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Argentina & Chile


We wake on a beach just outside Puerto Varas and begin picking up the pieces. Our team is spread around town, having stayed in locals varying from the beach outside a casino to a nice house in town. Shaking off not so pleasant feelings due to the nights celebration we make a plan. One car is headed back to Pucon, and we're now six in one car. Really we don't even fit in that car. Rain is still not happening in Pucon, so we'll head to Rio Gol Gol. None of us have done it, but it's a classic piece of whitewater on the border with Argentina. From the Gol Gol one car will head to Pucon and drop off two people at the bus station in Orsono. From there, they'll catch a bus to Bariloche, Argentina while three of us take the car and all our gear to the same destination. There we'll rent a second car and make the infamous journey south to the Rio Baker. 

This sums up the how we all feel.


Fellow water enthusiasts enjoy a view of Volcan Orsono.
It's a few hours to Rio Gol Gol on the Chile/Argentina border and on arrival we're too busy to paddle, enjoying the first sunlight in two weeks. It's glorious. After taking in some vitamin d the put in waterfall of the Rio Gol Gol is calling us. From what reports we've read the normal line is on river left. It looks like this one must be rather high too, the river left looks like a nasty hole.
Rok Sribar goes center with the extra padding.


Igor Mlekuž takes the same line.
On the river we're a bit lethargic from the sunlight and hangovers. The river is certainly full of water and leaves us scrambling to catch some eddies as we have no idea where we're going.

Fabian Bonanno is unfazed.

Igor Mlekuž about to go deep in the legendary sluice box.


Yoshi Takahashi makes a crux boof over one of the larger holes.
Igor Mlekuž on a tricky waterfall.


Rok Sribar on the same.
An unusually large horizon line looms ahead. So this is where the Salto del Indio is. Not doing research can result in fun surprises. We take turns enjoying this beautiful plunging falls, all going very deep at the bottom. Somehow Rok Sribar manages to come out upright after several seconds of downtime. Experience pays off.

Fabian Bonanno, Salto del Indio


Andrej Bijuklic


 Shot as a panoramic, we're stoked to witness Yoshihiro Takahashi run his highest waterfall to date: Salto del Indio.
We take out shortly below the falls, happy to have experienced such a classic section. It's now time to start problem solving for tomorrows mission to Bariloche.




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