Rio Apurimac

After finishing up the Rio Colca we headed to Cusco with our kayaks to paddle the Rio Apurimac. Definitely a much easier river to get on compared to the Cotahuasi and the Colca, the Apurimac is run commercially on a regular basis by a few different rafting companies. We caught a ride to the river with Mayuc Expeditions. They were sweet and super friendly. We ended up doing the Apurimac in two days with no trouble at all (putting on at about 3pm and taking off the next day by noon). Most commercial trips take three days. The river is amazing, super beautiful and a bit higher flow than the other two rivers we did. I would say by take out we had about 2500cfs (which is low for the river bed). There were two harder rapids on the run (solid class 5) which we opted to portage. Other than that it was read and run class four with some spicier class fours thrown in here and there. The scenery was amazing, more jungle like with smooth round granite. The camping was killer and the bugs weren´t terrible. It seems to rain out in this area on and off all the time so I would be ready for that. We had rain our first night and during the second day, but the water and weather are warm. After finishing the run and hanging out on the road at take out a semi truck picked us up and rolled us all the way to Cusco. The the driver drove safe but his truck was pretty much falling apart. We made it safe and sound and preceded to try and sell our boats and gear.

Put-in Road Rio Apurimac

Rio Apurimac

Take-out Ride

Paddling down Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon was the bomb. More like the Grand Canyon in vertical scale but with a constant threat of rock fall everywhere. We paddled pretty much the whole thing in a day and then headed back to Arequipa to recuperate for another day. John and I ran the local river in Arequipa called Rio Chili. This turned out to be a great low water class 3 and four party with smooth rocks and tight drops. We got a ride from the local raft company and met some of the local kayakers. A highlight from this river was getting to put in where there is a great rock climbing area and super cold water coming out of a hydro pipe. The run finished with a sweet boof over a ten foot dam into a deep pool. We arranged for an overnight bus ride to Cusco and just arrived here this morning. We are staying at this crazy backpacker hostal right now with a ball room like the ones at Burger king, ping pong tables and a couple bars. We have arranged for transportation tomorrow to the Apurimac River which is the 3rd deepest canyon in Peru and all of the Americas. We are getting a ride with the local raft company and trying to negotiate the sale of our boats. Things are busy in this town as it is the tourist capital of South America being right outside of Machu Pichu which we will most likely see at the end of our trip. Things are going well and the best food we have had since we arrived here is this thing called Rocotto Relleno which is a huge spicy bell pepper stuffed with Alpaca meat and a fried potato on the side. We are all missing home a bit now as the beer is not very good here. I would compare it mostly to Hamms. Peace and Love,
Wolfgram

Pictures coming soon

Kayaking in Peru- Rio Colca

         Right after arriving in Arequipa we rested up for one night and headed straight to Lunar Canyon on the Rio Colca. We took an early morning bus ride and before we knew it we were in the town of Huambo. We thought we had burros (pack mules) coming to help us carry our boats for the 6 hour hike down to the river. Turns out that the burro driver was celebrating after ripping off the last group and was drunk somewhere in town (expect to pay around 30 soles plus driver fee/tip). Spending the night in town the Alex´s went out in search of another burrow driver the next morning. They were able to find two locals and before we knew it Equipo Cuatro y Cuatro had formed. In a fashion that Don Quixote would have envied we began the long march down to the river. One important thing if you ever do this run is to hire a burrow driver. The road is being built but, it will be years before it is complete. Hiking with a loaded boat would be just, sketchy. On the hike you are walking under what I can only describe as avalanche paths. One such path was fresh enough that our footsteps were the first to cross it. Mean while a cloud of dust is visible rising from a fresh slide in the distance behind us. The path is only a foot wide and very steep dropping down into another canyon 800 ft down on your left. Make sure your boat is strapped on to the burrow or its going to go for a long slide to the bottom.
          Our team arrived down at the river in the dark and after a dinner of pistachios, went to bed. There are hot springs here but we were to tired to look for them. I guess you are supposed to wade into the river and search around for where they come out of the bottom. Another early morning, it seems to be a theme with our group, and we hit the river. After a short paddle you reach a confluence with a river coming in on the right. This is the best spot to pump water, the water at put in is warm and full of sulfur and algae. Then you come to one of the biggest runnable rapids after this confluence where the river does a big horseshoe bend. More class III and then you reach a big rapid that we decided to walk but goes if your really feeling it. Then lots more class III with the occasional IV until you hit Chocolate Canyon. Maybe forty minuets above Chocolate Canyon is an amazing waterfall cascading down on the left, Dulche de Condor. As the water falls off the edge of the canyon wall it forms a light mist that catches the sunlight. Below this several years ago some of the canyon wall fell and created a pile of rocks that you can´t kayak though. It is intimidating because everyone here made it seem like it was easy to miss. The whole trip I was a little on edge about not missing the portage and ending up in the sieve pile. The portage comes after Chocolate Canyon and there is an eddy on river left that you can get out and walk through the water towards a gravel bar. Then after pushing and pulling your boat under some rocks you come out the other side. It could be easy to miss or get caught below the last chance eddy so just be cautious and scout.
          After this there is one more big portage and then you are pretty much out of the canyon, and it´s a mellow run out with one long fun class IV when you start seeing huts again. This river was great with some of the best scenery we have had on our trip. The river really gorges up in some spots becoming really tight. Most of these spots are just pools allowing you to look around and marvel at all the geology. This river took us almost one day to do but would be more enjoyable in two days, camping somewhere after the second big portage. Take out is when you get close to the road, get out and hitch to Aplo where you can get a bus back to Arequipa. Kayaking past this point is rocky gravel bars and lots of shrimp traps.

Kayaking in Peru (Cotahuasi)

  Kayaking in Peru is amazing but getting to the river can be a challenge. It is very important when you are arranging a ride to make sure that you and the driver, know both where you are going and how much that costs. We ran into some trouble with one of our drivers because he was taking us to a place he had never seen and did not know much about. This left us in the town of Cotahuasi, two more hours from our destination without a ride. Luckily we were able to get a ride from the very friendly  people at Purek Tours Cotahuasi, run by Henry and his wife (cotahuasitours@gmail.com). Henry took us all the way down to the river and we spent our first night at hot springs (more like a small hot tub due to road construction destroying the other tub). On the way down Henry told us about some of the other towns on the river and local wildlife we might see. It turns out we probably did not need to bring as much food with us we, could have purchased some on the way down. The town of Quechuallea is a great place to stop. The locals are very friendly and we bought some amazing wine and avocados from them.
          The kayaking was very fun it started out class II/III that was pretty continuous with the occasional IV scattered in there. There are tons of ruins that run along the river from the top all the way to the bottom. We were there in October which is before the rainy season and we had great weather. Bring sunscreen there are long days in the sun and it is very strong. The wind would also pick up around noon and last until dark. This was a good thing though because we had pretty bad no-see-ums, and the wind helped. According to some of the locals the winter was very mild and did not kill off the bugs like it does in a normal year. Still I would be prepared with long sleeves and some repellent. Once you reach the town of Quechuallea the rapids pick up just a little and the canyon scenery becomes pretty amazing. It is similar to being in the Grand Canyon except you are mas profundo here. The rock in the Cotahuasi is not quite as colorful but amazing non the less. Be carfeul of landslides even in the summer, we witnessed a fairly large one from camp. The slide was big enough to change the color of the river and give it a silty appearance for the next day. Our last day on the Cotahuasi provided the best rapids we came to a few points where the river became extremely narrow, Meter Canyon and Centimeter Canyon. These are obvious because the river chokes down to a few meters across in Meter Canyon and maybe a meter wide in Centimeter Canyon. This is the best section of white water on the river and there are some great rapids after. These two canyons are the hardest sections. We then paddled all the way to takeout in one day from Meter Canyon. This is was a big day and not recommended two people in our group spent the previous night puking and one other person sprained there wrist. We began our day at 7 am and paddled to almost dark, 5 pm. The last seven or eight miles are not that great. The river starts to separate into different channels that can lead to getting beached on rocks. Each channel is littered with shrimp traps creating a slalom course. Once you start seeing people its a good idea to start asking for a ride. When we arrived to the town to take out in we noticed several plans on building a dam on the river. Several of the locals said they were going to start relocating people soon. You should definitly try to get out there and paddle on this river before they dam it up.

          To make everything easy on yourself find Carlos at Hostel Solar in Arequipa. He helped us find rides, gave us advice on where to go, and helped us sell our gear at the end of the trip. He will help make your trip better.www.hostalsolar.com