Day 1 Friday: Depart your home town:
Fly to Miami and connect on an over night flight to Buenos Aires Argentina. Welcome to the warmth of the southern Hemisphere in summer.
Day 2 Sarturday: Travel to Trevelin, Patagonia Argentina
Early morning arrival in Buenos Aires. Change airports with a taxi or shuttle bus and catch another flight to Esquel Argentina. Trevelin Argentina is a charming mountain village gateway just 45 minutes from the Esquel aiport and 45 minutes from the Futaleufu River in Chile. Check into the Casa de Piedra hotel and walk to one of several Argentine restaurants with the Chilean Andes in view. Unwind, relax, and get a good nights sleep before the start of your trip the next morning.
Day 3 Sunday: Your trip starts. Raft from the near the Border to Campo Tres Monjas
After a relaxing night's sleep at a hotel in the quaint Welch town of Trevelin deep in Patagnia Argentina, we begin this exciting trip with a quick shuttle across the Chilean/Argentinean border and into the Futaleufu Valley. After clearing customs we go direct to the Futaleufu put in where we will meet your guides and rafts. After changing into our river gear, your luggage will be whisked away and magically show up at your tent or cabin at our river eco-camp before you arrive. After the introduction of whitewater and paddling skills we encounter a section of mild class II water flowing through the Las Escalas valley. A couple of hours later the river shows its wild side and we encounter "Zeta" and "Throne Room", two of the most challenging (Class V+) rapids on the Futaleufu. We study and will portage both. After the portages, we get into our first action, the section called "The Wild Mile" which contains Tres Islas (III), Roller Coaster (III), Honorable Mention (IV minus), Wild Mile (IV minus) and the climatic Thing. The excitement doesn't stop until we get to the confluence of the Futaleufu and Azul rivers as we take out on the unspoiled beach at our Camp Tres Monjas with the stunning peak of the same name standing guard. At our secluded camp you find your luggage in your RiverNest cabin. You will be given a tour following trails to the sauna, showers, drying shed, bathrooms, and dining hall. This idyllic spot will serve as the take out and put in for your activities for the rest of the week's adventures. This setting is arguably one of the most stunning on the river. Relax in the sauna and ready yourself for a sit down meal.
Day 4 Monday: Triple Crown of Rafting: Terminator Section, the Heart of the Futaleufu, and Casa de Piedra Section
This has to be the most fun and action packed day of rafting, anywhere on earth. We take off from our sand beach at camp and head downstream to a couple of warm up rapids before the river takes on an extremely powerful nature, with the longest rapid on the Futa, the "Terminator" (Class V). After a careful scout and plan we will run this rapid. Just below, we'll have to negotiate the hole filled "Khyber Pass" (Class IV+) and the Himalayas (Class IV), with perhaps the biggest standing waves in the hemisphere with a huge pool below. After Lunch we run another complete section called the the Heart of the Futaleufu. This section, from the Zapata swinging bridge to the Puente Futaleufu, includes five miles of Class IV+ rafting action. Rapids such as "Entrada", "Pillow", "Tiburon", and "Mundaca" with its must-see explosion hole, will keep you on your toes. Though drop pool the pools are short and the action non stop. As we begin our final section of river today we will thread through the well named Maso Manos rapid getting ready for the magical and daunting rapid Casa de Piedra. Casa, as commonly called by our expert guides, is a long class V rapid appropriately named for the house size rock that must be navigated before flying past the helicopter eddy and down through a maze of truck size holes and waves. The take out is at a spectacular cliff wall with towering glaciers in the distance. After the trip we return to our Camp and take advantage of our sauna and massuse and work out any sore muscles you might have after a big day of paddling.
Day 5 Tuesday: Sea kayaking Loncanao/Mountain Bike back to the Campo
Today is a multi sport day with pre-arranged options available. A sea kayak trip on the pristine and calm Lago Lonconoa is planned. A short drive takes us to the put-in. Here you will select a single or two person sea kayak and listen to a short introduction to safely navigating these stable craft. After lunch on the lake we will have the option of riding Mountain bikes back to the camp (mostly downhill) on back roads along the Rio Azul. Soft pastures juxtaposed with towering glaciers will, surely, remind you of scenes from the Sound of Music or Heidi. We will cross the turquoise Rio Azul on a swinging bridge on our way to a meadow with an overlook on the river and to the glaciers towering above. Luckily, we will continue biking down the Azul Valley back to camp ensuring you've had all your eyes can handle of this amazing, idyllic natural beauty.
Day 6 Wednesday: Rafting Infierno and return to Trevelin
This is the most demanding, committing, and hazardous section of the Futaleufu, the highlight of our Patagonia rafting program! It is also optional. If you feel that you have had enough with the previous sections a multisport activity can be scheduled. To raft this section safely, the river levels must be correct, you must have rafted the "Heart" section with us and met all of our safety requirements. We put in at the Río Espolon bridge and raft to the the confluence with the Futaleufu River. At the "Gates of Infierno", we enter the "Infierno Canyon" with several consequential and continuous Class V drops. After an exciting morning of rafting in the Inferno canyon our vehicles will be waiting at the take out as we make our way toward the border on our way to Trevelin after changing into dry clothes. Check into your hotel, take a shower and change clothes before enjoying your last night in Patagonia. There are a handful of outstanding and reasonably priced restaurants in Trevelin that we can recommend. Relax, recover and look back on the exciting week of rafting before heading home the following morning.
Day 7 Thursday: Return to Capital City
Depending on your connections you are now are in Argentina ready for an early departure in a cab from you hotel to the airport in Esquel and for your flight back to Beunos Aires.
Day 8 Friday: Return home
Riverside Campo Tres Monjas
Condornest Private Ranch
| Price per Person: $2095.00 |
Special Flexibilities: Exchile will be flexible to make your trip a total success. The actual program for your custom trip mayl vary according to the desires and skill level of your group, weather, or other factors. Patagonia has constantly changing weather patterns that might affect what day is best for a certain activity. If a certain part of your trip is not possible due to danger risks and weather extremes, our experienced guide staff will work with you to figure out the best possible option to substitute for the weather complications. If you have any concerns, please feel free to ask us more about the situations and what is guaranteed on the trip.
Included: Your described trip, guiding, instruction, activity equipment, local transportation, shuttles, all meals, wine with dinner, accommodations at our eco-camps, cabins, ranches or lodges, from your trip pick up point to your trip drop off point.
See the packing list of your activity, for the specific clothing that is required.
Not Included: Transportation to and from your home town, and your accommodations and meals in Trevelin Argentina or alternate trip pick up point. You can reserve and prepay on the web your transport from your final air destination, to and from your pick up-drop off point before and after your trip, or you can direct us to charge your visa card and do it for you. We higly recommended having exchile make hotel reserves in Trevelin. (room capacity in this small village is limited). Expediciones Chile is not financially responsible for your travel complications getting to your trip pick up point and from the drop off point, HOWEVER, we will be relentless allies in offering our services to help solve any issues that you may encounter.
