We arrived in Futaleufu the morning of January 26th, deciding to immediately sort out our rafting trip for the following day. Having decided to go with on a full day trip (20 kilometers from Azul River to Futaleufú River) with Patagonia Elements, we stopped by their office to arrange our trip. After that we had the rest of the day free so we took some time for two of Chile’s pastimes – a rodeo and a completo!
On the morning of January 27th we headed down to Patagonia Elements for our rafting trip. Let me give you a little background on rafting in Chile.
In the 1980’s there was a river which was known as one of the best whitewater rafting areas in the world – the Bio Bio River, named for the singing of the Fio Fio bird by the Mapuche language. The Bio Bio River is the widest river and the second largest in Chile, which is why when the power company Endesa (formerly Chilean state-run, now 60% Spanish-owned) was looking for hydropower, they chose that area for construction of the Pangue dam. While the dam’s construction was halted in Chile’s legal system, it was eventually decided that the water rights of Endesa took precedence over the water rights of farmers downstream who had sued.
The Bio Bio River had historically served as a borderline between Mapuche and Spanish territories. Many indigenous decedents of these Mapuche (known as the Pehuenche) were still living in the area when the Pangue dam was constructed; its construction displaced them despite their fight for their land. In fact, in an article published just one month ago I read that the body of Mapuche Indian leader Nicolasa Quintreman had been found floating in the Lago Ralco reservoir – a reservoir she tried to prevent in a public fight against Endesa.
The building of the dam also ended great rafting on the Bio Bio.
Mining in Northern Chile (the mine’s energy requirements consume 37% of Chile’s energy) has led to Endesa looking to build five additional dams by 2020 on rivers in Patagonia including the Pascua and the Baker River in a project called HidroAysen. These dams would effectively end rafting and kayaking on the Futaleufu in the next 5 to 10 years, which brings 80% of the tourism to the city of Futaleufu. It is evident how important the river is in just the city’s name – which means “big river” in the Mapuche language.
When Colin and I got to Patagonia Elements’ headquarters we saw the rafts we were to be using, which were being loaded onto ramps which the cars would carry to the river. The company came across as professional and we felt very secure even to raft class 5 rapids as the guides had more than 15 years of experience and we were bringing two kayakers with us as safety, along with another manned safety raft or cataraft. I’ve been white water rafting before, but not with this level of safety so it was great!
Colin and I got in the van and we headed off to pick up 3 more people, a German family camping nearby. The rafting trip was underway! Once we got to the river we got into our wetsuits and lifejackets. There were even little boots for our feet, windbreakers, and helmets to protect us from any rocks! Set in our new uniforms we headed down to the raft.
The beginning of the trip was along a relatively flat area where we were able to learn some of the skills we’d need during the trip. We learned that while our guide Christian could steer the raft to the left or right, he could not control the speed we’d be traveling at – that was our job. Some of the commands were easy – “forward” or “back paddle” were self-explanatory, although Christian did note that we should use our whole body to row instead of just our arms to prevent exhaustion.
A few of the commands were a bit more tricky, such as the ones which balance the boat to prevent it from flipping. If he called for an “over left,” those sitting on the right-hand side of the boat would have to move quickly to the left side and grab on to the rope, in fact, everyone including those sitting on the left had to hold the rope. An “over right” was the opposite move. Since Colin and I were sitting on the left, this mean we had to throw ourselves on the right-hand side!
We also learned how to keep the group in the boat. Christian might call for us to “lean in” (lean in to the center of the raft) or “get down” (get all the way inside the raft) which would be a move executed when a particularly big wave of water was at risk of causing one of us to be a “swimmer” or end up in the water!
If we did end up in the water (which was quite possible on a river with class 5 rapids!) we had plenty of people around to keep us safe. If swimming back to the raft didn’t work and we were swept away from the rope there were 3 people who could help us – 2 kayakers and 1 safety catamaran-raft or cataraft. The kayakers were young super skilled guys in 1 person kayaks which seemed to be attached to them like they were half-dolphin. They moved quickly and expertly – and they were ‘surfing’ the waves in front of us sometimes doing Eskimo rolls in the water. If we reached one of them, there were handles we could grab onto and hold, pulling ourselves onto the kayak with half our body. If we ended up past the kayakers somehow, there was then a cataraft which was much larger than the kayaks so that it could hold everyone just in case our main raft flipped. But we hoped this wouldn’t happen today!
Our new techniques down, we started the main part of our trip. We began rafting from the Azul River to the Futaleufú River in the map you can see below. Starting in the center of the map, we rafted to the left down all those rapids marked by different grade colors. Yes, we rafted all those class 4 and class 5 rapids you see! My first class 5 rapids, and impressively, Colin’s first time ever rafting as well. Christian took little videos of us as we road the rapids – I’ll post some of those here to show exactly what we encountered!
While the river started off slowly, once we hit the rapids they kept coming! Almost immediately we were thrown into a Class 4 (very difficult long rapids with high waves and dangerous rocks) called “Asleep at the Wheel” and a Class 5 (extremely difficult and violent rapids and currents with an extremely obstructed riverbed) called “Terminator” which tested our new skills. At one point we got stuck near a rock and had to complete an “over right” so the boat could get free! Christian had explained to us that sometimes the boulders in the river can created “holes” (like the one in the photo below on the left) in the river which is where the river flows back on itself. These are extremely dangerous because if you get stuck in one the raft can easily flip and the current can drag you into the hole which would create a violent stop – causing damage. We listened to Christian’s directions and made sure to avoid the hole! My favorite rapid of the day was a Class 5 called “Himalaya” which threw two massive waves at us and spun the raft around 180 degrees! It’s all on video!
After these tough rapids we stopped for a well deserved lunch which was some yummy pasta salad, sandwiches, and lots of other snacks like cookies and peanuts. Carbs for the next set of rapids!
Back on the river we got to really enjoy the absolutely stunning scenery around us for a while. We saw some bright blue kingfishers and Colin spotted some mammals along the river. It all seemed pretty easy until one of the main Class 5 rapids called “Mundaca” which was more challenging! The best of all came at the end section of the river though. There was one part before a rapid called “Casa de Piedra” or the “Stone House” where Christian said he had to scout ahead to see what we were up against. The water level that day wasn’t too high or too low – medium seemed to be perfect and our rapids were challenging but not too dangerous. What made this rapid tough wasn’t the water though, it was the rocks! It was a very “technical” rapid meaning that if you didn’t get the angles correct you could end up in the water very quickly. Thankfully we managed to stay in the boat – even if we had to “get down!”
Once we reached the end of the river we saw our car waiting and got changed out of our wetsuits. But not before giving a final word on how much we enjoyed the day. Colin and I took a few last photos of the river (which was flowing so fast; we couldn’t believe we had just rafted down it!) before heading back with everyone for a beer together at the office in town. We waited for our videos to be prepared while hearing stories.
If the dam proposed by Endesa moves forward and is built (which looks likely considering the close – many would say corrupt – ties between the politicians of Chile and its shareholders) rafting the Futaleufu River as we had just done will only be possible for the next 5 to 10 years at the most. There is a movement called Patagonia Sin Represas which is fighting against the dams in Patagonia which many have involved themselves in because of the environmental damage which will result from the building of the dams. Colin and I witnessed the color change in the water around General Carrera lake (from a beautiful blue to a murky brown) due to the mining damage in the region – I can only imagine the further damage to the environment if dams make their way all over Patagonia.
Francesca
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