Kayaking in South America

[Heather Buckingham]

I am travelling to South America in November for a few months, and am hoping to hit up some rivers down there. I'm planning on going to Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. Does anyone know of some good spots to visit? I am a class-3 paddler, but am not bringing my boat down. I'm hoping that there will be places to rent boats. I'm planning on going to Futaleufu in Chile. I will be travelling with 3 others, but none of them are kayakers. Any ideas on companies/where to go? Also, how difficult is it to find people/companies to kayak with down there?

[rvrrun]

ive been to both ecuador and chile and from what youve said, i would go to ecuador...i would go to tena and camp there for awhile...tons of class 3-4 paddling, shouldnt have trouble renting boats, and tena is a cool little town...dont get me wrong, futa is an amazing place but it is fairly remote and not super easy to get around (altho i was there late in the season and im comparing it to ecuador which is super friendly w/public trans)...if i was going to go to chile tho i might go to pucon which is a super cool mtn town altho the paddling there tends to be steep and hard...i dont remember any names of places in tena since its been 12+ years but "kayak pucon" (pretty sure thats the name) was a super cool shop owned by guy named rodrigo...

[sb]

So let me get this straight, you will be kayaking by yourself, in countries you have never been to and you are a class 3 boater?

I wood google "outfitters" in those places and contact them in advance of your trip?

Make sure your trip-health care is paid up and fill out a will. Seriously.

Have fun.

[BFD]

I will second the Tena suggestion. I was just down there this winter. Friendly easy to get around and still inexpensive. I did not kayak but it would of been easy to put something together, rental guided trip or hook up with others.

[herr_stoiber]

yes, you should be able to find some stuff in pucon, but try to arrange something (especially a boat!!) beforehand.
lots of mellow rivers on the way between santiago and down there but it will be hard/impossible to rent equipment.

for the futa, I don't see you having a lot of fun on most of the stretches and especially in the big rapids as a class 3 paddler, but apparently some of the side creeks are easier. also better to arrange something beforehand.

maybe this will also be an option for you:
http://www.universalkayak.com/kayak_creek_fenix.html

universal kayaks really started off now, word of mouth by basti striebel was that their material is really very well matured now..