After a long and treacherous journey, from the motherland of west by god to the tundra of Canada, our first stop was to visit the exciting, intriguing, and all out fantastic, Canadian museum of science and technology. The museum was huge and exciting. Everything was so fricken cool. After walking around and seeing things like model boats, electricity and trains, I finally got the opportunity to see the o so delicious astronomy section. Lead by a peppy and just terrific guide. I traveled through space inside a dome like airy structure and saw the stars like no other man has seen before (besides the people in the dome with me of course). First we started slow experiencing basic constellations like the big dipper, and then we started seeing something special. Constellations like scorpio and Leo, and even Orion, wow!!! This was just the beginning though. The amazing thing about constellations is each constellations shows where another constellations are. For instance the big dipper has two stars forming an arrow towards Leo. By knowing these anything but trivial hints a man like myself could turn into a master astronomer. And at this time, o golly, I was so excited. After a twenty-minute thriller, I was done with astronomy and I left the museum with a smile from ear to ear. One cool thing about the museum is the outdoors. Two things really caught my eye. The first was a huge lighthouse. I am not really sure why it is there but is just exquisite. Like Waldo, it is striped bright red and white. The other thing that was cool was a huge rocket ship. It was probably 100 feet tall. Who knew Canada had a space program. All in all this was truly a great day. Who knew Canada was so awesome.
About: Stephen
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- Stephen forster has been kayaking for four years. He is currently 17 years old. He is from wilton, CT and his home river is the Housatonic
Posts by stephenforster:
Author Archive
An Exciting Voyage up North
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Hornopiren | ChileRivers.org
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Chile Rivers Overview Video
Monday, March 29th, 2010Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Over Christmas break, instead of going home and seeing the family, I decided to stay in chile, charge the stouts, and experience a foreign country outside of an educational environment. The kayaking was nothing but incredible. Because water levels were so high, nearly every river in Pucon was running, and sometimes at a sufficently higher than normal flow. An hour after the students left, Tino and I decided to fire up and start the vacation with the 70 footer on the Palguin. After that drop I had a case of Huck Fever. Soon after, Keegan Grady and I decided to run the ninety footer above the Upper Palguin section, and I decided to run the ten footer above the seventy footer, also on the Rio Palguin. We had a demshitz christmas on the lower Nevados, and later traveled down south to run the notorious Florine and Gol Gol. Overall it was a stout trip. Do not forget to look for the new trailer for the upcoming video by Airborn Athletics, Signs of life, featuring Chile and Canada.
Immersion Research Update | Kayak School in Chile
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010Over Christmas break I decided to stay in Chile with alumni, Jake Greenbaum. Here is a video presented by IR of 2 month vacation.
IR Update in Chile from stephen forster on Vimeo.
Rio Claro | New River Academy
Friday, December 11th, 2009Here is the Chile Rivers installment of the Rio Claro!
The kayak school has been hard at work producing a video guide series of all the major Chile Whitewater hotspots!
Maipo River Valley
Saturday, November 21st, 2009Our first destination, The Maipo River Valley is one of the most impressive areas in all of Chile. Here is a video showing ecotourism, whitewater kayaking, and other exciting activities in the area.
Student Report
Thursday, November 12th, 2009A few days ago the group took a trip to the Upper Yesso waterfall. This trip included a scenic drive up and Andean pass, towards Argentina on a small and bumpy dirt road. After around an Hour of driving, and 26 Km we made it.
After taking a look at the waterfall, only three people decided to run it, David, Tino, and myself. This drop was technical because it had a hole, leading into a tight entrance. I did the first run and it was not the best. I landed over vertical, but everything worked out ok. Tino was next. He did the same thing except his skirt imploded. Then Dave went. He decided to take a different approach, which meant riding up on the left wall. His line was pretty descent.
I was not satisfied with my first line so I went again, performing the same line as Dave, and styled it. After, Tino went two more times, his last line being sufficient. After a solid line by each paddler, we called it quits.
Once everything was packed up, the group started traveling down the pass, and up a different one, towards the Banos Colina. This is a hot springs high up in the Andes Mountains, on the Argentinean border. This drive could not be described in words. I have never seen anything like it. For around 35 kilometers Snow capped mountains towered over each side of the small dirt road. On the right of the car stood Yosemite style cliffs that I presume would be Rock Climbers heaven, and in front and on the right of the car were snow-capped peaks that looked like skiing paradise.
After a long, but remarkable drive the school made it to the hot springs and sweat off a rigorous, but well lived day. After almost one year and a half at NRA this could possible be the best day I spent with the school.
Why Attend a Traveling Boarding School?
Saturday, October 17th, 2009Our first challenge was to converse with the local farmer about what food we needed, and to negotiate prices. My Spanish was being tested by fast pace and slang. The Latin and Spanish I had studied enabled me to buy the groceries successfully.
When I chose to go to New River Academy I did not realize how broadening my education would be. The cultural, educational, and lingual differences of a traveling school are numerous. One of the projects I felt passionate about was increasing the awareness of the impact of dams, “Sin Represas” or without dams. We made a video interviewing local Chileans about their opinion of damming Chile and I worked on spreading knowledge about the tragic effects of dams.
By living in active volcanic areas in New Zealand and Chile I was able to study a different geological setting. This hands on experience made it exciting to focus on my studies.
By far the best part of traveling is experiencing the local culture. This could be purchasing supplies or conversing about politics. Understanding the history of the Chilean government gave me an appreciation for democracy. The atmosphere combined with a normal class schedule heightened my education.
Loop Squad is Back
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009The NRA original series is back with its newest episode on how to vlean spin.
I hope you enjoy the video
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