Patagonia, via the Rio Futaleufu

There are so many places that are easier to get to, but Patagonia has always been on my bucket list and so this year, with Aaron and I working hard and saving our pennies, we made it a reality and took the four flights and endless bus ride to the Bio Bio Expeditions basecamp just outside of Futaleufu, Chile to spend seven days white water rafting and exploring Chilean Patagonia. If your journey begins in Nashville, Tennessee, your travel looks something like this: Nashville (737)>Atlanta(767)>Santiago (737)>Puerto Montt (Puddle Jumper)>Chaiten> (bus ride) Futaleufu. You will need a full 24 hours to get to this remote place and another 24 hours to get back home. That said, it has been my experience thus far that the volume of beautiful you're going to see is directly in proportion to the pain in the ass-ness of getting there. Futaleufu was no exception.


The bus pulled up to our final destination and we were greeted with big hugs by fifteen guides and staff members of Bio Bio's basecamp on the banks of the river. The camp is a melting pot of cultures - Peruvians, South Africans, Americans, Chileans, etc. and the cuisine for the week reflected the same mix of heritage. Each night we were treated to a different type of cuisine and it was all delicious. Pisco Sours were the order of the day for our welcome toast. I gazed in awe that afternoon at the turquoise river. Glacial silt is largely responsible for the Fu's color, and it is unique to any other river I've ever seen outside of Patagonia. The Rio Azul, which was the site of our duckie trip on day three, was similar in color tone. It looks like someone has dumped gallons of blue Calgon bath oil beads into the river.


On our first full day of rafting, we were introduced to just how big and powerful the river is. Aaron and I have rafted some incredible white water in the last ten years, but nothing compared to the crushing volume and intensity of the Fu's class V runs Mendaca, Mas o Menos, Casa de Piedra and Terminator. Mendaca, in particular, was menacing at the present water level and we narrowly averted a flip thanks to a few well timed strokes by our guide Alex. The guides encouraged swimming one of the milder rapids on the first day, to shake off the new feeling of being in the water in the event any of us had an unintentional swim later in the trip. The river pulled and bubbled and whirlpooled in all sorts of crazy ways. Through Alfombra Magica, our boat was pulled into a raft-sized whirlpool that swished us around end to end. Just nuts. How do you avoid a hazard that doesn't exist until you're in it?


In the mornings we enjoyed riverside yoga on what has got to be the world's most beautiful yoga platform overlooking the mountains and river. In the afternoon, we enjoyed horseback riding to a waterfall, and on the next day, duckies through the Rio Azul where Aaron and I unexpectedly flipped our little inflatable kayak and swam a good chunk of river. We even had the opportunity to fly fish, though mainly the fish just stare at you through the clear water and taunt you inches from your fly. On one morning we hiked to a tree that is said to be between 400 and 600 years old. Many of the trees in the area are new growth trees because the original settlers in the region set the forests ablaze in an effort to easily clear large swaths of land at once.


In the evenings, guests gathered around the wood-fired hot tubs by the bar and sipped on Escudo and home brewed Fu Brew (a resident's small batch IPA - delicious!). The stars came out and Aaron and I laid out a blanket to see the Southern Cross rising on the horizon. Around the fire, the guitar players in camp gathered to sing us songs.


At times, it looked like the mountains were weeping, because as many as ten or twelve waterfalls were visible on the steep hillsides around us. Vast glaciers melt as you breathe in the sweet floral aroma of Patagonia. An incredible journey, and a trip of a lifetime.