Whitewater on the Fu

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Well, it’s raining in Futaleufu…

We’ve come here to roll the dice on a very late season run of the world-class whitewater rapids of the Rio Futaleufu, reputedly (depending of course on who you talk to) one of the top 3 whitewater rivers in the world.

With the river completely to ourselves, Cathy & I assumed the helm for the first “bridge to bridge” stretch and we attacked the rapids with vigor, conquering the rapids Magic Carpet (Class IV), Pillows (Class IV), Cara de Indio (Class IV), Mundaca (Class V), Cazuela (Class IV), and Tiburon (Class IV) over a 40 minute stretch of non-stop rapids action. WOO-HOO!! The second section of the day was the “Casa de Piedra” section where we’d crank up the volume as surf thru the rapids Mas o Menos (Class V), Right Turn (Class IV) and finally the bigboy, Casa de Piedra (“House of Rock”), a very full Class V that splits the river in two right down the middle. YEE-HAW!!!

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Adding the requisite 6 months here for season conversion and calculating the equivalent latitude line in the northern hemisphere puts us at early October in Toronto to go whitewater rafting…not the optimal time of year or place, for that matter.

Photos (Futaleufu): http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothyshoup/sets/72157604603900942/

Mid-morning Friday, Cathy & I walked out of Antigua Casona in the spritzing rain and headed over to Futaleufu Explore, the only game left in town for whitewater at this late date. We were greeted by an aging hippie from Durango, Colorado named Josh…who immediately triggered the redline on my bullshit meter. Josh simply comes across as if he’s lying about everything and anything, and I really think he is lying about everything and anything.

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We inquired as to runs and pricing, and he said a trip was leaving tomorrow (Saturday) that we could jump on. We asked how many other people were going, and he said, “Well just you two”. Oh really?!?! We asked if anyone else had inquired about a trip and he said, “Oh yeah, a couple people”.  Lie again!

But just then, a couple guys from Israel, Alon & Uriel, walked up also looking to do a whitewater trip. But Saturday was out for them…the Sabbath, you know, and they could only do a Sunday trip…Josh tried in vain to talk them into going Saturday, and demonstrated a complete lack of respect for their religious beliefs in the process. Eventually we decided upon a Sunday trip leaving around 10:30am for what Josh promised would be a 3-hour trip…why am I suspicious again?

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Heading out on the Christian Sabbath (we have no issues with rafting on a Sunday…not that we’re all that religious either), Cathy & I arrived an hour before departure…in all the hubbub of our late night, after-hours border crossing we’d forgotten to change our watches (no wonder the old lady running Antigua Casona looked at us like we were on crack when we showed up “on time” for our 9:30am breakfast…I’m sure she thought we were a couple of dumb gringos who had no idea how to keep an appointment).

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After wasting an hour, we showed back up at the real Chilean 10:30am for our departure and hopped in Josh’s dilapidated, on it’s last legs truck around 11:30am with a couple other guides (one local, one from Germany working over here) for an hour-long ride out to the Rio Futaleufu portage.

Dressing in full wetsuit gear, neoprene bodysuits, caps & booties, donning plastic helmets and snapping some amusing photos of ourselves, we received the requisite safety instruction and briefing from Josh, boarded our inflatables and set down the Rio Futaleufu on a cold, overcast, rainy day in the early afternoon.

Whitewater on the Fu 23 - Casa de Piedra.JPG
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With the river completely to ourselves, Cathy & I assumed the helm for the first “bridge to bridge” stretch and we attacked the rapids with vigor, conquering the rapids Magic Carpet (Class IV), Pillows (Class IV), Cara de Indio (Class IV), Mundaca (Class V), Cazuela (Class IV), and Tiburon (Class IV) over a 40 minute stretch of non-stop rapids action. WOO-HOO!!  The second section of the day was the “Casa de Piedra” section where we’d crank up the volume as surf thru the rapids Mas o Menos (Class V), Right Turn (Class IV) and finally the bigboy, Casa de Piedra (“House of Rock”), a very full Class V that splits the river in two right down the middle. YEE-HAW!!!

Whitewater on the Fu 19 - WOO-HOO!.JPG
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Photos (Rio Futaleufu): http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothyshoup/sets/72157604608023207/

By the time we arrived at our takeout at El Macal, we were drenched, shivering and shaking, and basically freezing…after a wild ride down some of the best whitewater in the world, and after a rock-ledge jump mid-way thru the rafting day and into the below 50-degree Fahrenheit waters…whew, chilly!!!

Done and freezing around 2:40pm (Josh’s 3-hour estimate was complete bullshit, it only took 1:40…but I was grateful for once that he completely lied about something), we changed clothes in a chilling, light drizzle, dried off with towels, put on warm, dry layers and drank watered-down hot cocoa (chocolate drink really…not the same, but any warm liquid was been good at that point).

Heading over to an open, outdoor shelter owned by local family, we ravenously devoured a lunch of sandwiches, made with fresh avocado wedges, sliced banana peppers, Aji Chileno (a spicy sauce), sliced turkey, tomatoes, mayo & mustard, and accompanied by potato chips, small, yellow plums and fresh bread & marmalade.

All said and done, despite the weather, rain, cold, and Josh’s continued antics, we had a blast and the trip (and associated drama) was well worth the trouble.

We exited Futaleufu the following day after some finger-wagging from the old maid running Antigua Casona…she was upset that we had spilled red wine on the beautiful white, duvet-style comforter in our room.  She asked what she was supposed to do, we told her get some bleach, she didn’t seem to happy about that answer and was probably hitting us up for more money (we were already paying US$55 per night for the place) but we didn’t play along.

Crossing the border back into Argentina at the same Futaleufu border crossing (this time in broad daylight and without fruit and/or other consumables), we set out north for the beautiful Parque Nacional Los Alerces…