Much like the drop on the Middle Palguin, flooding last year completely changed the geology of this drop. It had been run by the Epicosity boys in years past, but this drop opened up into a much cleaner, much safer SWEET drop!
Everyone got their chace on this one!
Front Seat
Back Seat
We got some sweet views and great company on our way around Lago Ranco from Pucon to run the Nilihue.
We got to tear it up with Pat Camblin, Rush Sturges, Katy Scott and Scott Ligare….for Scott´s 30th B-day last night. We are busy kayaking for the next week around Pucon, Bariloche, El Bolson and the Futalefu.
Thanks to Rodrigo at Kayak Pucon for totally stylin´ us out.
We started the day with two laps on the Upper Palguin, a classic class IV waterfall run.
Next thing we know we were all at the lip of a 70 + foot waterfall…the biggest any of us had run.
It was one of the cleanest, softest big drops ever.
Rush went first followed by Rodrigo, Seth, Pat and Tyler. It was sick. The only way you can get this view of the waterfall is by running it.
Young Gun Hip Hopper Rush Sturges was only on the project for less then 24 hours, but he left fired up!
……and now we are ready to KAYAK. We have the next weeks scheduled to travel and relax as we hit all the best rivers in the Patagonia!
It was wonderful to have Alex and Jody along, but they left us in Santiago to go back home. Unfortunately, Alex´s wallet was stolen, and before we had even realized…they had charged literally thousands on her credit card. Alex….our thoughts are with you and we hope that everything goes smooth to replace all your lost items.
Tomorrow we will meet up with our new team mates Pat Camblin, Scott Ligare, Katy Scott and Trish Laury who will join us to Bariloche and South. As well, Rush Sturges, Marlow Long and Tanya Shuman will be joining for a big weekend of partying and paddling!
Special thanks to Ivet at the American Corners Institute for organizing by far the biggest school visits to date. Yesterday evening we had a visit with the Austral University Honors students and the president of the University.
The morning visit was at a technical high school.
Afterwards, we had a meeting at the town hall with the mayor…..and then straight over to make another appointment with a mechanic.
In the afternoon we had the biggest primary school turnout to date with over 1500 students to hear our last formal presentation here in Chile.
We went back for a quick parking lot demonstration and lunch at the univeristy. Finally, after meeting with the mechanic….we found the heart of the our problems with the radiator. In La Paz, we had plugged in the block heater in attempt to keep the engine warm at night. Since the truck is from Japan and has a different voltage, we fried a small part in the engine which has alloud water to vaporize and escape all this time. We just drove our first kilometers without worry of overheating……we are calling it re-birth.
We woke up this morning camped on the side of the road. As we rolled out of bed, we were immediately swarmed by papparazi´s.
The second we arrived in Los Angeles we were greeted by the Mayor and Governor and enough cameras to occupy a Japanese field trip.
A special thanks to Nester and Johan from BioEiberger…and new company in the area that is building a plant to produce Biodiesel, BioEthanol and BioGas here in Chile. They sponsored all our accomdations on our visit to Los Angeles.
They put us up in this sassy hotel, and Tyler and I have our own rooms. That is a good thing. We have our one year aniversary of living in the fire truck on March 17th. Those folks in Ushuia better be ready!ª!!!!
Special thanks to the Ritz Carlton for putting us up in the best rooms of the trip! The day of March 4th might have been the craziest one yet. It started with a live interview on national television, and a visit ot the University accompanied by the US Ambassador, the Minister of Aggriculture and President of the University. After a couple more media engagements, we were at the US embassy to meet a team of 3 embassy mechanics who unveiled the problem with our Raidiator as a faulty water pump. 900 bucks later at 10 pm, we were filtering vegetable oil in front of Mcdonalds…..our last fill up of the trip. We also collected 15 gallons of Soy Waste Biodiesel from Biodiesel Chile…thanks guys. After, we drove most of the night south…..still overheating.
We can´t thank Dinah enough for the wonderful job she did in Santiago coordinating our activities.
We made our first ascent….and descent of the Andes, with our temperature guage in the red!!!
We were greeted at Mcdonalds with a mob of press, Chilean Ambassador Craig Kelly, and our wonderful host Dinah Arnette from the US Embassy. They had over 200 gallons of nice oil waiting for us….our last fill up of the trip!!
We arrivedin Mendoza late-and got a sweet taste of the annual wine festival. There was a parade, and loads of good food. We slept in this morning before starting toward Chile.
After hanging around all morning drinking coffee in Mendoza, we set out to try and find a Vineyard to go visit. We got a late start, and missed our wine window. However, to make up for some serious time off the water, we found a sweet waterslide and used a plastic saucer to slide down it!
whoosh, N. Argentina is a big place, just pulled an all nighter and are only half way to Mendoza. We are amid a total epic trying to get to Santiago on time via the wine festival in tonight. The Radiator is not giving us much love…we have to stop, de-steam and re-fill every 100 kilometers or so. I guess it wasn´t the thermastat. We can´t find where it is leaking…we might have a blown head gasket…..ouch!
At least we are breaking down is some beautiful places.
And we have Alex to entertain us with her wikid break dancing moves.
This has been a bummer of a setback for us. Instead of stopping off and kayaking in all the spots as we had planned, time restraints have left us driving straight on through day and night…..
