Sorry for the long absents my loyal follows. HAHA, that makes it sound like this blog is a cult. I like it. Anyway, for all that have been sending me messages on the the subject. Yes I had an amazing time on the river. I would definitely rank the Apurimac among the top rivers I have ever run. It is on its own scale, and I can't really compare it to any of the rivers in the US that I have been on so far. The closest one I would say was the Salmon river.
The Apurimac is about 4 hours North West of Cusco, It is one of the longest rivers in the world, beginning at a glacier as run off water, it passes through part of the jungle and meets with the Amazon river, and continues all the way to the Ocean. The name Apurimac is Chatuwa (native language of the Incas) "Apur" means Guardian or Protector and "imac" means Speaker or To Speak. So the translation is the guardian is speaking or the talking gaurdian. There are 3 runnable sections of the Apurimac, 2 are commercial sections. the one I did, and then another daily section that is a couple hundred kilometers lower. Both are considered class 4 and 5 on over all rapid level and difficulty. the other section is only runnable by private groups and is considered a class 5+ river trip.
My trip was fantastic. Our guides were very knowledgeable and have extensive experience with rivers all over the world. One of our saftey Kayakers is from Napal and has run rivers there, other parts of Europe, the middle east, Africa, all of South America, and Canada. And most of the other guides are about as experienced as well. The first thing to note about the Apurimac was that where we put in was 2000 km above see level. The days are a warm 85 and the nights are almost as warm. Probably around 75 degrees. I didn't even bring a jacket haha. we slept 3 to tent, and the tents are really just to keep the jungle flies off of you. They are nasty little buggers. The camp sites we had, where all beautiful sand beaches, that look similar the those on the middle fork salmon. But the stone and rock formations are comparative to none. On the river there are only 2 seasons, wet and dry. Our guides told me that you can't run the river at all during the wet season because the water level is about 3m higher, and even with a motor, the odds of you controlling your boat are minimal and best. Because of this the walls of the canyon have been rubbed smooth by the high water levels and have eroded the rock in very interesting ways.
Our first day was pretty easy with some class II's and III's and we even had a class IV in there. All of which where really fun. the second day was really intense. with Class III's and IV's and a few class V's. We also had to walk around 2 class V+ that are not run commercially. However, the guides did film them running the rapids so you can all see when I get home. we had lunch and a nice beach for 2 hours and got back on. we rafted for about 8 hours that day, so my shoulders where pretty shot haha. The third day was a blast as well. All class IV's and V's and then 2 more un-runnable rapids. They filmed those as well. I did a little cliff jumping, and my guide let me run a class III out of the raft, which was crazy. It was mostly just a big water rapid but the wave train was pretty intense. I spent most of my time under them haha. After that was take out and clean up followed by a 2 hour drive back to Cusco.
All in all for a commercial trip, it was fantastic. The food was amazing, every meal had 3 courses and was prepared from scratch. The campsites were beautiful, and there was plenty of space for everyone. Since there are only 3 companies that raft the Apurimac we didn't see another person the entire trip which made it that much better. The guides were great and I learned few new tricks for when I get home that I am gonna use on my boat. and they also went into detail about paddle boating, so I learned a ton about how to captain a paddle boat. The rapids where intense and there were tons of them haha. Our guides said they only name the big ones haha. The water was perfect, like glass, and you could see the rocks flowing beneath you, which made the rapids that much better. And Best of all the trip was cheap! I highly suggest it to any one who comes to Peru, and I really want to plan a private trip there in the next few years. So if you interested let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment