In the cold winter months of december and january the average joe from jackson usually sits around and skis. This year however, I got an opportunity to go to Chile to paddle. Before long myself and about 8 kids from boise were in the Santiago airport testin our spanish on flight atendents. But thats a whole different story... We arrived in Pucon on the 28 and were pleasantly suprised with high flows. After a day and a half of warming up and all that shinanigans on the liacura river, we went to the Trancura. High flows made this run big and pushy. Super fun big water with one HUGE hole that one girl in our group happened to float into. After a bit of a beatdown and some laughs we continued exploring the lines of the Trancura for about two more days. After a crazy new year celebration we set off to explore the rest of chile. Our coaches Jakub Sedivy, Tren Long, Keneth Long, and Christian had the pleasure of ridin in a van with ten teenagers for the long haul up to Pichilemu. Being chilean beach, it was sure to offer good waves and hot girls. Luckily, our expectations were met fast. Imediately after arriving we paddled out to the break. Being all of our first times surfing the ocean we all got crushed pretty hard on the first day. After a sunset session filled with trashings and air-blunts we turned in for the night. The next day we awoke to beautiful swells all the way down the beach. Although amazing and fun, catching waves in the ocean is uber scary for the average kid. After some carnage on both the coaches and students sides Tren peer pressured me into tryin airscrews. After multiple attemps resulting in 3/4th screws to face, I resumed blunts and trashings. After some good times in the break with Peter, Andrew, and Tren it was time to hea d in. Last words... "Peter is about to have the ride of his life... and were all gonna get wrecked!"And yes we did all get wrecked.. me and andrew had quite a ride on that one. Then we went discotecking...nuff said.Next day we rallied up to Los Quanes. After an amazing run on the Teno , a class III+ IV- run filled with rock splats and boofs, we continued back to the lodge with great hospitality curtesy of Mike Coglin and Tod something. After being stalked by the village tranny all night we awoke the next day to great weather. A good run on the Claro to start the day and another run on the Teno proved why Chile really is paradise. A few swims and nightmares were the worst Los Quanes could do to us to take the grins of our faces . Next day, Siete Tazas! Absolute funnest run in the world. Some carnage on the first drop, getting lost, acidentel kickflips/free wheels, and giant spiders made this day one for the history books. Relatively good lines from the crew made for good talk on the 8 hour rally back to pucon. Next day we paddled the upper Trancura which is an amazingly fun class IV run. Big drops, fun boofs, big hits, and great views make this run spectacular. For the next week or so we ran this multiple times, everytime it gets better! We also rocked the Discos again! Fuy !!!! days later Andrew Roan, Coleman Roan, Peter, And myself were drivin to the Fuy. After spendin hours fixin the trailerr we finally got on. Trent then informed us that that day was expidition training. So our coaches kinda just floated down the side leaving us to descend/ scout the river alone. After a few arguments from the roans, and a brief carnage session, we got our system figured out and safely descended the fuy. We all go stuck in a gnarly eddie against a wall for a bit but that was just one incedent... On the second run tren explained it as " hit training, were gonna punch all the biggest holes we can find to see if we can get you young suckas swimming!" and we pretty much did exactly that. No swims but some good surfs and hits provided us all with worthy entertainment. We then drove back to pucon to enjoy our last night in paradise. The Fuy might be my favorite river to this day. Bonfires, jokes, cake, butterfly knives, and good friends made our last nite a one to remember. The next day we flew home. Marking the end to the trip of a lifetime.
(I would describe the discotecs and our experience in Los Quanes with more detail but some of my teachers might read this)
Teague
