They asked for our sleeping bags to be loaded into the cargo containers first, but we were just tourists in a strange city, so of course we didn't have sleeping bags. Juan Pablo panicked a bit and thought we were kidding, but we weren't. He warned us that in the desert it gets down to about 50 degrees and windy at night. We told him we had sweatpants and sweatshirts, but he was still worried so he scrapped up every blanket, towel, table cloth, etc. that he could find for us to use as blankets. We packed everything up, fitted ourselves with super thin and ripped wetsuits, helmets, life vests, booties, jackets, etc, went through a quick explanation of proper rafting procedures, and headed off.
After another hour drive through the mountains, we pulled off the road a bit to a small bank next to the river. We changed into our rafting suits, packed everything securely into the raft, and dropped the raft in the river. This was the first point at which we found out what river water from the Andes mountains is like- unimaginably cold. I mean really cold. We pushed off the bank in our two rafts and then learned about the winds moving through the river's canyon- super strong and also absurdly cold. We paddled/rode the current for a while before encountering our first set of rapids. Since it was the river's low season the water was a little low and not moving as fast, we really only faced class 3 rapids the whole time (rapids go from class 1 to 5, 5 being the roughest). Nonetheless, the raft bounced and spun and we all hung on for fear of falling in the river (our friend Agustin actually did and Juan Pablo had to throw him a line to pull him back to the boat), and waves of water dumped over us constantly. It was really really fun. After about an hour or 2 on the river, we pulled onto a tiny little bank and set up for lunch. We had coolers with plenty of sandwich supplies, granola bars, and drinks, so we all ate heartily and tried to thaw out.
We headed back out for another hour or 2 before the sun started to set, then pulled onto another bank. As Juan Pablo said, "Unload quick, we need to find firewood before we run out of daylight." Comforting. We dragged all of the equipment up a hill to where we saw our home for the night- a bunch of old abandoned and crumbling buildings in the middle of the desert. We changed our clothes and headed out. Almost everything you find in a desert like the one we were in is tiny little thorn bushes and tumbleweed, nothing good to burn. We found a few tree branches around, and eventually resorted to tearing the roof of one building apart to get some wood. Nobody has used these buildings in a long long time, so the walls and roofs and everything are essentially ruins. We carried everything back to camp, and then used railroad ties from the tracks that are still there to create a nice circle of benches around a fire pit that we built out of rocks we had found.
As the sun set, we set up our tents inside the semi-walls of the house we picked to stay in (in the Mendoza album its the building with the word "Guido" on it, obviously). Our guides cut up vegetables and a few chickens, then threw it all in a big pot with some chicken broth and rice. As the food slow-cooked for an hour or 2, we drank the 12 liters of wine our guides had also brought for us, played games, looked at the stars, and chatted. It was really really peaceful and fun. There are an incredible amount of stars in the desert sky- it literally looked white. We saw a shooting star that lasted about 3 full seconds and went literally from one side of the sky to the other. We ate the food and some cookies for dessert as we watched the moon rise over the rim of the mountains. At some point we headed to bed, cramming up to 5 people in 2 person tents under a ton of blankets to keep warm. It was extraordinarily uncomfortable.
We woke up sometime in the morning, no idea what time. We ate some more cookies for breakfast, packed up, got back into our freezing cold and wet clothes for the raft, and head out again. We met with some of our other friends who were only doing a 1 day trip at the bank where we tied up the rafts. The 3 rafts headed down river for about 2 hours, going through a bunch more rapids, and one small waterfall until we reached the lake that the river ended in. It was by far the bluest lake I've ever seen- it almost looked like they dyed the water. A van was waiting for us at the end and after packing the rafts onto the trailer we headed back to camp. After showering and changing into dry clothes, we ate an asado that the company has for all rafters after their trip. We headed back to the hostel around maybe 6 and it took us until about 9pm to finally warm up again (we got off the rafts around 2 or 3).
We napped and then hung out around the hostel for the rest of the night, playing cards, pool, and charades, eating pizza, and having some drinks. My friends headed to bed and I stayed up talking with a guy from Chile for about an hour or 2, and another kid from Manhattan came in and sat with us. The 3 of us spoke (in Spanish because the guy from CHile didn't speak English) until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore, then went to bed.
Sunday we went on some more adventures, highlights include: mountain climbing, rappeling, tarantulas, hot springs, and churros. Stay tuned.
PS- I took this picture from my balcony at about 6am this morning:
The sunrise over Buenos Aires. I couldn't stay awake any longer to take a better one, but this was gorgeous.
Outstanding story Dano! Put some of your rafting pix in the blog. You are one lucky, lucky kid.
ReplyDeleteHay Dan
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that you are keeping busy. Keep those good stories coming.