Peru is an
extremely diverse country. The rocky desert highlands of the Andes mountain
range is extending from the north to the southeast of the country. It separates
the desert habitat on the west Pacific coast, and the tropical Amazon basin in
the east.
As
different is biodiversity in the country as different are rivers. There is a
big choice of rivers for paddling all year, depending of the region, snow pack
and monsoon. The best time for kayaking classical expeditions in Peru is
October.
We arrived
in Peru at the end of September, after long hours of airplains, buses, shuttles
and rent a car ride, me and my girl Nika met with the rest of the crew in Santa
Maria. This is also the best place to hike Peruvian most known historical site,
the ruins of Machu Pichu. But it is just one of the many. There are other more
exciting and less croudy ancient Inca towns in the country.
The boys
Jure Stan, Jan Praprotnik, Matjaz Luzar, Austrian Kristos Sturza and Jan`s girl
Tina Silic were already settled in Marko`s campsite. It’s a perfect place to
reach really nice and dynamic worm up river Urrubamba. The second river we
paddled was Paucartambo and the last for me the Acombamba Abyss- Apurimac, both
reachable from Cusco. The boys-bastards, had enough time to kayak Pachacacha
river, when I had to run to Arequipa to catch Nika. There we did the nice round
trip on the coastline to Lima and back home.
PUCARTAMBO
Was a big surprises for me. It is a beautiful river with a changing character.
It comes from the Ausangate mountain range and it drops into the Amazon forest,
where it joins Urrubamba. It is the last border between the high and cold
mountains and the Amazon forest, so more that you advance on the river, wormer
and greener it gets. In three full days of kayaking we run probably the longest
class 4+ section in my life, with additional spicy class 5 rapids and we saw
also some of the most astonishing canyons. We were lucky enough to meet the
Quechua people on the river banks. But even Manuel the Argentinian that joined
us in last second, could not understand them, while trying to get our location
in the valley. From start to finish we dropped around 1600m of elevation and
found some of the best camping spots! We didn`t have enough time to paddle to the
confluence with Urubamba, but we were lucky enough to find a secondary exit and
catch the only truck, that drove the road in a week.
ACOMBABA
ABYSS - APURIMAC The Abysimo as it is called between kayakers and it is true
Andean queen. It makes one of the most imposing river canyons on the globe and
it narrows just when there is enough water for supreme kayaking!
We got
kicked out of the bus late at night on the start in Banos Cconoc .The next day
we woke up early in the morning, anxious to start the run. After a worm up, we
dropped in the first class 5 rapid and we were already walled in. We were
overwhelmed by the beauty of the river. The first day turned out to by easy and
comfortable, in comparison to next two days, when the real kayaking started. The
weather didn`t make it easier. The rain has risen the water level and gave it a
brown colour. But we got what we were looking for. A top class pushy run, full
of various combinations, surrounded with amazing canyons and non stop action.
There was nothing to missing: continuous rapids, drops, big boulders and lots of
slaloming, surrounded with astonishing vegetation. Just as expected from the
source of the Amazon river!
Thanks to
Alonso Campana – Rambito for coordination help, accommodation and shuttles!
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