The first of all purpose of my trip was to raft the river Futaleufu - one of the best and hardest rafting rivers in this world. It turned out to be much more than that.
I don't know where to begin or end, when trying to describe the magic.
Perhaps the arrival to the beautiful camp, which is situated just next to nowhere. Being welcomed by a smiling, enthusiastic team. Shown to our tents with view to the clear turquoise Futa. Getting a tour in the well equipped camp: hot tub, warm showers, open air yoga platform, sauna, open air bar, hill top fire place, jumping rock, open kitchen-fireplace-hangaround place, coffee shop, library etc. Considering how far away this camp is, it's amazing, what they have been able to build. Actually, it's amazing even if it had been situated in the middle of everywhere!
View from the tent
It could be one of the nights sitting by the fire under the glooming starlit night in the Southern hemisphere. Leaning my head back and counting the loads of shooting stars that still couldn't keep count with the number of dreams being fulfilled right there and then.
Or outdoors morning yoga with the Futa running by below and the first rays of sunlight reaching over the mountains giving morning warmth.
The 30 seconds it took to go through the Entrada rapid in Inferno Canyon, where we hit the first hole perfectly, but then got a bit to far to the left and went straight through a bigger second hole, where the boat was completely full of water, but somehow resurfaced, though way too close to the canyon wall on the left side. With our raft floating backwards at this point, this meant high siding right for the 5 - 10 seconds it took us to pass the wall. And we did it. We actually got through. Upside up. And the post rapid group hug. Relief, happiness, pride.
Nights in the bar with Indians dancing everywhere, drinks floating as generously as the Futa. One Dane dancing along, smiling, laughing, head notting, drinking. Parties ending in the hot tub.
Me swimming in the Rio Azul below the Cheese Grater the day we went duckying (inflatable cayaks) because I thought, I was safe through the rapid and therefore stopped paddling just a second to early. And then looking up to see Alex filming. And feeling so much on top of the situation that I remembered to give the camera one big fat smile.
Our day on a horseback through the Patagonian views and wonders. Crossing fields, looking at glaciers. Hiking the last bit to a beautiful waterfall, creating the pool, that cooled us. Having lunch by the river side. Chorripans (the South American version of hotdogs) barbecued and white wine cooled by the river. Crossing the Rio Azul on a horseback and the water almost reaching my feet. Even if my horse chose to lay down and roll over while I was still sitting on it (and I managed to jump of just in time, so nothing happened). Pretty much also the only day, I took any pictures as the river is not very suitable for bringing a non water resistant camera.
Or the fact, that we passed the river Pinilla everyday, which must be my river because of the almost same names. As Vaibhav so sweetly put it, then I deserve having my own river, as I so truly love rivers.
The small bruises that seems to have appeared everywhere from being out doing things all days. I call them souvenirs.
So many things that adds up to the experience and neither words nor pictures will ever explain it fully. I feel like I have been part of one big intense week of love and life. It suits me very well with a quiet rainy day in Bariloche to recover back to the so called civilised world before going on my next adventure.
In the next post, I will try to describe my last night in camp, without the Indians but with as much love. Perhaps it will enter tonight, perhaps tomorrow.
There are more pics to see from camp at BioBio Expeditions website: http://www.bbxrafting.com/futaleufu-photos
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