After many hours of travel from Denver to Dallas to Santiago (with continual vedio updates of
our position, speed, altitude, and air temperature on the screen on the front of our seating
section) we arrived. Felt a little weird. Hadn't slept much (its hard in an airplane!)
and felt a bit dry from
the dry cabin air and the free drinks last night on the flight. Rafa, a friend of Nathan's
from Chile, and his brother Felipe, picked us up in their camioneta, a new mazda extended cab
pick-up truck. They helped us look for a car to buy--Nathan wants to buy something--wheels for
our tour. Then on to the Rio Maipo, a dirty rushing torrent from the glaciers on the
20,000+ foot mountains to the east. This is my first day in a kayak since September. I got
a new boat for the trip--a little Piranah Sub 7. This would be its maiden voyage. It
began with a bang! Crashing
through huge brown waves and punching deep through unsuspected holes I was getting tired!
Nathan and I took a break. Later on Rafa dropped in a hole and couldn't get out. He swam to
shore and
we chased down his boat and paddle. We couldn't get the boat out of the swift current before
the river
headed into a turbulent, cliff-sided, 150 yard long flume. We waited in the eddy just below,
but the boat
never came through. Rafa had climbed out of the river about a mile upstream. Felipe went
to go find him and Nathan and I waited for his boat to flush. Had the boat been pinned to the
bottom of the river or pushed under a rock? Rafa found his boat snagged underwater on the
branches of a fallen tree just upstream of the flume. Back to Santaigo. Rafa had found a
VW wagon that seemed to be a good deal. We wanted our own camioneta, but it was too expensive
for a good one. The VW checked out but we had to spend the night in Santiago so Nathan could
fill out the paper work for ownership of a vehicle in a foregin country the next day. Marta,
Nathan's Chilena palola (girlfriend) arrived via bus from Conception. Paperwork and bought a
sturdy roof rack for less than $15 US (Thule and Yakima--you suck!). On to the Rio Claro and
its 7 and 22 Tazos (teacups).
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