In September 2016 Jan Praprotnik, Andrej Bijuklič, Matjaž Lužar and Jure Stan went to Peru to kayak multidays. Alonso Compana ”Rambito” (Apuramic explorer rafting agency) kindly hosted us in his house (gracias amigo). First we stormed to the Urubamba to get the feeling of Peruvian rivers. It is there were we all met. Next on the menu were some clasics. Paucartambo to warm up (3 days), Apurimac abismo canyon (3 days), Pachachaca (3 days).
Peru is different than the western culture. People admire and respect nature. There was once one said to me: “the snow in the mountains is disappearing and with the snow all this villages will move to the city”. Read this sentence again can you do anything to prevent global warming?
Back to our trip. Urubamba under the famous Machu Pichu. Continous class 4 read and run pure joy to paddle. 40 km in 3 hours, this was our warm up. If you are wondering if we went to Machu Pichu: NO, too many people… If you want to see Inkas ruins I recommend going to Choquequirao bigger than Machu Pichu, more remote and no people (of course in a few years from today this will change completely).
Next was the rio Paucartambo (3 days class of class 4 and some 5 rapids). It is impressive how this river changes the in every corner. From highlands to jungle all in 1 river. A mosquito net or hammock is a must have here. Not because of mosquitos but because of violet spiders =). Finishing Paucartambo we were extremely lucky. In less than 1 hour we caught a truck to Yantille valley.
Next we paddled the Apurimac river (Abismo gorge). One of the most beautiful places on earth. Class 5 gorge with lots of siphons in it. All is runnable. Just after the hardest part there is a hanging bridge leading to Choquequirao. After we finished in Puente Pasaje we were a little tired so we headed to Cusco for couple of rest days.
Pachachaca, last but the best. 40 km of class 5. If you know the lines you might just go in 1 or 2 days but since we had no locals with us this time it was 3 days for us. Mostly steep boulder garden with occasional canyons.
Words and pictures: beatyesterday-mh.com
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