(c) David Gorsky; Stephen and Matti on throw-rope drills
We have had a whirlwind week since returning to Pucon! Finally blessed with sun-drenched days, we have been entertaining visiting parents and kayaking down the Rio Palguin. The Rio Palguin has a waterfall around every bend, literally, and the visiting parents were able to snap photos of their kids from beautiful, riverside vantage points.
Some of the older kids are helping to plan a race down the Palguin, tentatively taking place tomorrow; it should be exciting as our kids are quite the little competitors. Tino has been taking advantage of our location, which is a five-minute walk from the Rio Trancura, to practice safety drills under the bridge. He had the kids out swimming and perfecting their rope-throwing skills.
On the homefront, we have re-settled nicely into our cozy living situation at Dave’s place in Pucon. The gap year kids are sleeping out in the “gypsy cabins” – treehouse-like cabins out in the woods – and loving the extra space. The girls are pretty stoked to have two big rooms to themselves with plenty of table space for studying… or rather, for scattering all of their clothes on top of.
Weather-wise, we have had a gorgeous week, with nearly constant sunshine. This morning I took notice of my surroundings while helping Jessica and Chase write sonnets in British Lit, and saw students reading and learning while lying on the grass in the sunshine. What an awesome classroom!
Greetings from Choshuenco! Choshuenco is a one-road town about three hours south of Pucon, accessible only by dirt roads that encircle dazzling lake after dazzling lake. We have our own little lake here in Choshuenco and have been taking advantage of the scenery to enhance our classroom environments. The lower Fuy drains into Lago Choshuenco, which makes the take-out a five minute stroll from our cute hotel, La Posada. Everyone is loving the Fuy! The Upper Fuy boasts an awesome run- a super clean 25-footer, Salto Los Leones, followed by an awesome class V section. I’ll let the more experienced boasters describe the run in more colors for you!
Our first afternoon in Choshuenco, we headed to Salto Los Leones for a park and huck. Everyone killed it, including some ladies who were timid at first, then so stoked at their accomplishments! Jessica ran a beautiful line on her first ever waterfall, and Stephen scared us all as he threw his paddle from the top of the drop. Clay and I both got a little bruised from under-rotating or over-rotating our flips from the top of the waterfall into the swimming hole.
Yesterday we took a break from the whitewater and ventured out to Huilo Huilo, to scout two gigantic waterfalls, a 150 footer and a 130 footer! Some of the daredevils think they’re runnable. Either way, it was a gorgeous place to spend an afternoon hiking around.
On the academic front, classes are running smoothly; Eric, Alex and Clay wrote delightful stories to share aloud in class for a creative writing assignment. Lorenzo’s Spanish classes have been learning Spanish through videos, such as Meet the Robinsons and The Lion King. Video class is putting together a video called “How to by Boof, by Billy Harris”.
Yes, we are all happy, healthy and well-fed; we are getting three scrumptious meals a day. Last night for dinner we had a tantalizing soup stuffed with cilantro, potatoes, corn, green beans and carrots. Some of the kids were already starting to leave the table, satisfied, when the second course appeared- sausages and mashed potatoes, with a sweet peach for dessert. The only complaint we have this week is the weather; rain, rain, go away!
In three days, we will return to Pucon for about a week before embarking on our great adventure south to the Futaleafu!
We are about 3/4 of the way through our stay in quaint little Choshuenco. New to this year is a paved main street as well as paved sections of road on the way into the town. We are staying at La Posada a small hostel right in the middle of town. There is a large beach here lake side and a pretty frickin sweet rusted up old boat. We have however not only brought the party to this town, but also the rain. It has rained here non-stop since day two and there are no signs of it lightening up.
The Fuy is definitely a highlight of this little venture. There are three sections to this river. The upper is a mixture of steep rapids and waterfalls highlighted by the park and huck 25 footer. The middle and lower are both boulder garden type drops. The middle and lower sections can be run one to the other however to run the upper into everything else may be a bit of a venture.
Yesterday we took a small break from the river and went to Huilo-Huilo private park or something like that, I don’t think it was a national park. There was 2 huge waterfalls one a 130 footer and the other a 90 footer called Salto de Puma.
See you on the water!
Listen to the people yelling dinner is ready. Scurry over to the glowing, leafy haven of the quincho. Pick out a good seat next to a friend and some colorful grub. Chat away about the going-on’s of the day. Look out, as Lorena places more scrumptious food on the table. Inhale all the aromas wafting around you. Smell the roasting pork and beef on the crackling fire. Hear the ooh’s and aah’s of the marvelous feast. Hold up the ginormous sphere of bread that is bigger than your face. Munch on the tomato-y mixture of the pico de gallo. Glance around at your big, crazy, smiling family. Comment on something you find absolutely absurd. Let yourself laugh joyfully with everyone else who got the most recent joke. Join the chorus of “thank-you’s” to Dave and Lorena. Watch the embers of the once-large fire sparkle in the coming darkness. Grab your dirty dish to clean off in the sink. Wait in line behind the other five people who decided to do the same. Help out with the rest of the dirty dishes. Walk back to the cabins; chill out and watch the newest downloaded movie. Sigh happily; another amazing day at the best school around.
This was mapped by Matt Smink while I was on break in the states. To get to the Rio Petrohue from Puerto Varas drive east around Lago Llanquihue. After reaching Ensenada, continue east 16 km into the park and the outlet to Lago Todos los Santos. Most of the Petrohue run is roadside. There is one section that is a national park, and is illegal to boat.
This run was done by geography teacher Matt Smink, and student Stephen Forster. I did not take part as I was not in the country. I am however conveying this information to you to better your river running experience. Photos on map by Matt Smink.
This is the drive from Pucon to the put-in Of the Rio Llancahue. The drive goes past the Termas Geometricas near Conaripe. Be wary though as the road is not maintained as well as others in the area so nice weather and a four wheel drive car is recommended. The put in will be marked with a sign that says: “No a las centrales hidroelectricas de paso en una zona de turistica.”
The run is a solid class 4 venture beginning with a good twenty foot drop. There are many other drops which can be run, scouted and portaged with the help of the riverside road. After the three waterfalls there is however a mandatory portage on river right due to log jams. (See photos).
The run ends after a short twisting slide, and are able to be seen from the road. Be sure to keep your suit on as tons of hot springs are close by!
P.S. Be sure to watch out for wood, and the drops can be easily portaged on the road that runs alongside
So yeah. Here we are in ‘The’ land of amazingness. Clear water, clean drops and tons o’ gorgeous beauties. Here is the keeping parents happy part of the blog. First off all our flights went well, and we all had tons of fun. Second, we are getting tons of good food. Third we have a coach who is alright, oh what am I saying he’s pretty good. Mr. Billy Harris is one of the greatest kayak instructors to come out of the great white north. Canada! We have also met up with the gap year kids, David, Kyle, and Katie and all our other teachers. So sad to see Melina go but Callie is a great replacement. Aside from Callie we also have Lorenzo, the new all chilean, all the time spanish teacher.
We spent a few days in Pucon and now we are in the little, but growing, town of Choshuenco near the Rio Fuy. the Fuy is great with both play and drops, like today. Today, we had a little park and huck sesh, with Jess lightin’ up her first drop. Yeah Jess! And we’ll see what tomorrow brings!
See you on the water!
I am incredibly proud of my photography students: Zoe Ross, Taylor Cote and Matt Hill. Being a photographer at New River Academy is no easy task. A camera and the necessary gear such as batteries, film cards, cables, lenses, tripods and cleaning supplies, are delicate, heavy, and expensive things. Caring for them, particularly under our circumstances of constant travel and camping, can be quite an arduous task.
With each adventure we take as a school, the photo students have an added task to contend with. They carry their boat over their shoulder, their paddle in one hand and their pelican box in the other. While the rest of us contemplate our perfect line down the waterfall, the photo students are computing in their heads the equation of light + action+ and available vantage point for shooting. They climb cliffs, scramble down into river beds, fight through steep hillsides of bamboo and thorns, and drag themselves across zip lines to get the most innovative shot.
Being a photography teacher has given me a new appreciation for a photographer’s role in their photographs. This should seem obvious- who else but the photographer could be responsible for their own shot? But before this semester, I never payed homage to the photographer at all. Looking at a photograph of David Hughes running a huge waterfall, I would think to myself, “David is doing something so awesome! And that waterfall is beautiful! I wish I did things like David did so I could have photos of me like that!” I gave the subject all the credit! And while it’s true, without the handsome boys and girls running big drops in pretty places, none of us would have the portfolio we do. But I never would think, “Wow, what composition this photographer achieved! The exposure is perfect, look how the water seems to be suspended mid air, it must have been difficult to use such a fast shutter speed in that limited light. And the area is so remote- amazing that photographer lugged her giant lens and delicate camera so far into the wilderness!”
Watching Zoe, Taylor and Matt constantly adjusting their focus, change out lenses, climb trees and give up their own oppertunity to run a drop in order to shoot someone else running it, really makes me appreciate how far they go and how hard they work. Photography is one of those rare things that everyone benefits from. The photo students glow with pride when others admire their work, and the subjects of those photos glow with pride when they put them up on facebook and everyone at home raves about their latest big adventure.
Of course, then there is the hours spent in front of their screen touching up photos, uploading them to Flikr, giving slide shows and writing blog posts. With internet that flickers in and out, this can be a long a tedious process. My students work for hours at a time perfecting and sharing their photos, and always with positive, energetic diligence.
Thank you Zoe, Taylor and Matt, I am so proud of the work you do!
