the hike in.

We also enjoyed a local breakfast before the hike:
(4685)
Burro with kayaks
(4693)
Burros with canyon
4696ç

The hike into the Colca Canyon was impressive beyond belief. We dropped into a canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, passing through millions of years of geology on the way. The hike took about 6 hours and was probably close to 20km.

We arrived at camp to great hotsprings and swimming in the river.

Lots of bugs eating us alive. Big days up ahead.

10/15 - Rio Colca, Day -1

2007-10-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

The Colca trip began with everyone arriving in Arequipa on the 15th and getting the logistics together for the trip. We had to buy food, gear, arrange shuttle, finances, everything! It was quite an ordeal for 13 people to go on a multiday expedition in a third world country. Highlights included rope shopping at a sweet store that only sold rope with Roberto, Gian Marco's assistant (IMG4678).

Roberto and I were responsible for rigging the rafts with 'Maya' netting and getting them to Gian Marcos house for the midnight shuttle. (4681). We managed to get a kayak, two rafts and all the other gear from the wearhouse to Gian Marcos in one Tico! It was impressive to say the least.

We had an interesting shuttle to the Rio Colca. We had arranged transportation through Gian Maro with his fearless driver, Elard Garabato. Unfortunatly, this driver didn't have a tourist licence that permitted him to operate where we were going, so we had to drive through the night. We loaded the bus around midnight and got rolling on the road at 1am! An epic start to an epic trip.

'Private' bus tour of Lima, Preu

2007-10-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

In Lima, there are many differnt driving and bus tours of the city. With a population of nearly 10 million people, Lima is expansive, covering an area that rivals Chicago. For this reason, it is a good idea to go with an organized 'private' tour provider.

After taking a look at some of these 'private' tours, I decided it would be better to venture out on foot and bus to explore the city. The private tours cost $20-50 depending on the sites visited, and I prefer to explore myself anyway. Although the privateness of not interacting with the people of Peru was VERY appealing (Why would anyone want to visit a country and not interact with the people?), I thought just getting on any of the millions of busses in the city would wet my appetite for adventure.

The busses in Peru are worse and more numerous than the busses in Costa Rica. In Peru, every bus is covered with the names of places you can go: 'TASCA', 'Barrancos', 'Chorillios', 'Miraflores', 'Tdo Arequipa'. Each bus has at least 10 places written on it, sugesting where it might go. This is quite perplexing, because most of the busses doen't actually go where it says on their sides. The only way to know where it is really going is to ask the wingman of the bus as he hurriedly shoves people on and off the bus. I waited for a while to select my first bus, knowing that this could be the most important decision I made all day. After watching for a bit, I saw the first 'Wingwoman' and promplty boarded her bus. The only seat open was right in front of her post at the front door, so I sat there. 'This is going to be a great opportunity for me to practice my spanish and get a private guided tour of the city' I thought as the bus rattled into the diesel smoke-filled Avenida Arequipa.

The entire city of Lima is a giant grid, not unlike LA, and there are good parts and bad parts. Avenida Arequipa passes through the center of the city. I got to see the national museum, capital buildings, and some of the other famous sites in Lima. I had gotten into a conversation with the wingwoman, and she was guiding me through the city as we went. I asked her to point out all the important site and some of the history. She was happy to oblige in between yelling at the driver and getting her passengers on and off as efficiently as posibble. I asked her to tell me when we were in TASCA, the central stop, so I could get off and walk around downtown.

As we passed through the center and crossed over the motorway into another part of Lima, I figured she knew better than I, and that we still hadn´t gotten to the center. We began getting into poorer and poorer areas, and the building kept getting older and older. I asked a few times if we were close, but 45 minutes later, I knew something was up. I told her I was getting off at the next stop, and asked if the busses going in the other direction would take me back to the center of Lima. She told me that her bus would take me back, at the end of its route. All I had to do was wait till the end (on a seemingly interminable ride across the urban sprawl that is Lima), eat lunch with her, and then wait for the bus to come all the way back around. I wasn´t impressed, and got off at the next stop I could.

This stop left me somewhere about one hour outside of the city center in one of the poorest looking areas I have ever been in. None of the houses had complete walls, and most looked as if they had been burnt to the ground. All of the houses were built with brick and mortar, with no doors and tin roofs, if they had a roof. I was the only non-peruvian person I had seen since I left Miraflores two hours earlier, and I was getting pretty worried about my wellbeing. I knew I could probably get a taxi back for $30, but I wasn´t quite ready to use that safety net yet.

I walked across the motoway to the traffic going the other direction and got on the first microbus that passed. Once I was on the new bus going the way I had came, I was feeling a bit easier, and my stomach began to untwist the knot it was in. About an hour later I was back in Lima Central where I had originally wanted to go.

The moral of the story is, if the wingwoman on a bus starts flirting with you, even if you don´t realize it, pay attention to where you are going and go with your gut instinct. I knew where I thought I was supposed to get off, but trusting her experience and not paying attention to her posibble alterior motives put me into a crazy situation. I feel fortunate that I got to see part of Lima that 99.9% of people visiting the country will never see. Now, that is a private tour.

The Two Guys Who Run Lima, Peru

2007-10-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

In Lima, Peru, there are two guys who run the entire city. Whatever it is that you need or want, you must pass through them to get it. If you are crossing the street, these are the guys who decide if you live or die. They are 'the driver' and 'the drivers's assistant'.

The Driver

The Wingman

These guys share a weird kind of symbiotic relationship. While the driver is the employer of the wingman, the wingman can abuse the driver. If the wingman is on a bad day, the driver can fire the wingman. Communication between the two is rarely civil, and they rarely exchange more than a few words. The Wing Man gets paid on comission for how many people he can get on the bus. The driver is self employed, but is too bad at customer service to get clients on his bus. Thus, they need each other. While on my 'Private' bus tour of Lima, I got to observe a few of these dynamic duos. Here is a sample conversation:

Wing Man: 'Hurry, hurry, get on the bus!' (yelling at patrons)
Driver: 'Talk to me!'
WM: 'Still boarding.'
D: 'Hold on!' (as he speeds into traffic with people still boarding)
WM: 'Wait!'
D: 'Load the bus faster you asshole!'
WM: 'The people are too slow, lets go!'
D: (sticks arm out window and honks horn to indicate merging into speeding traffic)
WM: 'Paradero! Paradero!' (bus stop!)
D: 'We're not stopping at this stop. The bus is full' (traffic stops in front of bus so he opens door to let people on).
WM: 'Hurry, hurry, get one the bus!!!'

Without these two guys, the controled chaos that is Lima, Peru, would digress into utter madness. Thank you, driver and wingman.

Hola de Peru.

2007-10-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

So, I've touched down in Peru and everything went smoothly. I checked my kayak from Portland to Lima through El Salvador and it made it, for only $50. It was a pleasant suprise finding all of my gear at the bagage claim in Lima.

Arriving in the airport in Lima is quite simlar to Costa Rica. There are tons of people offering you a ride, pressuring you to their hotel, and generally making your life more stresssful than is necessary. I think its a tactic to get people to make split decisions to do things in an uncomfortable situation.

I had a ride arranged to Miraflores and they were there to pick me up. The roads in Peru rival those of CR, with eight lanes crammed into a space big enough for only three or four. The weaving, the people, the motorbikes and the police are only there as a suggestion for what you should do or where you should go.

I went out with a few canadians last night walking around Miraflores and checking out the night scene. There is a central park here with lots of locals selling their handicrafts, foods, and services.

I went for a walk this morning along the coast. The coastline is very dramatic with a steep rocky drop down into the sea from the city. This is a popular place for paragliding off of the rocky cliff face. The paragliders were impressive, just lifting off of the ground and hovering a few feet up with amazing control.

I'm headed south in the next few days for the southern coast, making my way down to Arequipa.

daysontheriver blog back up!

2007-10-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So after a great 6 months of summer here in the US, I will be traveling again for the winter. This winter has some great adventures in store!

On October 8th, I will be flying to Lima, Peru. My first week will be spent aquainting myself with Peru, perhaps some treking around Machu Pichu, and trying to get my hands on a kayak if mine doesn't make it down. Good luck is about as good as you can do with kayaks on planes. On October 15th I'm meeting up with the Wet Planet Crew, and we're going to do a month of boating through Peru. We'll be down in the Cotahuasi, and Colca Canyons, the two deepest canyons on earth, followed by the Apurimac, Tombopata, Urubamba, and others.

After a month with that crew, Andy Round, Ben West, Scott Baker, and I will be headed out on a 4 month South American paddling epic. We'll be hitting Bolivia, Chile, and possibly others. Keep an eye on the blog to see where we're at. Itinerary subject to change. Vamos a ver.

Back in the US of A

2007-04-12T21:40:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

Thanks for stopping by. I'm back in the US, and am now back to tracking my adventures at: daysontheriver.com Check it out.

Jonathan

3/13/2007 - Rio Toro, Lower

2007-03-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

The Toro flows far below the silver bridge that crosses it between Aqua Zarcas and San Miguel. Unfortunatley, from here down the pig farm nearby contaminates the water, making it a less satisfying whitewater experience. However, for those who are willing to brave the "Caca Cascade", it is a section full of wonderful whitewater (brown water).

The rapids are similar to the Recreo Verde section, but not as steep, and not as continuous. There are still some tight turns and boulder gardens to be had. The fist 30 minutes in this section took getting used to the pig smell, but after that, the river was back to fun again! (photos coming soon)

About an hour down from the bridge is a great lunch spot. It is on a river right beach with a small hut on the shore. I think it may be commercial, but there wasn't anyone there when we passed through. Nothing like a warm beach to enjoy tortillas with tuna fish and chicky's. Below here is a rapid that has a log sticking out across the right side of the river. You can duck under it or go hard left.

About halfway down this run the character of the run changes dramatically. The canyon opens up, and it goes to "small bigwater" boating. The holes get a bit bigger and the river seems to double in size and volume. The open plains are a welcome change and it is surprising that the gradient continues with quality whitewater, even though the river is open and out of the canyon. There is also the drone of the chicadees that can be deafening. Its amazing that such small animals can make so much noise with their legs.

We were floating down this open pastured section when we noticed a monkey in a tree. Closer inspection revealed that there was a whole family of them, and that they were as interested in the small colorful things in the river as we were in them. Its this kind of wildlife and experiences that make Costa Rica such a fun place to be. (photo coming soon)

2/12/2007 - Rio Toro - Recreo Verde Section

2007-03-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

Todd, Heather and I had wanted to run the Class V Casa Maquinas section of the Rio Toro. We had also met a Tico, Raulio, the previous day who came with us for the ride. Todd ran it years ago and we wanted to go check it out. The putin is at the Rio Toro Dam II, about 10km up a very steep road, indicative of incredible gradient in the run! The scene at the dam is surreal: The dam was built deep in the Rio Toro canyon. The walls rise vertically over your head, and water tumbles down hundreds of feet to the valley floor. The huge hydroelectric plant is dwarfed by the immensity of this place. Its an experience just to be there. Unfortunately, we weren't able to run this part of the Toro on this day. (photos of canyon and fun nazi coming soon).

ICE (the Costa Rican power/ telecommunications monopoly) was doing work on the dam with some heavy machinery. The guard (read=fun nazi) told us that only people wearing jackets and helmet were allowed to enter the construction zone. We agreed to wear our helmets and PFDs but the guard, who also had a gun, was not amused. So we snapped some photos, tried to find another way to the river, tried to bribe the gaurd, turned around, and headed 3 miles downstream to the Class IV Recreo Verde section of the Toro. We'll be back for the Casa Maquinas another day. (photos of dam project coming soon)

The Recreo Verde gets its name from the put in at the Recreo Verde Hotsprings. We were charged 1000 colones ($2) per person to use their river access. This seemed steep, but we didn't really have another option. The Toro river is a mineral rich river, similar to the Rio Sucio. For this reason, the Toro is a brown-yellow color all the time. Although it looks very dirty, it is actually quite clean (until the pig farm... more on that later).

The Toro River canyon is quite deep, and very isolated. Although the section of river is Class III+-IV, the commitment makes it more intimidating. The walls rise up hundreds of feet above the river bed, and vines and jungle cover the walls for as far as the eye can see. It is true Costa Rica boating. (photos coming soon)

The river runs fast and gives continuous Class III-IV rapids and boulder gardens for the first few miles. Although there are few distinct rapids, there are many that run one into another, keeping the pace fast and interesting. If there is any one character of this section, its that every wall that the water hits at the bottom of each rapid is undercut. We all managed well, but it seemed like most of the run was spent avoiding undercut walls. It was great fun!

The first significant rapid is a drop on the right side that goes over some big rocks and through a big hole. At the bottom it goes into an undercut wall (of course). In general starting near the walls and paddling away from them was most effective.

The river has a cave formation on the left side as it bends right and drops through a steeper boulder garden. There was a log on the right side of the channel, making the left ideal. Super fun move off the wall on the left. (photo coming soon)

One of the coolest things about the Toro is that the walls have lots of small waterfalls and drips coming down them. Many of them are thermals, and thus have warm water coming out of the walls. It seemed like the water in the river got warmer as we headed downstream, almost the opposite of the Green Truss of the White Salmon, which gets colder as the underground springs come into it.(photo coming soon)

There are numerous boulder gardens and fun small drops as you go, too numerous to remember. They were all good to go, and would be a total blast with a bit more water. About a mile downstream there is an old stone bridge over the river. Below this is a waterfall on river left, and a few hundred meters later is the first and only portage on the river. It comes as the river widens and the canyon opens and there is a huge boulder in the middle of the river. There are many small channels that cascade down sideways, and all of them terminate in jumbles of rocks. The best thing to do is paddle up on one of the islands in the rapid and carry your boat across it to the lower left channel, thereby walking the "jumbles of rocks". At higher water staying left from the top is an option, but at low water that route closes out. (photo coming soon)

Next up is the boof rapid. This has a big boulder with a ramp of water running up on it. You can charge this ramp and fly over the top of it. Don't go right to the side of it or you might drop into the narrow slot with a piton rock at the bottom. (photo coming soon)

About 1 km below this rapid is the bridge, signaling the end of the Recreo Verde section. Most people combine this with the Lower Rio Toro, as we did. The bridge is the putin for the lower as well as the takeout for the upper. It is noted that there is a HUGE pig farm on the river right side of the bridge, and from this point down, you must be careful to limit the amount of water that you get in your mouth, eyes, ears, ect... I'd also recommend noseplugs for at least a mile (maybe more) below the farm. Yuck. (photo coming soon) The lower section that we paddled below here can be found in the Lower Trip Report.

3/12/2007 - Rio Sarapiqui, Upper

2007-03-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Heather, Todd and I needed to check out all of the rivers for the Wet Planet itinerary. Following their airport hell, we drove to the Sarapiqui River, putting in at Pozo Azul Adventure Center. The putin below the bridge revealed more water than my last trip down, but still pretty rocky. We were all pretty happy to be on the water after the 3 hour drive from the airport to the Northern plains of Costa Rica.(Photo coming soon)

From the bridge you can see the first rapid. The river goes through a shallow boulder garden before dropping over a jumble of rocks toward the right wall. At low water the rapid is very shallow and you need to bash over many of the rocks as you go.

The river goes along for a bit before the next rapid. In this one, the whole river splits around an island. Go left and dodge the rocks and holes down this chute. Right down the middle is good, and there's a sweet boof over the hole half way down. (Photo coming soon) Below this rapid after the river reconnects there is a beautiful blue pool where you can often find local kids swimming.

About 1km downstream is the Class III rapid, Rocky Road. This is obvious as the river bends right and crashes into a large rocky wall. There are a few holes and rocks close to the wall, so you need to ferry left away from the wall to stay out of them. The rock wall may be slightly undercut, so stay off it. (Photo coming soon)

A bit down from this rapid is the Class III+ Superman. This rapid is obvious when the river has a small gravel bar with a large Y-shaped tree growing in the middle of the river. The channel splits here, and you need to go right of the tree. There is a narrow chute with a hole on the left side, so right is better. Down below the chute is a hidden rock at lower water that is too easy to crash into. Keep an eye out down below for this. (Photos coming soon)

The Sarapiqui then begins what we named The S Turns. This section has a number of bends that terminate in undercut walls, some with, some without pillows. All of the walls should be approached with caution, as they are undercut and are deceivingly powerful.(Photo coming soon)

The river splits again a bit downstream, and you can go either way. Left is good with a narrow channel that drops in next to a wall. Riding the pillow off this wall is fun, and there's another fun wave when it remeets the other channel.(Photo coming soon)

From here down its all good till the takeout. The takeout is on the river left under the first hanging bridge. There is a small parking area here, but don't leave your car here unattended. There are some crazy kids here who will try to take your stuff or dance around like monkeys. Weird.

This is an easy shuttle to hitch hike, and the people at Pozo Azul are super cool and will likely let you leave your car in their parking lot if you ask. Walk from the takeout 100m to the main road. Hitchhike to your left back to Hacienda Pozo Azul. The Tent Camp at Pozo Azul is reasonable and a nice place to crash for boating. Highly recommended. They also have a sweet canopy tour and other activities.

This is a fun stretch of river, especially with more water. After the run, we booked it up to the 28 foot Pozo Azul waterfall to check it out.(photos coming soon)

The Money Shot

2007-03-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on a Pacific beach (Playa Avallanes) about a week ago watching the sun set into the ocean. As the sun was dropping down toward the ocean, I saw a ship sailing across the horizon line. I was told it was a tourist ship that sails daily from Tamarindo down to Puntarenas, sort of a sunset cruise. As the sun got closer to the horizon line, the ship got closer to the sun. About 10 minutes before sunset I started joking with the owner of the restaurant, "How crazy would it be if the sun set into the ship?" As the sun hit the horizon, this is what we saw... The owner said it was the first time in 18 years he had seen it like this...

About 3 minutes before...

"The Money Shot"

El Angel de La Noche

2007-02-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

Every 90 days I need to leave Costa Rica to renew my visa. For this reason I decided to head across to Nicaragua for a short vacation. There are two border crossings, Penas Blancas and San Carlos. The San Carlos crossing passes close to a friend´s stables, so after a few days of horseback I headed north towards the border.

The Wednesday started around 7am, walking to the bus that was supposed to arrive around 7:30. I was there in time, around 7:15, but then realized that I needed US$ to cross the border. (here begins the first of a few problems, as will unfold). I took out $40, which I thought would be enough to get me rolling in NIC. I then ran back to the 7:30 bus which proceeded to never come. Bummer.

So I sat on my pack on the side of the road until 8:50, when the 8:30 bus arrived. The bus was packed as usual, so I took my normal position, standing in the center isle, head tilted because all the Ticos are too short to make the buses any taller. Fortunately, the bus was on a pretty good road, so all was well. Well, almost well... When we arrived in Los Chiles, the border town, I walked down to the customs and immigration offices to leave the country. The entrance to NIC and boat (the only passage is by boat on the Rio San Juan) cost 7700 Colones ($17US), more than expected. No worries, I still had my trusty $40US for NIC.

The boat from Los Chiles to San Carlos was also packed, and when the lady at immigration told me that it left at 12, she actually meant be there at 11:30, otherwise you´ll be sitting on the floor. You can imagine my surprise when I found out that not only was my seat taken, but the boat couldn't leave (fortunately, because it would have left me) because the police officer checking life jackets had decided that there weren't enough. Not that it would matter since the river is full of crocodile and Cayman.

Once the policeman was satisfied with the life jacket count (read=bribe), the boat slowly headed up the river towards San Carlos de Nicaragua. The boat was small, too small for the 41 passengers (ascertained by the PFD count). There were many Nicaraguans as well as Costa Ricans, going to visit friends and family. On the boat I met Julia, a traveling photojournalist who is writing a guidebook on CR and NIC for a German publisher. She also speaks Hungarian, Spanish, French, English, and German... so we had lots to talk about. Coincidentally, she was headed to San Carlos to renew her visa, and also lives in Turrialba. Her plan was to take the boat to San Carlos in the afternoon, and return on the evening boat, only leaving the country for a few hours, rather than 3 days as required. She told me it had worked at every other border, and it did here too.

Arriving in San Carlos by boat from Costa Rica is like walking into a different world. San Carlos is a far outpost of NIC, and is only accessible by boat from Granada (12 hours) or road from Managua (8 hours, allegedly). The town itself lies on the far south east end of Lago de Nicaragua. There is actually a water passage that goes from the Pacific, up the rivers to San Carlos, across the lake, and out on another river to the Atlantic. If the journey didn't take a few days to do, the Panama Canal might have never been built. Because the area was originally colonized by the Spanish, there are a number of Spanish Castles and fortifications that still exist in the town and the surrounding areas. The town is quaint but an echo of the past, quiet but alive.

Upon arrival in San Carlos, you need to pay for your entrance into NIC ($7US). Unfortunately, Julia had forgotten to get her US$ (she should have checked the guide book) so I agreed to sell her my $20US for Colones. I did this not fully realizing that there is no way to get money in San Carlos, and that the only accepted currency is $US or the $NIC, Cordoba. We entered San Carlos to find the next big surprise: The boat for Granada only leaves on Tuesdays and Fridays. Bummer. To relax a bit and figure stuff out, Julia and I go to a place she knows to grab a bit to eat. The place has changed a bit and now costs $6US.

The situation as it stands: I'm in Nicaragua with $7US, a few thousand Colones, and have no boat to get where I need to go for 2 days. The solution: There is a bus to Managua for $6US that isn't as nice as the boat ride, but will get me there in 8 hours, leaving at 6, 8, and 10pm. Perfect, so I can take the bus to Managua, get more cash from an ATM, jump on another bus to Granada and be there well rested from the bus rides to enjoy the day. Simple.

I go to the ticket office (read=guy looking official at the bar) and surrender my last few dollars for a bus ticket to Managua. I figure I can take the 6pm bus, landing me there around 2am. I could sleep a bit in the bus station until the buses leave for Granada, then on to there.

I needed to kill a few hours in San Carlos, which isn't a very big place, so after my third walk around town I decided to settle into the local fruit and vegetable market. I walked up and down the stalls until I found some people who looked nice, then asked them if I could sit down and watch them peel carrots and chayote for a salad. We talked for a few hours about all sorts of marvelous things. After a half hour or so, the guy began asking me about homosexuality in the US, and what people think about it. A few minutes later he confessed that he was homosexual, and that so were his other few friends who had been stopping by. It turns out that San Carlos is a bit of a Leper-Colony for homosexuals in Nicaragua. Although the population is small, the outpost has a reputation for that. I said goodbye to my new friends at the market who sent me along with tomatoes, mandarins, and salad for my overnight bus journey.

As I approached the buses at the terminal, I had a bit of an 'oh shit' moment. There were two buses parked at the Managua terminal. One was a newer looking yellow school bus, freshly washed, 'School Bus' still painted across the top. The other was a white painted bus, cerca 1975, with the words 'El Angel de La Noche' stencilled across the top of the windshield, like the bus was squinting to see you. I thought, 'This is the bus that Chris McCandless found in Alaska, as told by John Krakauer in Into the Wild.' It ends here. As I came around the front of the buses, I was relieved to see 'Managua, 6pm' scribbled on the window of the yellow bus. So, it doesn't end here.

Right on time, 6pm sharp the yellow bus jumped to life, and the dozen passengers of this midnight rider boarded. There was a sentiment on the bus of, 'I'd like being anywhere but here for the next 8 hours' as we backed out of the terminal. We started to bump down the coblestone roads heading out of San Carlos. After a few minutes the bus stopped to pickup some school children walking home and I thought, 'This road really isn't so bad'. A few minutes later, at the edge of San Carlos we let the children off, and the road ended. Literally, ended.

To say the next 8 hours were some of the longest of my life is an understatement. This road could have been a minefield, a golfcourse with sandtraps and ponds, a battlefield and trenches after a war, a 4x4's paradise. And I got a big yellow school bus. There were places where the potholes were so big, all 4 wheels would enter the hole before any left. The bus tossed and turned, side to side, end to end like a restless person with a fever. After 2 hours, I thought, this road couldn't possibly be like this for all 8 hours... It wasn't, for two reasons: First, the bus didn't make it. Second, it took almost 12 hours in total.

After hour 6, we stopped so the driver could have a smoke. The bus never started again. My beautiful, yellow, newish school bus had failed me. We sat for an hour and a half trying various things to get the bus to turnover. No dice. During the time the bus wouldn't start, I got out and walked around a bit in the night. It was black, pitch black. There were a million stars and no light. We really were in the middle of nowhere. Looking at the map of Nicaragua, one notices that there is nothing east of the lake. No roads, towns, nothing. We were stuck in the middle of nothing.

Through the night came a rumble and then lights. It was 'El Angel de La Noche.' We all boarded the bus, and rumbled on into the night, leaving behind the crippled yellow bus. A few hours later around 5am, we arrived in Managua, the capitol city of Nicaragua. I waited till dawn, got on a local bus to the other bus station, got on a bus to Granada, and slept the whole way there. I've never been so happy to be on a bus. The paved rode lulled me to sleep in minutes, and I woke up in Granada, where I am now.

Sitting here, now in Grenada, NIC, its hard to believe the journey I have traveled in the past 36 hours. I don't believe in Angels, but last night I was saved by one... the one I didn't believe in. Perhaps, a story for living better.

Cerro Chirripó, Round Deux

2007-02-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

On a moments notice, I decided it was a good idea to give Cerro Chirripo a second shot. After my first trip up the tallest peak in Costa Rica, I had decided it was probably going to be my first and last climb. The weather had been miserable, the trail muddy and steep, and the view, well, somewhat disappointing. All this set aside, I took the invite from Ashley, Shamus, and Ben to join them for their first climb.

We arrived around 3:55 in San Isidro to find out we were just in time to miss the 4 o'clock bus to San Gerardo, the base town for climbing Chirripo. A little put out, we decided to try and hitch up to the town. We walked a few km out of San Isidro, and got on the road to Rivas. We figured we might end up sleeping on a soccer field somewhere, or walking the 25km to town. To our surprise, we were almost immediately picked up by a very nice farmer who was headed all the way to San Gerardo, what luck! About half way up we stoped on the roadside next to a cliff. The farmer got out and picked up a box that sitting next to Ben. "Todo bien?" I asked. The farmer grinned and said, "Un perro... se murio" as he tossed the box off the cliff... I guess that's how they bury dogs in Costa Rica. We were beside ourselves.

We hadn't made reservations to make the climb, and upon arriving found out that they were REQUIRED! Being the stubborn travelers we are, we went to the ranger station at 5am, just to make sure that there hadn't been some mistake, or that no one had canceled. Turns out that they sell 10 spaces per day on a first come basis, so we got our tickets to go... around 7am... In the meanwhile Ben and I tried the local fruit (not advised) and saw on a poster the kind of wildlife to expect in the park...

The trailhead for the hike is right around 5,000 feet. Each kilometer of the hike has a different name and title for the kilometer. In honor of the system, we took pictures at each of the markers with our own interpretation of the signage. Enjoy.

Shamus struggling with the first few steps

We were gifted beautiful weather for the entire trip, and soaked up the high elevation sun. We also did a sunrise summit hike, summiting at least an hour before sunrise, freezing our asses off for an hour until sunrise, and then booking down in search of warmer weather. We did manage to pose for a sunrise YMCA...

Snow in Costa Rica

2006-12-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

Three days before Christmas I was traversing San Jose through the central mall. The streets were packed with busy shoppers and peddlers selling their goods. It was the hustle and bustle that you might find the week before Christmas in the US as well.

Because Costa Rica lies close to the equator, the average yearly temperature is around 76 degrees. The weather rarely drops into the 60s, even high in the mountains. There is no snow here, making the prospect of a white Christmas seem comical. That said, they still sell snow frosted trees, rain deer pulling sleighs and snow globes.

Part of the holiday ritual in San Jose is to make it a white Christmas. There are hundreds of vendors in the streets selling white paper confetti. I was in a hurry, so as I bustled through the mall, I hoped to avoid the white snowflakes being tossed around. As I got close to the center of town, the crowd got denser, and the snow got thicker. It was literally snowing, and there was no way to avoid it.

As I stepped around a group of kids, I got hit with my first snowball. I wasn't ready for it, and had my mouth agape as the confetti filled my hair, shirt, and nose. I coughed, inhaling the little pieces of paper as another hit me, this time in my ear. Then another and another. I was being assaulted by confetti. People would walk up to me, look for a second and then douse me with another handful of paper. By the time I got to the bus, I was a walking snowman.

It is these small differences and beams of light that make Costa Rica such a wonderful place to be. A ritual where assaulting others with handfulls of confetti in the US would land you in jail or start a fight. The ideology that community is a thing of the past is killing the light spirt and enjoyment of life in our society. Who would have thought that a bag of confetti could unify a community, and create a white christmas where there is no snow.

Spin to Win v2.0

2006-12-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

The last 'Spin to Win' post had to do with spinning my mind, and cycling. This one is about spinning a different kind of wheel.

Driving in Costa Rica is pretty much insane. There are a number of different factors that contribute to this general level of insanity. First, its the laws and the lack of personnel to enforce them. Most of the traffic laws here are the same as in the states: Obey stop signs, yield, no passing zones, ect.. However they are all merely suggestions. There are very few traffic cops to enforce the laws, and most of the officers that are on the roads are easily bribed out of writing you a ticket. The tickets are inexpensive (16US$ for DUI), so there really is not much incentive to follow them.

Second, the drivers. The Costa Ricans are fanatical drivers. They must get where they are going as fast as possible using the path of least resistance. To this end, they will drive on sidewalks, in the wrong lanes, or create new lanes, if it will get them there faster. It is not uncommon to get passed by busses going uphill around blind corners on dirt roads on your left side on the shoulder!

Third, it is the poor quality of the roads that crisscross around and through the mountains and jungles that dot the Costa Rican landscape. Many of the roads are paved with many potholes, unpaved with many potholes, or are only roads by the virtue of the last 10 people who drove there to get around the person in front of them. This story is about this aspect of the Costa Rican driving experience.

I was at Centaura (my company's horse stables) this morning after flying the hot air balloon over the Jungle with Esteban. Some of the guys had gone to the upper field to bring back horses for the clients who were riding in the afternoon. I had just missed them, and Esteban suggested I take Rosita (Tucker's infamous red Land Cruiser) up to the upper pasture. I also took with me Danny (cause he knew where we were going), and Paul (cause he was caught in the crossfire). We started up the hill toward the field, and a lot of the ground was muddy... Not just muddy puddle muddy, but slippery red clay and muck muddy. Rosita slid a bit, but managed to cruise over the level but slippery ground. It was similar to driving on snow.

When we got to the hill, there was a trickle of reddish water coming down the hill along with the guys who went to get the horses. They didn't need our help, but we decided to go up to the upper pasture anyway, just to see it and check out the horses. As we began to climb the muddy road, the tires spun a bit as red clay shot out the bottom of the Land Cruiser. The road went up gradually with clay over rocks for a bit before turning sharply upward and around a corner, banked and graded to the left. The wheels began to spin out and the cruiser lost control and power I floored to climb the steeper section of road. The road was already rutted out from others spinning their wheels, and the mud splattered everywhere as I floored it, hoping to regain traction and make the move up the hill. The tires screeched and spun, but the car wasn't going any further up the hill. Disappointed that we'd have to walk the last 100m, I slowly rolled the car backwards down the hill. This is when gravity took over.

Next thing I knew, the car was sliding sideways across the road (remember, the road was graded). As the car slid hopelessly into the ditch I spun the tires, a last chance to save the car from the small streambed roadside. The car tilted sideways as the left tires dropped into the chasm. We were stuck. Very stuck. For more than an hour, the three of us stuffed anything we could find under the wheels to create traction, to no avail. Finally, we radioed back to base that we were going to need some help.

They came in force. Three guys, a Land Rover 4x4, and a lot of will. They began trying to climb the hill I was unable to. It was nerve racking watching their vehicle climb the same path, get stuck and then almost roll backwards into Rosita. They tried that at least 4 times before deciding that the car wouldn't climb the hill, period. This was encouraging because at least they couldn't climb it either! Watching them spin their wheels, I didn't feel quite as stupid about landing the car off the road. After an hour of wheel spinning, rubber burning, mud slinging, car pushing, people pulling fun in the mud, we decided on two things: 1) We couldn't do it, 2) The Land Rover was almost out of gas.

A few of us headed back for more fuel while two of the younger guys stayed with Rosita. Getting gas in Costa Rica is quite difficult. Stations are few and far in between. An hour and a half later when they returned with gas, Rosita followed close behind. After we left, the two younger guys (neither had drivers licenses) read the instruction manual on Rosita and figured out how to use the winch and positraction, two very useful tools when you are stuck in the mud. The kids were so proud of themselves, it was good to see such spirit. I will never live this one down with Tucker. It is part of the ritual. Every young, male, non-Costa Rican guide she has ever had has gotten the car stuck one way or another. At least I didn't roll it, crash it, or damage it in any sort of permanent way. Of course, I do have 5 more months...

Spin to Win

2006-12-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

With 2 weeks of Spanish school under my belt, my head hurts. Every day of Spanish school was easily more difficult than any one day of school I ever had at UPS. My daily schedule was strictly regimented to keep me from going completely nuts. As follows:

(Early morning hours, maybe roused by the occasional earthquake, four in two weeks)
7:30- Wakeup with Mama Tica knocking on my door
7:40- breakfast (1st cup of coffee)
7:50- Walk 5 minutes to school (2nd cup as entering building)
8:00- Class starts with conversation and new topic of the day (3rd cup as the bell rings)
10:00- Descanso (10 minute break for minisnack and more coffee)
10:20- Return to class with head spinning (on to 4th or 5th cup)
12:00- Break for lunch, discuss with friends how difficult Spanish school is at our favorite lunch spot, Soda Olivia. Soda Olivia is owned by a crazy woman named Tommy who speaks at least 5 languages, and is fluent in English with a strong NY accent. Her husband Carlos runs the place where they serve the best Casado (CR cuisine at its finest, rice, beans, meat, and salad) in Costa Rica for less than $2US. After lunch, I have 2 hours of conversation class where all of the head hurting and learning seems to pay off, and I continue to discover how much I don't know in the language.

3:00- Class is over. I usually lay in a hammock for a good 15 minutes to decompress before heading home to do homework and cook with my family. Although I've been sitting all day, I am tired like I've just worked a full day on the river.

After a week of classes I was having a hard time sleeping, and was feeling really tired all the time. I decided, on a whim, to check out the exercise options in San Joaquin de Flores. It turns out spinning is the workout craze in Costa Rica. Spinning involves a group of people working out together on stationary bicycles. Its like any group exercise, except the trainer is constantly changing the music, lights, and pace of the workout. I was instantly hooked. During my second week of classes, I never missed a workout. Every day at 5pm, I'd head down to Spin City for an hour session. The workout is especially interesting in a language you don't know. All of the encouragement and enthusiasm of the instructor becomes whatever you imagine it to be. Mind mind often wandered to crew, or the girls spinning next to me.

My family in San Joaquin was fabulous! My parents were Nidia (pron=Kneedeeahh) & Miquel, and their two kids Jimmy (16) and Jason (21). They were very welcoming from the first day to the last day, and always made sure I had enough to eat. Nidia lives at home, and the family hosts students mostly because she enjoys the company. They spoke virtually no English which made coming home both interesting and difficult. They invited me to come back to their house for Christmas and tamales (the CR Christmas specialty). I am sure I will.

Playa Tamarindo

2006-11-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

After my adventures in Playa Brasilito I hopped on a bus to Playa Tamarindo. Tamarindo is blowing up with tourism, but the season hasn´t started yet so there was a fairly mellow vibe. Lots of surfers hit Tamarindo because it it consistent and is close to a few really famous breaks, Witches Rock, Ollies Point and Playa Grande. I rented a board and surfed around for a few days. On my birthday, I spent the whole day laying on the beach and surfing, not a bad way to go.

I met some people (Portia and Alexis) at the hostel and we went out for my birthday. Portia tried to teach me to dance Salsa and it ended up being a great birthday. My first birthday away from friends and family. A landmark of sorts.

A day later Portia and I decided to go on a turtle (maybe) viewing tour. Of course, my history of seeing these kinds of wild animals is pretty sad (remebering not getting to swim with the dolphins in Kaikoura, NZ; the first time the dolphins hadn´t shown in MONTHS!). We got picked up at the hostel around 9:30, and made it to the beach around 10pm. Then began the great search for the turtles... except for not. We didn´t really figure it out until it was too late, but our tour guides got to go out and search for the turtles, while we waited. When (=if) they find one, they´ll get us and take us to see it. Needless to say, they didn´t find any and although the beach was nice, sitting on it for 4 hours getting eaten alive by mosquitoes really put me in a foul mood. Maybe next time.

On the bus back to San Jose, I sat next to Roy, a Tamarindo local who makes necklaces and pendants to sell on the beach. We talked in Spanish for FIVE HOURS! It was awesome. Every conversation is an opportunity to learn more, and I´ve been taking full advantage of that. I think back on my years of doing language in High School and Middle School and I realize two things, a) I was doing it wrong, and b) I would do it again, even though I despised it. The reason I was doing it wrong was that I never had the right attitude on it. I did not see the potential to travel and use it, but rather viewed it as another compulsory piece of the academic puzzle. I am enjoying Spanish thoroughly, and will be spending the upcoming week in Spanish School in San Jose.

SER y ESTAR

2006-11-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

I began Spanish School at Centro Panamericano de Idomas in San Joaquin de Flores on Monday, near San Jose. The school seems very good, and I am really enjoying my professora, Judy. Becuase the season is still low here, I am getting private instruction for the price of group instruction. This is a double edged sword, as I am unable to escape the endless bombardment of questions, answers and prompts. This might kill me, but if it doesn't I might actually learn how to speak Spanish. Only time will tell.

I lose in Playa Brasilito

2006-11-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

After Emily left on the 16th, I took a bus to the Nicoya Peninsula, the northern pacific part of Costa Rica. The LP Book said that the cheapest accomodation in the area was at Playa Brasilito, off the beaten path, not touristy like Tamarindo, a good place to start the Pacific adventure. The actual adventure begins as soon as you get on the bus. The busses in Costa Rica are a) always late, b) too small for tall guys like me, c) sporatic and run rough, d) never go quite where you expect them to, and unless you know where you´re going and where to stop, don´t stop for you. Riding the bus is its own adventure.

I got to Brasilito around 4pm, but the driver didn´t stop and I didn´t realize it until it was too late. I thought ¨I know the road ends in 5km in Playa Flamingo, how bad could this be... maybe I´ll stay there.¨ So I rode to Flamingo. It turns out that Flamingo is a resort village, the cheapest room starting at $250 a night. That seemed a bit out of my budget, so I started to walk back to Brasilito.

The bus driver saw me walking, must have felt bad for me, and offered me a ride back to Brasilito becuase that´s where he was headed. He dropped me in the middle of town (*read=a few shops, a few places to stay, and a soccer field) just as it started to rain. It was only 4:30 and it gets dark at 5:10, so I figured I´d go to the hostel and check in. The LP said this place would be $5, not too bad. When I arrived, the Swiss owner, told me the cheapest room was $20. I hadn´t spent more than $8 anywhere in Costa Rica, so I told him he was crazy and went off pleased that I was going to show him and find a cheaper place to stay. It was pouring rain and getting dark, but I triumphantly walked out into the melle.

I tried the next place down the road, which looked decent, only to find that it was closed for the season. No one could possibly want to be in Costa Rica in November, right? The next place down on the beach looked nicer, but worth an ask. They told me $30 and I asked if I could sleep on the beach in front of the Hotel for $10. They weren´t impressed.

It was getting wetter and darker as I trudged off to find other places to stay. There was a sign pointing me down a dark, puddlefilled alley, but I was getting desperate. I showed up and asked about getting a room, only to find that they were full. They must have been housing all the people that couldn´t go to the other place that was closed. Buggered. I asked a construction worker on the street about getting a place to sleep and he litterally told me to knock on the door of the 4th house down the ally and ask about the bed. This seemed a bit crazy, but hey, if this guy wanted me to sleep at his house, I was all for it. I walked up, knocked on the door and told them, ´I´m looking for a bed, can you help me?´ They said they could help me, but the bed was occupied, and thus were no help. It was totally dark and I was starting to get discouraged.

I tried one last place that was totally dingey, found it was $20, and told the woman that I was okay. I went back to the Swiss, head down in shame, and gave him $20. I lose.

San Carlos and Volcan Arenal

2006-11-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

Emily and I headed to Ciudad Quesado (known as the capital of the San Carlos area) to stay with Esteban, a friend and business partner of Tucker. He has a ranch in Platanar that has 40 or more horses, beautiful landscapes, fields, pastures, and more. The region is known as the wild west of Costa Rica, and many people have farms, ranches, ride horses to town, and work in agriculture.

The ride to San Carlos was beautiful, going through endless green hills and valleys. La Fortuna and Arenal are in the same region, so you can see the volcano from a few places on the drive in. We had some archaic directions from Tucker to get off at the bus stop just past the sugar mill, walk into the bar, tell them "Soy el hijo de la gringa. Estoy buscando por Esteban (I am the son of the gringa (Tucker), I am looking for Esteban)" and it would all work out. So I walk into the bar, tell them that, and they look very confusedly at me. Then a kind fellow at the bar, overhearing the conversation pulls out his cell phone and calls Esteban. There are always guardian angels watching us.

Esteban picked us up, and took us to the Centaura Stables. They were amazing. The hospitality was amazing, "mi casa es su casa" was the truth, and we loved it. We went horseback riding, biking, and almost hot air ballooning.

We spent a day at Arenal, hiking around the active volcano. We rented an awesome scooter and headed for the mountains. The scootering was awesome as we zipped around the countryside, honking at the locals and slowly climbing the hills.

In the evening we went to the Eco-Termales Hotpools which were amazing. As we were leaveing the pools, some guy told us that the clouds around the volcano had cleared and that we could see it. It was awe-inspiring. We could litterally see the molten rocks and stuff spewing out of the volcano, a firey glow in the night sky. Amazing.

We are now back in San Jose and Emily is leaving for Colorado tomorrow morning. Travels are good. My birthday is in two days....

Puerto Viejo

2006-11-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

Puerto Viejo came to us after a few days of resting in Turrialba after climbing Chirripo. PJ or Old Town, as the locals call it, is that ultimate rasta surf caribe town in Costa Rica. Complete with a local bum named, ¨The Ganja Master¨ and enough US expats to fill a small town, Puerto Viejo was an interesting stop for us along the way.

We took a few busses from Turrialba to Siquerres, Siquerres to Limon, Limon to PJ to get there. The bus out of Limon was oversold by at least 10 seats so we had the pleasure of standing in the back, 40 km down a gravel road. The ocean views along the way tempted us, but by the time we reached PJ, it was dark.

The thing to do in PJ is rent bikes and ride around to the beaches. Manzanillo is about 10km down the road, so we did just that. The greatest thing about the bikes they rent is that they are all old cruiser style bikes.. the kind your mom rode when she was in college. Pretty rad. We hooked up with some other americans on the ride over, so they went on the bike crusade with us. We stopped at some beaches along the way and went for prolonged swims, surfs, and body surfing (i.e. getting pounded into the sand, ride after ride). The beaches were picturesque... the kind that you might get on a free windows screensaver. They had perfect rows of palms, clear waters, and were pretty empty. The beaches were amazing.

After two days there, we decided it was time for the next great adventure... Panama!

Cerro Chirripo

2006-11-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

This morning, at 5:10am, Emily and I summitted Cerro Chirripo, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica. It was quite a push, but a beautiful summit and sunrise at the top. The top is at 3820m (12,606ft), and we had climbed from a base camp at 1500ft. It was an epic few days of climbing and time spent in the jungle and cloudforrest. We based out of San Isidro de el General, and spent a miserable night at the cheapest hostel ever ($6US). Getting to Chirripo was an exciting 2 hour ride on a sketchy road toward the mountain town of San Gerardo de Rivas. We stayed at El Descanso, which totally rocked! We had a beautiful room, amazing meals and shuttle to the trailhead from the owner. We were his only guests for the week, so he was pretty good to us.

The climb into the Chirrpo base camp is 15km uphill. You gain more than 2km vert and it burns. From the base, the best way to climb is beginning at 3am to make it by sunrise. Because of the irradic and odd weather patterns in the area, it starts raining every afternoon at 10-11, and even earlier up high. Getting to the top after 7am might leave the whole thing clouded in.

On summit day (today) we hiked to the Summit (5km), back to the base (5km), back to the trailhead (14.5km) and then back to town (1km), so it was quite a day. Estoy consado (tired). Pictures to come.

San Isidro de el General

2006-11-01T07:19:00.000-08:00

San Isidro has been a good experience thus far. Emily and I headed here to get towards Chiripo, the highest mountain in Costa Rica. We stayed in a really fabulous place for $6US which was highlighted by the trucks going by every 5 minutes and the car alarm that went off each time a truck drove by. On top of that, they decided it would be a good idea to fumigate the hotel for mosquitos (which there were none), without telling anyone what they were doing. We thought the place was burning down.

Theres a large church in the centro where we went to a evening mass and tried to understand what was going on. I understood everything that they said, as long as it was ´Santa Maria´ or ´Jesus Cristo´. Otherwise it was kind of a lost cause.

The morning brought sunshine and hot weather. We decided to go to the beach, only to find out that there is only one bus a day to the beach, and that´s at 7am (it was 8 when we found out). We went to a local market where getting a bit to eat was interesting. This guy showed us his drivers licence, and proceeded to wait for us to eat breakfast. I think he wanted to drive us somewhere, but we weren't really having it.

Off to hike Chirripo, the highest peak in Costa Rica. Be back in a few. Happy Halloween (yesterday).

San Jose

2006-10-31T04:21:00.000-08:00

San Jose is the capital city of Costa Rica. Like any big city, it has pollution, lots of people, traffic, bad drivers and bad areas. I needed to come into San Jose to Juan Santa Maria Airport to pick up my friend Emily at the airport. Traveling from Turrialba to San Jose takes 3 bus rides, which is a lot for someone who doesn't really speak Spanish very well.

On this trip I got lucky, and Paula from Serendipity was headed into SJ already, so I got a ride to town. Once there, I had to figure out how to get the the airport. The easy way is to take a cab which costs about $12US. The hard way is to take a bus, which costs about $1US. The problem with the bus system is that if you don't know it, its very difficult to use. Imagine if Broadway and 7th Ave in NY were one continuous bus stop with busses that go all over New York State. The only thing different about this bus stop is that nowhere does it say which buses stop where, when they stop, and where they go. So its kind of a craps shoot.

I managed to figure out which bus I needed to be on via a friendly police officer on the corner in the centro de San Jose. The station was about 10 blocks away so it was quite a haul. I kept seeing the bus I thought I needed go past, stopping at many different places, somehow figuring out who, of the thousands of people waiting on the sidewalks, needed his services. It was organized chaos to say the least.

When I got to the station, I found my bus, and through some very ugly Spanish determined that the bus would indeed go to the airport. What the driver failed to mention (or I failed to understand) is that this bus would stop at every small town between the two and it would take about an hour, maybe more. When I arrived at the airport, I got there right as Em landed, and found great satisfaction in just having gotten there. You don't take the simple things for granted in a place where you know very little. I'm sure the first bus ride is the most difficult.

One other bit about CR. Everyone I've talked to has told me that most Ticos speak English. I'm not really sure where everyone gets this idea, but clearly they never left the safety of their hostel or taxi while in the country. No one on the bus spoke English. I haven't met anyone outside my company who speaks more than a few words of broken English. Maybe I've been in the wrong places, or just those less traveled. Pura vida.

Rio Pejibaye - Upper and Lower - 10.29.06 - III-IV

2006-10-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

The Pejibaye River begins near the mountain village of Taus. Although getting to this river was quite the challenge, the payoff in the upper 3 miles of the river was well worth the drive. We put in at a small finca (farm) about .3 miles above Taus, but there is also river access at the school in Taus for a small fee ($1US).

The river begins with a few of the most challenging rapids before mellowing out into the lush jungle scene. Many of the trees in the section overhang, creating a seemingly isolated river canyon of canopy. The rapids are continuous, although not particularly difficult. The trip was for Serendipity, and was a staff duckie trip. Although no one knew where to go, nor how to paddle a duckie, everyone made it out alive, which was quite amazing, actually. We had numerous wraps, swims and lost paddles. Very entertaining.

About an hour into the run it began pouring rain. Although I was only wearing a PFD, it was warm. Amazing. This is one of the great things about being in the tropics. It poured for about an hour, non-stop, and was great. The water was warm although the locals told me that the Pejibaye is one of the colder rivers in the area.

There are lots of small slots on the river which could easily become strainers if the overhanging trees dropped limbs or fell in the river. The gradient is about 80-90 fpm for the Upper and mellows to 40-50 fpm in the lower.

The lower section has one significant rapid where the river drops out of sight on a sweeping right turn with some boulders down below. It can be run right or left, but had an enormous tree wedged in the rocks when we were there. Approach cautiously.

The takeout for the lower Pejibaye is at the bridge at Oriente. There is a large parking area and picnic area on the right side of the bridge.

Turrialba

2006-10-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Turrialba area where I am living has quite an interesting history. For many years, Turrialba was the train connection between the Caribbean and Pacific shores. A train ran through the city, there was commerce, and the area grew with people and money.

In the later 80's and 90's, roads were built to connect Turrialba to San Jose, and the coasts, which eliminated the need for the rail. Although the town didn't stop using the train for much of its imports and exports, the reduced reliance on the train cut jobs and the area went into decline.

The final nail in the railway came with an earthquake in 1991 that destroyed the railway in the Reventazon River Canyon. With this irreparable damage done, the town declined further, and many people moved out of the area.

The growing popularity of Costa Rica as an ecotour destination brought commerce and US dollars to the area, and it has stabilized in the last decade. The history of the area has contributed to its rich culture and diversity of Costa Ricans. There are black ticos from the Caribbean, alongside the lighter skinned ticos from the Pacific. There are Indians, indigenos, alongside the occasional American ex-pat who is running an ecotour business such as a rafting company, jungle exploration company, or cycle touring company. It is a rich and diverse landscape.

The Turrialba area is, in many ways, off the beaten path. You must cross the continental divide (*read=Rocky Mountains, 2000 miles south), take a few different busses, and speak spanish beause few of the people in Turrialba speak english. It is my good luck that there are few english speakers; I need the practice with the Spanish, and I am really enjoying being forced into the uncertain. Not knowing what they are saying, but knowing that in a few short months, I will. This excites me.

First thoughts on Costa Rica...

2006-10-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

I've been in Costa Rica for a few days now. I have been settling in at Serendipity, which turns out to be way more than just a company. I am living in a true palace, Casa Volare (I am flying), complete with surrounding windows and a view to die for. Costa Rica lies on the continental divide. The mountains bend and fold through the country, creating steep winding roads, deep river valleys, and wide open skies.

I was lucky to pass through customs without a hickup. They didn't search any of my things on the way into the country, and just waved me through without a second thought. The airport was as expected: hot, congested, full of taxi drivers and buses eager to push their services on the weary traveler. Once the flood of new arrivals came through the gate, the taxi drivers and street vendors backed off the gate, chatted to each other, smiled. Everyone in Costa Rica is always smiling.

About an hour later Tucker picked me up at the airport in Rosita, a red landrover infamous in Costa Rica. We zipped off to the market for some food before heading out of San Jose to the Turrialba area. Driving through San Jose may have been the craziest experience yet. There are no lines marking the 4-6 lanes of the main streets, and traffic laws are observed as mere suggestions of conduct. Basically, its a free-for-all. We zipped through the traffic with little regard for the hundreds of people, cars, animals, and bustle of the city. As Tucker explained, "You don't need to be scared, our car is bigger. They WILL yield."

Tucker is an impressive woman. She runs numerous companies, employs an amazing number of people, and does it all from her balcony overlooking the Turrialba valley. She loves people and good stories. She has crossed paths with many famous people in her life including the Kennedy family, Pink Floyd, and others, and has done it all through her love of hot air ballooning. Talking with her, you would never know the power she commands through her ideas, entrepreneurial spirit, and kindheartedness.

On my first night in Costa Rica, we arrived at Casa Volare just after dark. When we pulled in to the car port, I noticed smoke coming from the hood of the car. Tucker smiled knowingly and told me that it wasn't the car, but rather, we were in a cloud. Each evening, when the air cools, the clouds drop from the sky and fall into the Turrialba valley. 5 minutes later the cloud was below the house, and I was able to look out on a white blanket covering the valley. It was too dark to see the volcanoes or the valley; simply the moon reflecting off the clouds. Five more minutes passed and the clouds had dropped below Turrialba. An entire city came into view as the hundred of lights in the town peaked through the settling clouds.

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Tucker sent me on a mission into Turrialba yesterday with Wilbur, a non-English speaking Tico who serves as a chauffeur for the company. Through his patience and my poor spanish, we managed to communicate and run some errands. At each stop, the vendors we encountered shook our hands and passed with a friendly "Pura Vida,' or "Que paso." The light attitude fills the streets alongside the poorly remixed American music and the constant whistling of men at the passing women.

Kayaks on a plane

2006-10-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

Its been a few marvelous days of my brother getting married, driving to LA, and making final preparations for my trip to Costa Rica. There are many things that go into packing and planning for a trip, most of which I enjoy doing in the last few hours. Getting a kayak on an airplane is pretty much impossible. There are a number of websites that advise how to do it, but basically, it comes down to who is checking you in at the airport, the mood they're in, and how much money you are willing to pay (*read=bribe) them.

Making your kayak look like less of a kayak, and more of a surf board, fun board, kite board, surf ski, surf kite board ski, ect.. the better your odds are of getting it on the plane. Uncle Stewart and I went to a packaging store where I purchased 1500 Ft of stretch wrap for $15. I wrapped my kayak like a mummy in this stuff with hopes to get it passed onto the airplane with as little grief as possible. I decided in the end to bring a Creek Boat with me. It is more inconvenient on the way in, but it will be a more versitile boat once I am there. If the creek boat gets stopped in the airport, I will be able to run back to my car, change to the playboat and get that checked instead. Hopefully it will all go smoothly. I'll let you all know how this goes in my next posting from Turrialba, Costa Rica! Pura vida. Love life.

To blog or not to blog...

2006-10-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm actually doing it. After careful consideration, I've decided to keep track of all my Costa Rica adventures with this blog. Although I shudder when the word blog is mentioned, this seems like the best option for a few reasons:

1) I don't want to take a laptop to Costa Rica
2) Everything in Costa Rica gets stolen (see #1)
3) There is lots of internet access in CR where I can update a blog
4) I can put this all on my website, http://www.daysontheriver.com when I get home

So, this is the record of my travels, days on the river, and adventures while abroad. Pura vida.