Cañon del Cotahuasi

Having had enough of Peruvian "Chicken Buses" we decided to pimp our  journey from Lima to the southern city of Arequipa to a flight!

In Arequipa we met up with Kent Miller, caught up on some 10 years and then gave him a 5 day break from Derek, Crystal and Anne plus with Carlos too we had a group for the Cotahuasi Canyon, reportedly the deepest in the world!!

Gustavo styled us to the put in, a grueling journey that took us on the Panamericana, crossing several passes most of which were dirt tracks and the rescuing of a car that was pitched on the canyons rim!!

After about 4 hours of sleep we left the village of Cotahuasi and were heading for our rendevous with the mule herders!!

The usual trek to the put in of Velinga was closed, so we got an amazing trek down to the river.  

The views were amazing!!

Check out the mules down below!

Anne↑

Derek ↑

Just some of the ruins that are in the Canyon

Crystal↑

Carlos ↑

John & Crystal↑

John dropping in↑

Heading towards another set of ruins!!

Campsites in old terraces

John styling it!!

A bed of Robsons!!!!

It was certainly an amazing trip and without doubt a great way to finish off our Peruvian adventure.  A big thanks goes out to Gustavo and Expediciones y Aventuras, La Casa da Sillar, El Turko the kebab shop and everyone who boated with us or helped us out throughout our time in Peru!

  

Pozuzo and a First Descent on the Rio Santa Cruz

After a brutal bus journey out of the jungle to Lima, we headed on another 12 hour bus journey to the remote colonial town of Pozuzo.

Here we had the opportunity to test out our local German dialects with the relatives of the Austrians who founded Pozuzo.

We made some friends ate some decent food, drank the best coffee in Peru and John even got a cake for his birthday from Maria!!

We paddled the Rio Pozuzo a couple of times.  This is one of the best class V- day runs in Peru.  Easily accessible once you are there and the run finishes right in the centre of the village so a 2 minute walk with our kayaks brought us back to Maria's.

What we also managed to do was to put in a "First Descent" on the Rio Santa Cruz.  Planning and organizing this was no that easy.  There are no topo maps for this part of Peru and so you need to get in there yourself to check it all out.

The locals were absolutely amazed that 2 "Gringo Kayakers" were running the river.  As we passed under a wooden footbridge, the locals all ran to the otherside and nearly flipped the bridge and spilling everyone into the river!!

The rest of the village who had some form of motorized transport kept following us down the river!

The Rio Santa Cruz turned out to be our easiest river of our Peruvian Adventure, a cheeky little class III down the middle with a nasty class VI rapid to keep you on your guard!

A great way to get ourselves ready for the next river, the Cotahuasi Canyon (regarded as the worlds deepest).

A big thanks must go out to Maria Egg for really looking after us and to Ludwig and his family for some great hospitality but also for finding my camera halfway down the Pozuzo!!!!

Acobamba Abyss

The Acabamba Abyss, a 7 day relentless river expedition!!

For 5 days you are negotiating some of the deepest, darkest, gnarliest canyons the planet has to offer.

Don't forget the river is pushing up to continuous class V+, the gradient is steep and chocked full with wood and syphons.

Once you get to Puente Pasajes, most boaters get out.  The danger of drugs and the Shining Path Guerillas are ever present.

We carried on!

We were fighting brutal headwinds, sand storms, a horrible box canyon and then we got to the jungle.

Some great Grand Canyon style rapids and our last camp was the lucky one.  Not only did we have great views but also the local population had armed patrols  around this area as they have lost so many relatives to the Shining Path Guerillas.

Don't we feel safe!?

Lechemayo was our take out, the motorboats cannot run to San Francisco as the water was too low (the reason why we were on this section of river).

They had not seen any foreigners for years and a lot of the villagers had never seen a "Gringo"

We kept a low profile!

The bus left the next day as it could only travel during daylight hours because of the risk of ambushes!

We finally made it to Ayacucho after a 9 hour hard bus journey, both John and I had completed one of the hardest river expeditions in South America.

Yet another 9 hour bus journey to Lima and then it was onto Pozuzo, in the central jungle!

Cusco and the Rio Apurimac

Met up with some old friends then ran the Upper Apurimac with Noel (a local boater) from the confluence of the Rio Velille.  A full on syphon infested river.  Expedition boating Peruvian style!!

It took us a day to run the Upper section to where the Black Canyon started.

The next day we were into the Black Canyon, some great waves and drops at the start and some good rapids near the exit of the Canyon.  This section normally takes the rafts 4 days, we did in one long one!!!!

At the start of the commercial Apurimac section Noel and I met up Segundo from Aqua Trek and continued down the river.  A couple of cruisy days running some great "class III down the middle"

The only disappointment was not having a grill at the take-out of the river!  Maybe the Israeli's had booked the cheap trip?!!

I had a few days in Cusco to kill, chilling at Roots and eating at Real McCoy's, then it was time to meet up with John and the Abyss was calling!