By Andi Brunner
“No entiendo,” probably the words we used most during our Chile trip. It’s Spanish for, “I don’t understand.”
Andi Brunner is a regular contributor to the Paddler magazine. Andi is the Source to Sea Pro Team Manager and a member of the Jackson kayak team. He says, “Kayaking is one of the most important things in my life. Being on the river is unique, you have this feeling which one can’t get elsewhere. I am happy when I’m on the water and I’d say that one of my strengths is to share this happiness with others!”
Chile – Paddling through the Jungle
Not one of our group were able to speak Spanish but we were all smart guys and nothing could go wrong, well, that’s what we thought! Let’s just say we used our arms and legs more in terms of communication than paddling. At some point we figured out that the best way was to say, “Si,” and just carry on.
Our group was: Andy, Kilian, Michi and Benni.
Rio Claro
After the pretence of saying, “Si,” a few more times, we got our car and the trip could start. As some of us already had been to Chile before, we knew which rivers were good, how to get to them and where we could sleep, etc, so we directly headed south to the Rio Claro – THE river of Chile. We arrived at night and just put our mattresses and sleeping bags on the wooden viewing platform and slept – the flight and driving had been quite exhausting!
Dreaming of hard rapids, wonderful days, funny moments, the first sun rays woke us up, or rather the 10,000 tourists who have already arrived super early – it’s an interesting feeling to have breakfast next to some tourists taking selfies. Super excited we drove until the road stopped and from there we had to hike up. Finally at the put-in, we couldn’t wait to get in our boats – we had medium water level and good weather, perfect conditions for the first day! Stoke was high so we decided to run all three sections: the 22 Saltos, the in-between section and the Seven Teacups. The clear water and clean drops felt so good, we truly felt at this point that we had arrived in Chile!
A warning though – take care of the Tarantulas in this valley! Once I was surrounded by three of them and had to perform like a ninja to avoid any unwanted confrontations.
Waterfalls
After the Rio Claro we continued our way south. The water levels were not that high, so we decided to go as far south as fast as we could, making only one stop before Pucon. This stop had two waterfalls: the Blanco del Sur and the Tomatita.
The Blanco del Sur is an easy ten-metre waterfall, perfect to practice the right waterfall technique. Again there were some tourists but this time they cheered us up. To be fair, they also made some selfies…
After we finished with the Blanco del Sur we went on to the Tomatita – a 15-metre high waterfall that offers great scenery. There’s not much on the way to the waterfall and you could count yourself lucky if you met other people, the only meetings we had with lonely trees – not even tourists.
Pucon
Fired up after the those two amazing waterfalls, we were in the perfect mood to go to Pucon, one of the kayaking centres of Chile, with many rivers and kayakers. Our stoke was even higher and we decided to go to the Palguin because the Palguin is just fun. It’s a short run that takes just 15 minutes if you know it. We had quite a lot of water and we proceeded to enjoy each lap more than the other. At some point t was decided to do party laps, mis amigos and I had a great time on the Palguin!
Fuy
A few days later we left Pucon. The next river on our list was the Fuy. It’s a beautiful river which has it all – drops, waterfalls, steep rapids, good waves for surfing and an incredibly picturesque landscape. We had quite high water levels, so it was even more fun, which for me made the Fuy, the best river in Chile!
At the triple combo there was a nice viewing platform where we found some tourists – I hope we didn’t ruin anyones new Instagram profile picture!
Rio Gol Gol
Our trip continued with driving into the direction where the sun reaches its highest point – towards the mighty Futaleufu! Going there we had to pass the border of Argentina, where just before there is the super classy Rio Gol Gol. We drove to the put-in and had a look on the first drop. Yes, good flows, so we immediately started changing to get on. Basically, this section is just about six drops/waterfalls but those six are unique. One of them just makes you go deep, yet on another one you have to do a ferry just before an intense drop of five metres. It is a really technical run and one of my favourites in Chile!
If you ever get the chance to paddle the Gol Gol, you should stay at the Camping del Indio! They are super-friendly to kayakers and offer them us a great price! Do not camp in the wilderness as rangers may appear and ban you from the area.
We wanted to cross the border but after hours of paper chaos they told us that it is not allowed to bring fruits and vegetables. As we didn’t want them to throw them away, we decided to stay one more day on the Gol Gol, eat everything we had and then cross the border. It sounded like the best plan ever with great runs on the Gol Gol, good food and a hot shower on the campsite. The next morning we went to the border again (just five minutes driving from the campsite) and proudly told them we had no frutas y verduras.
Again some paper chaos, they checked our car and disinfected the kayaks and one hour later, we were eventually allowed to pass. Already quite hungry but still in a good mood, we started driving. “Let’s stop at the next supermarket to get some food,” somebody said, naive as we were. First we had to drive through the no-man’s land, which extended over 30 kilometres. Then we arrived at the Argentinian side of the border, again more paper chaos and checking of our car. They were probably looking for a dog, as the growling of my belly sounded like one. They didn’t find one and let us pass! So we started again to look for a supermarket and it felt like an eternity until we finally arrived at one. Some Empanadas later the world looked bright again.
Futaleufu
With full stomachs, we set off for the Futaleufu – actually us paddlers call it the Futa. When we arrived there we realized there’s very little there, except for a small village and an endless dirt road, which is quite nice. Unfortunately we couldn’t impress anybody with our “Si” as nobody was there… not even tourists.
It has to be mentioned that the Futa is a magical place. Its crystal clear blue water makes you feel as if you’re in the middle of a fairy tale. The first part of the river is called ‘Inferno Canyon,’ which is not very long but quite pushy. Before you go my advice would be to do a warm-up on the lower section. After Inferno Canyon the Futa becomes calm with about 15 kilometres of flat-water, however, there are three rapids in this 15 km section that are quite hot. After that you will find the famous ‘Bridge to bridge’ section – a nice class III-IV run.
We spent several days at the Futa before we set off to the north again.
Rio Puelo
Our way back up north led us once again through Argentina. This time, we knew how the border worked and we wouldn’t starve to death a second time, as we cooked ourselves a huge dinner and everybody got really stuffed. We still had some oats and milk for the breakfast to survive until the next supermarket – I mean, what could possibly go wrong with this plan? So with full stomachs and no frutas y verduras, we arrived at the border. It was 21.00 hours and there was nobody with the exception of one soldier. He told us that the border had closed at 20.00 hours. So we slept there, had a delicious breakfast in the morning and started with getting through the border. We already knew how this would evolve and so many hours later, we had a big snack and some Empanadas.
The next river we did was the Puelo, which is very remote. First you have to take a ferry and then drive and drive and drive on a dirt road. The Puelo is a big water run and reminded me of the Futa. It’s like a continuous Inferno Canyon where you paddle an hour of class IV-V big blue water in an amazing landscape. The Puelo is terrific, just behind the Fuy, this one is my second favourite river in Chile!
The way back
We had only a few days left so we drove further north to Pucon for one last party lap on the Palguin before we sold our kayaks. It was time to start the journey back home. We spent one day driving to the airport, handed back our car and got on the plane. It was a great trip with many experiences, paddling many cool rivers, big rapids and waterfalls. If you’d ask me if we had an amazing time there, I answered with one word: “Si!”
