After much time spent viewing the scenery and interacting with others from ‘No Alto Maipo” we left for the 4 hour drive to the coast. The drive took us back through the mountains, and out into the agricultural valley below. We passed by Santiago and what seemed like endless miles of vineyards and farmland until we finally began to rise once again into the the hills which flank the ocean. The feeling was electric when we finally glimpsed the vast body of water- massive waves, relentless surf, and long dark beaches. We had finally arrived at our play boating destination; Pichilemu. This small town would be our base for the next 5 days as we tested our skills on the ocean waves. We managed to get out on the surf the first day, however we took it easy and went directly out as opposed to going to the large point break which forms farther down the beach. The waves surprised me in their size and magnitude, they made arial tricks not only possible, but almost hard NOT to throw! Our second day was even better, we headed out to the point break and caught some of the big waves there. Here they dwarfed us in our little play boats and frequently caught us and tossed us around, it seemed that the wave was demanding a toll for every trick. Most of the time we caught them but on occasion one of us would get close, miss, and go head over the heels into a tumble lasting a couple seconds, making for some hilarious wipeouts and beat downs. Fortunately we had 2 GoPros with us, meaning we got plenty of footage of tricks, and the subsequent beat downs. On one such occasion I threw a Pan-Am, (a trick I have been working on all year) and caught it on camera (finally!).

The surf might be the thing that brought us to Pichilemu, but it was the lifestyle that has enticed me to want to come back. The towns culture is unlike anything I have ever seen. A kind of cross between California surf culture, and small town Chilean customs. There is a big main strip consisting of everything from surf shops, to empanada stands. Horse’s and carriages parade around the town, enticing tourists and locals alike, and coffee shops dot the sidewalks offering a temporary reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the surfing lifestyle.

And that brings us to where we are now, sitting in a cafe writing these blogs and updating our Facebook, preparing for another day of paradise and surfing, we leave for the Rio Claro tomorrow, and though I will miss this place, I cannot help but be excited for the next leg of our trip; the infamous Pucon.

For the Holidays, all of the members of our high school kayak team have dispersed to different locations around the globe to re-unite with, shall we say, our lovely genetic families, but I thought it would be appropriate to share some photos from our New River Academy Kayak Family Thanksgiving celebration and some other photos from the semester to wish everyone Happy Holidays!

Note: As shown in the pictures, New River Academy men bake, write and share poetry, and give speeches on “How To Be Chivalrous,” and New River Academy Ladies stomp such drops as “Garganta del Diablo” and style runs such as the Nevados.  We are all about balance, and being the best we can be by mixing it up and trying new things with the support and encouragement of each other.  We feel so lucky to have such opportunities every day.

Hunt Jennings and Kincaid Wurl learn to make cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving breakfast the next morning.

...Although naturals on the baking front, sometimes the boys instigate trouble/ fun in the kitchen... Waaayyyynnne!

Eric Bartl and Alex Muck communicate with each other to find perfect balance in team yoga.

Sara Jane Daub runs Garganta del Diablo or "Throat of the Devil." Fellow girls team member Hayley Stuart couldn't get enough and ran it twice.

Me and the ladies of New River (minus the absolutely wonderful Anna and Carla).

Galen Volkhausen, not afraid to be dressed by Sara Jane Daub. Forget your gear? Don't do it, but when you do, we've got each others backs!

Hayley Stuart and Wayne Poulsen make the new recycling center more colorful for Art class.

The Stomping Stouts with Authority Crew stomp with authority by day and give educational speeches on chivalry by night. (Note that the balloon under Kincaid's shirt is unrelated to the speech on chivalry... this was dress up for karaoke).

British Lit.

Heart of Darkness response.

For hundreds of years, humans have migrated to newly discovered parts of the world, taking with them their own cultures and ideas. Many countries have extended their influence and control over far-reaching dependencies. A select few have always seen this as wrong to say the least. Joseph Conrad is one of the harsher critics of colonialism. This is probably credited to the fact thats he’s Russian and is therefore always in a bad mood. Conrad wrote his best selling novel Heart of Darkness, in 1899.  In the novel, Europeans establish an “outpost of Progress” in Africa. Throughout the story Conrad depicts terrifyingly brutal scenes in which the colonists take advantage of the natives.

Some might argue that this practice was merely a flaw of the times these men lived in; that humans as a race have “grown out,” of these old habits. In our modern Western society colonization has taken a new identity, globalism. Today we send our armies to other countries under false pretenses and take the resources. There seems to be some unsaid rule that whoever has the most power can freely take from lesser societies.

To succeed in our modern world it seems as though we must out aside any sense of moral understanding, to grow we must make sacrifices.  Many of our worlds great minds have recognized this trend. Alfred Sauvy took Abby Siyes’s “One Planet, Three Worlds” description of the French Revolution, and split the said world into three parts: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The trend he noticed is that the 1st and the 2nd Worlds have been coming closer and closer, almost becoming indistinguishable, while the 3rd has been moving further towards extreme poverty.

Conrad used the most extreme example of this trend. Great Britain’s colonization of the Americas, Africa, and the Middle-East saw some of the most horrific treatment of humans by other humans. After England stored up enough wealth on its own land, it spread its reach out across the globe, taking all that it saw fit to be taken. In our modern world, similar Western nations spring up. But with new technologies in communication and education, it has been harder for new powers to justify their modern colonization efforts. But not to fear, excuses can always be made. In modern society world powers are very quick to explain that they are actually educating these less developed third world countries. They tell us that these countries weren’t really happy doing things their way and that they actually wanted chain corporations and shopping malls, where before they had only drab depressing forests and mountains.

But who is to really blame? In Conrad’s example the British are in Africa looking for Ivory. It does seem that in most cases what starts off as a quest for the “mother-land,” turns into a shopping run for K-Mart. Major powers are in search of three things when they’re expanding: new markets, raw materials, and a cheap labor force. So either we are here to steal your people for our cotton farms, to rape your land, or (if your lucky) to have Arbies and KFC shoved down your throat. As major corporations tighten their hold on politics, the corruption also sinks deeper and deeper into our society.

Great minds throughout our history, now including myself, have argued the same point. Conrad told it through his book and for all we know Jackson Pollock told it through his paintings (they could mean anything). But the underlying message through out is that when we let greed and power get in the way of our morals… Well _____ goes down.

Before coming to work at New River Academy, I had a long history of traveling and kayaking, as well as a history of aggravating my ilio-tibial band. This is not always the best combination. To help combat the large amount of time I spend cramped in my kayak, I have turned to yoga. I have been around yoga for as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until I started paddling daily that I really found its benefits on my body and my paddling.

Not only does yoga let me sit in my far more comfortably for longer intervals, but it has given a better sense of spatial awareness, and body control. I edge my boat better when I practice yoga regularly, I am calmer on the river, and generally just feel better in my boat.

Sitting in a kayak, at a computer, or in a car all day can be hard on our bodies,  and these activities, like anything we do, create habitual patterns in our movements. This means that we are constantly working to strengthen certain muscles, yet rarely use others. Think about how often you forward paddle in a kayak, and how rarely you take the time to work on back paddling. The problem is that this only works one set of muscles in a certain way. Take a look at most of the kayakers you see. Our shoulders round forwards, partly due to overdeveloped muscles in our backs, yet our chest and shoulder stabilizers stay weak.

Yoga can help reverse the effects of such repetitive motions, strengthening the muscles we do and don’t use daily to help prevent injury. When I teach yoga to the students at New River Academy, I try and focus on kayaking specific muscles: Strengthening what we don’t use, and stretching what we do. This means a lot of chest openers, trying to open the chest, putting it into the opposite position from when we paddle, core strengthening exercises, and a lot of hip stretches.

the Ilio-Tibial Band, connecting your hips and your knees

If you have ever sat in a kayak, I am sure that you were surprised by how much is going on beneath the surface of your spray skirt. Your legs are working hard to help stabilize and control your boat (Edging tip 101: Use your lower body, not your upper body!), not to mention that kayaks aren’t quite as comfortable to sit in as your lay-Z-boy chair.

When I’m not boating with the students, I am sitting in class, or at my computer writing for the blog, or traveling with the kids to our various locations. Long hours sitting in and out of my boat can wreak havoc on my IT bands and my hip flexors.  I get up out of my boat, and my legs are stiff and sore, and I find the outside of my knees to be tender or painful. Our latest activity of climbing the  volcano in Pucon certainly doesn’t help !

But what is your IT band? Your Ilio-Tibial Band (ITB) connects your hips, knees and ankles- starting on the Illiac crest, wrapping around to the head of your tibia  and down the front of your shin. One of the key points to understand about the ITB is that it is not a muscle; it is a band of tissue. Almost like a thick sheet of plastic. However, it is influenced by muscles that work with it, under it, against it and opposite it.

Two of the muscles involved with your IT Band. Weakness and imbalance in these muscles can aggravate your IT Band, and cause Knee pain.

The primary functions of the Iliotibial Band are to:

• Provide static stability to the outer part of the knee.

• Control adduction and rotation (inward motion) and deceleration of the quad

ITB syndrome can result from any activity that causes the leg to turn inward repeatedly, as well as weakness in your hip and core muscles. Sitting in a boat can put stress on your IT band, as well as lead to weak hip abductor muscles- a muscular imbalance that can contribute to ITB problems. What kind of problems? – hows about some knee pain!  ITB syndrome is one of the more common causes of knee pain in runners, and is a remnant I carry from a collegiate career in Track and Field.

Here is one of my favorite stretches that helps to keep me comfortable and healthy, whether I am in my boat or running alongside the river.

Called the FIGURE 4 stretch due to the shape you make with your legs when engaged in the stretch.

I like to do this one after some warm-up- either ending my practice with it, or after some easy spinal twists, or just getting off the water.

Figure 4 stretch.

Starting from a supine position, Bend your right knee so that your right foot is planted flat on the ground.

Draw your left knee into your chest. Bring the outside of your left ankle across your right knee.

Leaving back flat on the floor, reach hands through the gap in your legs to grab hold of your right thigh.

Draw leg up towards your chest, lifting foot off the floor.

Reverse Sides.

For additional stretch, try using the wall by placing your (right) foot against a wall or a friends leg to increase resistance.

Its Easy to Apply to New River Academy

Acacio

Chile is one of the most unique countries in the world. It is separated from the rest of South America by the Andes Mountains to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. This isolation has lead to its extraordinarily unique flora and fauna.

Parra

In my spanish class, taught by Carla Astorga, we learned about the natural side of chile. She taught us how to identify different trees and plants, which ones we could eat, and which ones were poisonous.

Nogal

Here are a few different trees that Carla has identified for us:

Nispero

Acacio- The Acacio tree has small round leaves with long thorns on its branches. In the spring it has yellow flowers.

Araucauria

Guindo- Guindo trees also known as the Beech tree have oval leaves and small berries.

Aracauria- This is Chile’s national tree, also called the monkey tree. It has thick and sharp leaves which cover its branches completely.

Guindo

Nispero- The Nispero tree is a short tree with long waxy leaves. It bears small fruit which are edible.

Nogal- The Nogal is a walnut tree. It grows 3-4 meters tall with long leaves.

Parra- In english is a grape Vine. Very important to Chile’s economy, grapes are grown in the central regions. The parra can be identified as a thin fine with broad with scalloped edges.

Chile es uno de los países más singulares del mundo. Está separadadel resto de América del Sur por la cordillera de los Andes hacia el estey el Océano Pacífico al oeste. Este aislamiento ha llevado a su flora y fauna extraordinaria.

En mi clase de español, impartido por Carla Astorga, hemos aprendido sobre el lado natural de Chile. Ella nos enseñó a identificar los diferentes árboles y plantas, que las que se podía comer, y cuáles eran venenosas.

Evan Garcia Teaches Brown Claw to High School

Evan Garcia describes the dangers of a Brown Claw placed too high. Safety. Safety. Safety.

It’s no surprise all the high school kayakers at New River Academy want to be a pro just like their Bomb Flow idols.  It’s a special day for the students at their Pucon, Chile base, aka Pucon Kayak Hostel, as Bomb Flow and Demshitz stars Evan Garcia, Anton Immler and Aniol Serrasolses roll up in their slick new 1,700,000 peso truck.  Students flock into safe little huddles nearby hoping one of their idols will say to them, “looking stout kid” or “I saw you brown that slide the other day… stout.”  Instead the students awkwardly stand their with fuzzy mustaches and shorts riding low.

“Team meeting!  Everyone meet on the deck.  Today we’re going to the Rio Nevado and we’ve got some guest coaches.  You’ve all heard of Evan, Anton and Aniol.”  The student’s have been watching videos of the hucksters every night trying to mimic their stomps and power positions.  The thought of running one of Chile’s finest cascade runs, Rio Nevado, with the world’s best stompers has the students in an untypical silent excitement.

Garcia makes the Brown Claw look easy and can brown without looking at his hand.

“If you’re going to be a great kayaker like the Demshitz and Bombflowers you’re going to need one move, the Brown Claw.”

Garcia steps forward and begins explaining the proper height of a Brown Claw, “You don’t want it to be too high… you might open yourself up for an injury.”

Garcia drops his right hand claw from extended high to a comfortable balanced bend.  Students study their hands and try to picture themselves doing the brown claw on the local stout “Sweet Love.”

Student Hunt Jennings raises his hand to ask, “Which hand do you use?”

Garcia replies, “Good question.  Everyone has a dominant brown hand.  Once you become natural the hand you brown with depends on the drop.” 

View Video, “How to Brown Claw.” By Hunt Jennings.

Jennings is stunned by the ideal to ambi-brown claw and once again is impressed by the pros.

Garcia helps position Galen Volckhausen's cave-hands.

Brown Tip- Use your knee to naturally fit your claw size and finger positions.

Garcia being as adept at teaching as stomping lines notices a student struggling lacking the dexterity of the brown claw position.  New River student and 16 year old Dempoop Galen Volckhausen almost in tears is embarrassed as he struggles to claw his cave-like fingers.  Garcia sensitive to the matter patiently illustrates a way to place the brown claw on to your knee to secure the proper sizing and positioning of the Brown Claw.

Again, the go Huge Kayakers are in awe by Garcias ability to simplify the complex move.

Wayne Poulsen sticks a righty brown on the Rio Nevado Cali Slide.

It’s easy to Apply to New River Academy.

By David Hughes

Owner Pucon Kayak Hostel

Director New River Academy

There’s always those few people in your life, the ones who you see nearly every day but never get to truly know and appreciate. For a while that was Carla Astorga for me. We knew little about her besides that she was our Chilean Spanish teacher who taught at a kayaking school, but did not kayak. But upon further research I began to realize what a long and interesting story she had to tell. And what an amazing message she had to give.  

Carla was born in 1980, in Santiago, Chile. Six years earlier, in 1974, the entire Astorga family left their homes and their lives to escape the new government of Chile led by the new political leader Agusto Pinochet. Carla’s father lead the family to Ecuador where they hoped to remain untouched by Pinochet’s tyranny. But Carla”s father could not stay away from the home he loved so dearly. He lead his family home  to Chile in 1980, ten years before Pinochet left office. Carla explained that even though they did not support the Chilean government at the time, her family missed their home far too much for that to stop their return. Before they fled to Ecaudor the Astorgas lived all around Santiago. Generations ago, the family owned the Maipo Valley, a large amount of land extending from Santiago east into the Andes. When they returned, the family took up residence once again in the Maipo Valley. They began a family community in Cascadas de las Animas, a branch of the valley 60 km. east of Santiago. This is where Carla spent her childhood,far away from cities, and all that they include: the noise, the rush, and the overall lack of nature and life.

Carla spent her childhood outside. She explained to me, that without the lure of Gameboys, computers, and lap-tops, she was nearly always outside. This, combined with the surreal landscape that was her back-yard, Carla saw little reason to return to the modern life she was missing. 

Carla spent her days walking through the Andes Mountains. She told me stories of how she would spend days at a time exploring the endless wilderness. Carla grew up without the distractions that the modern day world places before us. She described to me, what she saw, as the modern dilemma: people growing up in cities knowing little of the natural beauty the world has to offer. They are never surrounded by life. In a city everything is dead. From the houses they grow up in, to the buildings they work in, they are constantly surrounded by synthetic unnatural materials. Children today growing up in cities will be lucky to be outside for more than an hour. And even when they do get a chance to breath fresh air and see blue skies, the air is filled with toxic fumes and the sky is much more grey then blue.

When people miss out on the simple and natural beauty of the world, when the only thing they focus on are their watches and cellphones, then their senses become dulled. Carla explains that just like any other part of our body, we loose what we don’t use. We slowly forget how to use our senses properly, or maybe we just never learn how to use them. Either way people become more and more similar to the electronic devices they cling to so desperately. Sadly Carla tells me that, in her mind, people are becoming as lifeless as the world they live in.

Carla Astorga is a rare breed; she is one of very few people today who get the opportunity to see what is left of our natural world. She grew up with the opportunity to observe the workings of nature. 

So many children today do not have the opportunities Carla had as a child. So many never leave the city they were born in until they are well into their lives. So how can we ask these people to do things like recycle? How can we ask them to make an effort to save a place that may as well be on another planet!? What does it matter to kid in Brooklyn that dolphins are being slaughtered in Japan, or to a girl in Hong Kong that a river is being damed in Chile? Carla’s answer to this question was a simple one. She explained to me, as if it were the most obvious thing on the face of the earth, that if you can understand one aspect of life, you can understand all life. That all life is the same, from the activities of an ant to the ecosystem of the entire Amazon. She says that if you can learn to appreciate the beauty of a single tree then you could never let someone cut down a forrest, no matter how far away it is.

So all these people who treat their home with such ignorance just need the opportunity to see for themselves the beauty in the world. All we need to save our planet is love; love for all living things. How could you kill something you love? How could you possibly let a forest be clear-cut if you love every single tree? But how do we possibly convince so many to love so much?

Carla thinks the solution is simple. We educate. We get our children outside. We show, tell, and teach every generation how they can help their earth. We show them what a beautiful place the world is. We tell them to respect and love their home and all its inhabitants. And we teach them how they can change the world.

Carla Astorga

We turned one of our Spanish classes into a date class, learning how to ask girls out and having Carla teach us some useful pick up lines! It was great fun. Later that day we went into town and David Miller got to skip his Spanish class to come with us, but  the catch was that he had to take a video of him talking to a Chilean girl.

It was some good laughs watching David try and try, but he just failed every time. The 1st girl he tried to pick up was this 40 year old woman on the beach. He did not realize she was that old until he tried  to talk to her! That gave us all a good laugh. At the end of the town trip I decided to step in and give David a hand, too bad it did not help at all!  We both got shut down. hmmmmm …. We then realized we need to work on our  Spanish more before we could get some girls.  So its back Spanish class to practice up for our next town excursion!

We set down in the Andes-surrounded Santiago airport after an overnight flight and immediately loaded all of our kayaks and gear onto a big bus to head to Cascada de las Animas, an eco-tourism resort on the mighty Maipo River that is only forty minutes outside of the city.

Cascadas de las Animas, or “Waterfall of the Spirits,” is our base for the first week and a half.  It is nestled in a narrow valley of beautiful, tall desert mountains, and includes magnificent camping, a gourmet restaurant, waterfalls to hike to, a zipline, horseback riding, and, most importantly, is the takeout to the upper section of the Maipo River and the put-in to the lower section of the Maipo River.

The lower section of the Maipo is a Class 2/ 3 run, perfect for practicing boofs, eddy turns, punching holes, and racing.  The same skills can be practiced for the more advanced boaters on the upper section, which is a Class 3 /4 stretch with one easily portaged Class 5 rapid, called Frenchman’s Curve.  Throughout the week, all of the New River Academy team improved immensely, and, after great assessment and a strong safety set-up, some ran Frenchman’s Curve!

After the Maipo, the team cruised to Pucon, the creeking capital of Chile.  With its Jurassic Park-like mountains, countless waterfalls, and majestic volcano, Pucon is one of the most well-known summer destinations for Chileans.  For kayakers, it is known for the insanely high concentration of rivers within its near radius.

New River Academy’s kayak school base is located on the Trancura River.  Similar to our location on the Maipo, our Pucon base is situated at the take-out to the more challenging Class 3/ 4 upper section of the Trancura and at the put-in of the Class 2/ 3 lower section of the Maipo.  While we have certainly been enjoying putting in and taking off of the river immediately out our back doors, the team has also enjoyed runs on the Palguin (a perfect intermediate waterfall run) and the Nevados (a more challenging steep creek run).

In addition to kayaking, the team has enjoyed Chilean-led dance morning workouts, natural mountain hot springs, delicious Chilean meals (so much fresh bread!) at communal tables in front of warm fires, and classes that often incorporate the daily experiences of our surroundings.  We are all taken with the culture, the beauty, and the boating of Chile and we can’t wait for the next four weeks!