Apurimac River Rafting

"We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride."
~Bruce Springsteen - The River

Friday, October 10th to Sunday, October 12th 2008

This time I went deep into the heart of the 3000-meter deep Apurimac Canyon to challenge the rapids of the mighty Apurimac, once known as "The Great Speaker" by the Incas. The river, arguably one of the world's top ten rafting rivers is also considered a dangerous one claiming on average two lives per year. For that reason I didn´t save my funds and choose the biggest, safest and most expensive company for this activity - Mayuc. After 3 days on the river I can confidentially say that it´s not the river who is responsible for those deaths but the stupidity humans. As long as you set out with good equipment and good guide and you and all the passengers on the boat obey the instructions of that guide - your safer on the river than on the Andes narrow roads.

The river expedition set out early morning from Cuzco to what was supposed to be 4 hours ride to the take-in point. When I boarded the private bus I found that my partners for this adventure are the same group who I met on the way back from the Ausagate and didn´t like the way they behaved, needless to say I was not thrilled to see them. Fortunately we were already 4 and we added 2 Scottish girls to our group making the necessary crew of 6 to fill a boat. Half way through the Andes we met an unexpected delay: the road was closed for repairs and we had to sit and wait for almost two hours. Fortunately the spot we got stuck in had nice view and we ate our lunch at that place to save some time later. Fashionably late we arrived to the take-in point at Huallpachaca bridge where we were handed our gear: wetsuit, spray jacket, life jacket and helmet. We organized into boats, 7 people per boat: 6 passengers and one guide. The expedition also included a cargo boat expertly guided by a huge Bolivian and 2 rescue kayaks. After we loaded up the equipment we started with an instruction in security and how to paddle and follow the commands we are given. It's really important that everyone do exactly what the guide say, or we could end up in the river all of us... After a bit of theory, we jumped in the boat, and practiced the different techniques, including capsizing the boat and rescuing each other. We than continue down stream practicing our rowing and experienced our first class II and class III rapids. After 2-3 hours on the river we arrived to our campsite a narrow gorge with impressive walls, sandy beach and a huge avocado tree. It was already getting dark and we were wet from the practice we had on the river so we built a small campfire and warmed up beside it as our crew made an excellent dinner. After dinner we had a chance to sit down, talk and know each other better - this is when I discovered that the noisy group were not as bad as the impression they made after all... We retired to our tents where I had a great sleep on the soft sands in the warm night, finally sleeping with an open sleeping bag after so many cold nights in the mountains.

After a healthy breakfast we got back into the river. Our rowing and work team improved as we went through several level III and IV rapids which was a good thing since we had a level V rapid waiting for us up ahead. In the calm stretches between the rapids we swam in the river and had water fights with the other boats using our oars to splash water on each other. Since safety was a primary concern, we had to leave the boat on 3 rapids deemed too dangerous by our guides who guided the boat alone as we walked around by foot with all our equipment. At noon we stopped for lunch on a rocky beach in the searing sun after which we got back to the boats for more of the same. We continued like that for few more hours until we reached our first level V rapid. After a short stop in which our guide prepared us for things to come and gave us some specific instructions we started rowing strongly down stream and into a narrow canyon with roaring white waters. It was over so fast we hardly had the chance to mess up and flip the boat.. after the rapid we continued floating filling our water bottles from a natural spring that flowed from the rock walls of the canyon, stopped for a natural shower under a wide waterfall, passed below a bridge that was used in the famous last scene from "Indiana Johns and the temple of doom" and enjoyed a couple more rapids. After 8 hours of rafting we made our camp on a wide sandy beach where we had the opportunity to jump into the river from a 12m cliff and swim in the slow current. As the sun set we lay on the warm white rocks and enjoyed a quiet rest while tea and cookies were being served. We had another great dinner and another great night sleep, this time is was warm enough to sleep outside the sleeping bag...
We started our 3rd day with a level III rapid called "the wake up" since it splashed water all over boat getting us ready for our last hours of rafting. The day was similar to the second day but shorter and with 2 level V rapids. We also had another opportunity to jump into the river this time from a lower 7m ledge and experience body rafting (floating without the boat) on two level II rapids which made it clear to us why it is better to stay on the boat... The day ended at noon as we reached the take-out point where we helped take out the boats, organized our equipment and enjoyed a barbecue for lunch. After lunch we had an easy 1 and half hours ride to Cuzco on a wide paved road which marked the end of this wet adventure. Since I enjoyed it so much I wrote down the locations of two more rafting rivers in Chile who came recommended by our Israeli safety Kayaker...