I'm going on a raft down the Río Baker!!!!!!!!!!!! Really no amount of exclamation points can portray how EXCITED I am...I feel like jumping up and down and screaming like a little girl because I can't put my joy into words. The Baker is a renowned river to paddle, and in light of its threatened life at the hand of HidroAysén, it seems an appropriate time to take advantage of this opportunity. Here's our route for the four-day trip, from Cochrane to Tortel:
I'm going with two kids from the states, Michael and Brianna, who go to UVM and have been here in the valley since mid-January with Round River Conservation Studies, a study-abroad program based on field work in various places around the world. For us, they've been doing a grassland study, moving up and down the valley counting plants in random quadrats they selected to get a general idea of what kind of grasses we have growing here. Their program finished a couple weeks ago and now the majority of the group is traveling in various places around South America.
The speed of this development is the most surprising part...they brought the idea up to me yesterday, we talked to a local Colorado ex-pat who runs an adventure tour company, and he agreed to let us borrow the gear we needed for the trip. WHAT. It would never have been this easy in the states, but nonetheless, I'm going down the Baker. Wow.
We start tomorrow, getting all our gear ready to put on the river on Sunday morning. We'll take our time and float our way to Tortel by Thursday, where we'll get a ride back on Friday afternoon. Almost a whole week out on the river will be incredible, and I can hardly wait to see what treasures the Baker has in store for us. Unfortunately, though, it means I'll be away from my computer and unable to post anything about Pumalín until I get back from the trip. Sorry, y'all. Hasta la vista, technology. Turquoise water, take me away.
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