March 1, 2019 – Since arriving in Ft. Pierce in early November, we went home for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and then returned to spend our first winter in Florida. We are thoroughly enjoying the Florida sunshine and the great friends here at the Treasure Coast RV Resort.

We have been looking forward to our long-planned February 12th trip to Patagonia, Chile, to go whitewater rafting, canyoneering,  and hiking in and around the Futaleufu River (commonly referred to as “The Fu”). The Fu has a strong reputation as one of the top whitewater rivers in the world. Many of the world’s top kayakers travel there for the opportunity to kayak this extreme, mystical, crystal clear river hidden away in the Andes mountains. Our trip to this pristine and relatively undeveloped area of South America turned out to be everything we expected and more…….

Per Wikipedia, “The Futaleufú (The ‘Fu’ or ‘Futa’ for short) is known world over for its turquoise waters, a phenomenon produced by glacier till. Although the official whitewater season on the Futaleufú runs from December to April, when temperatures are warmest and water levels typically range between 340 and 453 cubic metres per second (12,000 and 16,000 cu ft/s), it is increasingly common to see world-class paddlers braving the Fu in wetsuits all year round. Specialized media consider the river to be one of the top three whitewater destinations in the world. Several international whitewater events have been staged on the river. Every summer, the town of Futaleufú stages an annual river festival called “Futafest” attended by river enthusiasts from around the world. The Futaleufú and its tributary streams and lakes are equally well-known for fly fishing.”

We were psyched and ready to begin the adventure. Actually, I was totally stoked and Nancy was cautiously optimistic……but you know what they say about “the best laid plans”. On Jan. 5, I tripped and slipped down one of the RV steps and broke my fibula. They put me in a boot style “cast” and said I should be healed in 6 weeks. Since we were 5 weeks away from leaving, this had the potential to disrupt our trip to Chile. I hobbled around for about 4 weeks and went back for a checkup. The break was nearly healed but the doc felt I needed more time for the mended bone to fully heal. But he sensed that I was determined to go so he gave me a special ankle brace and wished me good luck. The brace worked great…….my ankle was a little tender but I got along just fine…..I just had to be a little more careful than I would normally be. Today, about 7 weeks later, my ankle is feeling pretty good…..it’s still just a little swollen and sore from the wear and tear of the trip. But now that we are home, I expect it will quickly finish healing.

We left for Chile on Feb. 12 around 3:30pm. After dropping Frisco at my sister Lynn’s house, we headed to the Miami International Airport for the overnight flight to Santiago, Chile. We got in on time the next morning, took a connection flight to Puerto Montt, and took a taxi ride to Puerto Varas, a city in southern Chile’s Lake District. It sits on the southwest banks of the expansive Lake Llanquihue, which offers commanding views of snow-capped Osorno Volcano and Calbuco Volcano, both still active. It was a very cool town and a popular vacation spot for Chileans. We stayed there a couple of days to sightsee and rest up before joining up with others on Friday evening for a welcome dinner. The next morning ….a 40 minute charter flight to Chaiten followed by a 3 hour van ride to the small town of Futaleufu in Patagonia.

Puerta Varas

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Fresh honey for our coffee

 

The next morning (Saturday), we left for the final two legs of our journey to the Futaleufu River in Patagonia. It turned out to be a much longer journey than planned………

We took a taxi to the a small airstrip and loaded up for the 40 minute flight to Chaiten around 9:30am. Chaiten had to be evacuated in May 2008 when the Chaiten volcano erupted throwing ash and sulfurous steam 19 miles run to the air. The volcano covered the town in ash and caused a river to flood. Ultimately, the government decided to close the town and pay residents to move to another area (the new government is now re-building it). 

The flight to Chaiten included great views of the Andes, as well as some glaciers and volcanoes. But once we got close to the Chaiten airstrip, a low fog had moved in and the pilot had to abort the landing due to poor visibility. We had to go back to Puerto Montt and wait for the fog to clear. We left again and arrived in Chaiten at about 1pm. We then boarded a van for the 3 hour ride to the small town of Futaleufu. The van was probably only a few years old but it looked much older due to the constant driving on gravel/dirt roads (the rear bumper was being held on with some rope and only 1 window worked!). After about an hour, something in the steering broke and we had to pull into a small town and wait for a replacement vehicle to be sent. And when I say small town, I mean small town….it didn’t even qualify as a “one stoplight town”…..there wasn’t even a Stop sign. Just before we got to the town, we also saw the results of a massive mud slide that swept down through the valley and wiped out a bunch of forest land as well a few houses on the north end of the small town. It was another powerful example of the destruction that can be caused by purely natural events. The road was closed for several months and just reopened.

Trouble in paradise!

The little town where we swapped vehicles

  

While we were waiting for the new vehicle to arrive, I went into a dilapidated building that was the local “store” and thought I made a safe choice….a bottled water. I was really thirsty but the first sip exploded in my mouth, indicating the only water in the store was “with gas” eg. seltzer water. Geeezzz……

We finally got back on our way but by the time we got to Futaleufu, it was almost 6:30pm. The last two hours was on gravelly, dusty roads. 

Clearly, As best I can re-collect, not counting layover time, this is how much the travel time it took for us to travel from Ft. Pierce, FL, to the Futaleufu River in Patagonia:

• 2 1/2 hour car ride to the Miami airport
• 7.5 hour flight to Santiago Chile
• 1.5 hour flight to Puerto Montt
• 1/2 hour taxi ride to Puerto Varas
• 1/2 hour taxi ride to small airstrip
• 40 minute charter flight to Chaiten, 40 minute flight back (fog), 1 1/2 hour delay, and then 40 minutes back to Chaiten
• 1 hour van ride to small town where we broke down and waited 1 1/2 hours for a new vehicle
• 2 more hours traveling in a van on gravel roads.

Clearly, this is a very remote and challenging place to visit! But once we were there, we knew we were in a special place.

Stay tuned for the next post about our Chile trip……..