November 2003

November 04, 2003 - 11:16 a.m.

Michelle and I have been hanging out on the Rio Manso for the past week as the days grow longer and steadily warmer. The Manso has numerous sections and levels of difficulty, but the real show was the 4th annual Bariloche rodeo held last weekend on a super sweet wave! My new kayak flew me into 2nd place and so to celebrate I made a serious ass of myself drinking FERNET and other numbing concoctions....

AND after this I found myself getting back in the paddling gear at 1 am with some other yoohoos to hit the wave once more in the DARK! well.....nuff said. Apologies to my sweet girl who had to clean up the midnight snacking leftovers from under the pillow. So despite the surreal beauty of the Manso drainage (no I didn't drop the 65 ft waterfall either) Pucon Chile is our next stop.

November 08, 2003 - 6:01 p.m.

So Mark and I arrived in Pucon on Wednesday afternoon without too many incidents. We got a flat tire driving from Bariloche and decided to buy 2 new tires in San Martin de los Andes. So Norman now has extra traction in the rear - useful for the muddy roads we have been experiencing.

Volcan Lanin

The past few days we have spent paddling the rivers close to Pucon, and checking out how much they have changed since we have been here last. It's been rainy most of the time so we used today to go warm ourselves up in the hot springs with some good Chilean wine. We plan to spend the next few weeks here, hanging out with good friends and paddling lots.

November 23, 2003 - 2:48 p.m.

So the past couple of weeks we have spent in Pucon paddling some sweet rivers and finding some crazy playspots. Mark's run a couple creeks (one of them stole his paddle and hasn't given it back...yet) and even hucked himself off of a 35 foot waterfall. It's been raining lots so all the rivers are high and lots of fun, though we are looking forward to some sunny days in the near future.

Mark on Rio Puesco