3/23/2002: 43º11' south; Futaleufù, Chile: day in transit

It was once again pouring rain in Chaiten when I awoke. Rita, the owner of the hospedaje that we are staying at, has a great upbeat attitude about the rain- "I love the rain. It makes the plants green and is great for sleeping". Indeed, hospedaje Rita has a tin roof, and the rain pounding on the roof generates just the right level of white noise for really deep sleep.

Having previously decided to take a bus up to Futaleufù, I went over to the bus station in the morning to buy a ticket. When I told the lady that I had a bike, she said that she didn't think it would fit, as the bus for the day was a minivan with no roof rack. But she took my money and said that I should talk to the driver at noon. So I trudged off in the rain to the internet cafe and sent a few e-mails, returning at noon to find no one there. Arranging transportation is difficult in this neck of the woods, and it is times like these that make me thankful that I am traveling by bike most of the time. I return to Rita's to get out of the rain and share an afternoon cup of tea and some bread with jam. Then it's back over to the bus station at 2:30 (the bus leaves at 3) to talk to the driver. This time he is there, but he takes one look at my bike and says "No way." "But I already have my ticket" I reply. "It is not possible" he counters. "Look", I say, pointing to the space next to the seats in the van, "Put it right there." "Nope, we have to use the fold-down seats." And so the conversation goes for the next 15 minutes. After realizing that I am not going to give up he throws up his hands and drives off. Soon the other passengers arrive at the bus station, and the driver returns with a pretty flimsy looking piece of cord. The bags for the eight passengers are loaded in the back, and after it is closed he takes the cord and instructs me to loosen the handlebars and turn them parallel with the frame. Having done this, I hand the bike to him and he sets the tires on the bumper and swiftly ties the bike to the back of the van. All of the sudden what was impossible is now not only possible, but has obviously been done before. Sometimes a little persistence will go a long way. I worry about the bike falling off throughout the four hour ride up to Futaleufù, but when we arrive the bike is there with nothing missing. After unloading my gear from the van I turn the handlebar back to its normal position, load up, and ride a couple of blocks over to the Rio Grande hotel, headquarters for Expediciones Chile (Click Here) to get a room, have dinner, and find out what is up with the kayaking scene in town.

Due to the rainy weather for the past few weeks, just about everyone has left town. The weather is cold, the water is high, and the town of Futaleufù is returning to it's natural state of sleepy little hamlet. Karen from Maine is here for a week of instruction, and there is a film crew here from the Discovery Channel show Exploring Horizons who will be filming a raft trip on Monday. Both trips are organized by Chris Spelius, owner of Expediciones Chile, and after talking with him a while he invites me to join Karen and her guide Alejandro for a day of kayaking on the Espolon and also to join the raft trip on Monday. Chris' friend Don joins us for dinner, and together they recount their descent of Niagara Falls (not the primary falls, but a chute off to the side). Don is quite the story teller, and I wish that I could recount the tale in his words. Here is a condensed version in my own words:

As it is today, Kayaking any part of the falls was illegal at the time (late 70's?), and so Chris and Don attempted a clandestine put in. The park rangers, however, saw them putting in and came down to arrest them. While Chris was busy putting on, Don shouted back and fourth with the rangers over 10 feet of boulders lining the shore. After a while Don asked the rangers how much the fine was, and they replied $200. He then asked if it would be any higher at the bottom, and when they replied no he said "Well, may as well get my moneys worth" and got into his kayak. At the time kayak spray skirts (which keep water out of the cockpit) were rather problematic, and so he and Chris had glued the sprayskirts to the deck of the boat, and it took a while for Don to struggle into his boat through the tunnel of the sprayskirt. All the while the rangers looked on because they were too out of shape to climb over the 10 feet of boulders separating them from Don and Chris. So Don and Chris turn down stream to run the big nasty drop, and all of their worries with the rangers are forgotten for the time being. After several minutes of hair raising whitewater, they emerge at the bottom intact, and now the rangers are really mad. A helicopter sweeps over them and Chris and Don decide to split up- Chris taking the Canadian shore and Don the US shore. For a while the helicopter stayed with Chris as Don sprinted down river, but then it turned and chased Don. Chris got out and hiked through the woods, finding a ride to a border crossing miles away and escaping capture. Meanwhile Don pulled to shore and the helicopter radioed in the troops. Soon Don was surrounded by huffing rangers in bright orange vests, and after a bit of running around he gave up and they immediately handcuffed him. They then attempted to carry his boat up the hill, and when the could not do it, Don offered to carry it if they would take the handcuffs off. So they did, and after carrying the boat up the hill he put it down and they immediately handcuffed him again so that the press could get photos of the perpetrator. After a night in jail and a $50 fine, Don was released, and now his kayak rests in the "Daredevil hall of fame" at Niagara Falls next to barrels and various other contraptions.

3/24/2002: 43º11' south; Futaleufù, Chile: river day

After a casual breakfast with Karen and Alejandro, we load the boats and head out for a rainy day on the Espolon. Better a rainy day kayaking than a rainy day biking! The Espolon is a fun class II/III river with some great play spots, and it felt really good to be in a boat again. We didn't hurry, and when we found good places to play we stayed for a while. Karen is a good and conservative boater, taking a day or two to get used to the big water before tackling the Fu. Chris refers to Alejandro as the grandfather of Argentine kayaking, as he began kayaking around Bariloche in the early '80s. I'm almost as old as Alejandro, and have been boating for nearly as long, but thankfully no one refers to me as the grandfather of kayaking in Colorado! Alejandro is a great guy with a quiet and good humor, and I look forward to doing some kayaking with him in Bariloche. He now runs the kayaking and rafting business ExtremoSur in Bariloche (Click here for his website in Spanish).

3/25/2002: 43º11' south; Futaleufù, Chile: river day

There was a bit of fog in the morning, but it burned off quickly, and the sky was cloudless for the morning and much of the afternoon. Wooo Hooo! It's the first time in weeks that I have seen so much blue sky. Which is a good thing, because I spent a lot of time waiting around outside. The raft trip today is the only game in town, so I have decided to join them and get a first hand look at the Fu. The crew from Arctic Jungle Films was filming the raft trip for the show Exploring Horizons, and so they are pretty much set the agenda. Since it was the first nice weather for weeks, they wanted to get their ultralight gliders going to do some filming. But the gliders were not cooperating, so after a while the plan was changed and they decided to film from the boats. Which meant that we had to wait a bit more at the put in so that they could ensure that all of the equipment was waterproofed. On the paddle raft they had a wide angle lens mounted to the bow looking back, and a "Helmet Cam" taped to the helmet of our guide Ben (the lens that is- the actual camera is in a backpack on his back). There were also two cameramen riding the cataraft in front of us, and they would stop and shoot film while we were running the rapids. All of which took some time, but in the end everyone had fun, and some time next fall we may all end up on the Exploring Horizons show (Click Here for the Arctic Jungle Films web site). So although I didn't get any good photos myself, the trip was well documented.

Tres Monjas mountain as seen from our put-in on the Futaleufù

		Return to Boating Page
					Forward to Bike Leg 8
	Back to Pumalin