I was wondering if anyone here has been kayaking in Peru. Any favorite rivers or spots to go?
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I was wondering if anyone here has been kayaking in Peru. Any favorite rivers or spots to go?
I rafted the Urabamba (misspelled Im sure) Way too mellow for Kayaks, It was some of the dirtiest water Ive ever seen. Garbage, dead dogs and some strange yellow foam- Maybe from the Inca Cola.
In third world countries River = Toilet / Dump
PM Gerome he is an exotic third world Kayaker
www.peruwhitewater.com
Ah...fuck. I just read a few of the amazing trip reports on that website and realized that half the people who appear there in amazing ballsy first descents are now dead.
Rip John, Russell, and Damon. :(
Well, it's true that the Urubamba River is polluted with garbage. This is because a lot of people live near that river and they don't care about keeping the river clean.
There are other destinations for real kayakers. The Urubamba River is for the "normal" tourists. You can go to Cusco and ask for the Apurimac River. That river is a serious thing. Lot's of class 4 and 5 and spectacular views. From the start of the river and all over the Kayaking area is, nobody lives around and you can only pass on a boat. It's a steep and narrow canyon with space only for the river.
If you are looking for a real adventure, find this river. I think it's considered between the 3 most dangerous rivers to raft.
I think they do commercials on the Cotahuasi and Colca too. Badass.
Those are the 2 deepest canyons on earth with 3,500 and 3,600 meters depth! THe great Canyon in Colorado is about 1,500 meters!Quote:
Originally Posted by RootSkier
I know of some great, clean 3-4 in the Apurima/Abancay region.
Cotahuasi is also pretty clean...the Urabamba is just too close to a lot of people.
You jus have to get 'out there' a bit more.
Lunahuana is also a good spot for mellow rafting.
Thanks for the beta, we ended up doing the Apurimac, Cotahuasi, and Chile. The chile was low and kind of gross. The Apurimac and Cotahuasi were both great. We were able to do them all quite cheaply but it meant dealing with a lot of interesting travel. I'll post some pics at some point.
Awesome...looking forward to the TR. Pretty slow around here in the fall.
Heres a few from the apurimac, 4 person group, I think we did it in 2 days, you could go 1-4 days on it. Steep walls, 10 or so larger rapids with a lot of 3 in between One would be a huge day:
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm1.jpg
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm6.jpg
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm7.jpg
We did the Chile while hanging out in Arequipa, It was super low, the water was gross, but it was fun. kind of.
Christina getting a facefull of the nastiness:
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm4.JPG
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm5.JPG
And finally we hit the Cotuahsi. Deepest Canyon in the world. Non-stop class 4 for 4 days. Some 5. Literally a hundred class 4 rapids in the stretch. Could easily be spread out to a full week or more. Tons of ruins along the entire way. Very few get down this every year despite how quality it is. Getting there and back is an experience in pain and endurance though. The burros in:
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm2.jpg
Centimeter:
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm3.jpg
And oranges along the way:
http://www.alpinedescent.com/images/kayaksm8.jpg
Nice! Finally some good pictures to look at. It's so dry here in MD/WV, I need some distractions. That sounds like a badass trip. I'm looking forward to the rest of the pics...
Kickass, cmor. Looking forward to seeing more.