On Monday, I headed out of Esquel at 8am taking the 2 hour bus to the Chile-Argentina border heading for Futaleufú, Chile. The terrain was an expanse of mountains and nothingness. We all crossed the border without a hassle and picked up another bus on the other side of the border to take us the 10km into town. There are only 2 reasons people come to Futaleufú which is either the river or the small town feel. Futaleufú is definitely a small town. It certainly felt 
like it was on the frontier and I´m guessing it had population of around 1500. There are about 7 rafting companies with a good number of foreigners (including Americans) working at them. I went to 2 rafting companies and both of them couldn´t even go that day because of lack of people. From what I gathered, it was a bad year in general with the ailing economies around the world. I found one company that was going out that day with a group of Israelis so I decided to join. The company, Futaleufú Explore, was started by an American from Colorado who came down here 6 years ago to experience something new. The river guides working for his company included on other American, and Israeli, a Frenchman, a Peruvian, and one Chilean from the north. The Chilean from Chiloé was a really nice guy and fun to talk to. He would actually speak in Spanish, while everyone else wanted to speak in English. The group rafting that day was 6 Israelis, an American couple, and myself. It seems that there are tons of Israelis traveling because after their mandatory military service, they are given a lump sum of money which many use to go travel (as I understand it). The Israeli guys had really big personalities and were fun to be around. The American couple were I believe in their early 30s and they had driven down from California in their jeep all the way through Central America and were passing through South America. They had spent 6 months in Bariloche with the guy studying for the GMAT and applying to Business School while the woman was teaching English at a school there. I learned that a volcano had erupted about 7 months ago a little north in the town of El Chaiten which the white ash everywhere on the ground as we were driving to the put in spot for the rafts. I heard from others that El Chaiten that was a bu
stling town is now almost a ghost town because it was so devastated by the volcano ash. The color of the water in the river was a blue that I had never seen a river; quite majestic. The color was in part due to the volcanic ashes that had come to the area. We rafted down the river and it was amazing. I had rafted the Gauley River in West Virginia which has a number of 5+ rapids. This river was highly comparable and ridiculously fun to raft. All the Israelis were in one raft while I was with the two Americans in the other raft. We certainly weighed a lot less than the Israelis´ raft which made it a little more interesting. The scenery was absolutely beautiful with rain coming down and the fog through the mountaintops. That night I camped out in a small little hay area behind the rafting company´s building. The town came alive at night. The municipality building was blaring the radio for all to listen as they passed by. Also at the municipality building was a foosball table and a small playground for all the kids. The kids would all whizz by on their bicycles going wherever they were going. The teenagers would gather in the town square with their friends. Later on in the evening, people who I believe worked for the town came up and set up a projector which projected onto a permanent white washed billboard. At the beginning it was videos of people crashing in their rafts set to music. Then it was a presentation of pictures of the greatness of Futaleufú set to music. I´m pretty sure I was the only foreigner that was watching so I had trouble figuring out the purpose of the movies because it seemed like something you would show a tourist to try to entice them to come to Futaleufú. There were about 15 other people watching, basically all young people. It was quite chilly but many were just walking around in short sleeve t-shirts. After a while, the main presentation began which was the TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Movie). This was the newer cartoon version all dubbed in Spanish. A good chance to practice some Spanish. After the movie ended around 1am, everyone dispersed back to their homes, and I to my tent.
like it was on the frontier and I´m guessing it had population of around 1500. There are about 7 rafting companies with a good number of foreigners (including Americans) working at them. I went to 2 rafting companies and both of them couldn´t even go that day because of lack of people. From what I gathered, it was a bad year in general with the ailing economies around the world. I found one company that was going out that day with a group of Israelis so I decided to join. The company, Futaleufú Explore, was started by an American from Colorado who came down here 6 years ago to experience something new. The river guides working for his company included on other American, and Israeli, a Frenchman, a Peruvian, and one Chilean from the north. The Chilean from Chiloé was a really nice guy and fun to talk to. He would actually speak in Spanish, while everyone else wanted to speak in English. The group rafting that day was 6 Israelis, an American couple, and myself. It seems that there are tons of Israelis traveling because after their mandatory military service, they are given a lump sum of money which many use to go travel (as I understand it). The Israeli guys had really big personalities and were fun to be around. The American couple were I believe in their early 30s and they had driven down from California in their jeep all the way through Central America and were passing through South America. They had spent 6 months in Bariloche with the guy studying for the GMAT and applying to Business School while the woman was teaching English at a school there. I learned that a volcano had erupted about 7 months ago a little north in the town of El Chaiten which the white ash everywhere on the ground as we were driving to the put in spot for the rafts. I heard from others that El Chaiten that was a bu
stling town is now almost a ghost town because it was so devastated by the volcano ash. The color of the water in the river was a blue that I had never seen a river; quite majestic. The color was in part due to the volcanic ashes that had come to the area. We rafted down the river and it was amazing. I had rafted the Gauley River in West Virginia which has a number of 5+ rapids. This river was highly comparable and ridiculously fun to raft. All the Israelis were in one raft while I was with the two Americans in the other raft. We certainly weighed a lot less than the Israelis´ raft which made it a little more interesting. The scenery was absolutely beautiful with rain coming down and the fog through the mountaintops. That night I camped out in a small little hay area behind the rafting company´s building. The town came alive at night. The municipality building was blaring the radio for all to listen as they passed by. Also at the municipality building was a foosball table and a small playground for all the kids. The kids would all whizz by on their bicycles going wherever they were going. The teenagers would gather in the town square with their friends. Later on in the evening, people who I believe worked for the town came up and set up a projector which projected onto a permanent white washed billboard. At the beginning it was videos of people crashing in their rafts set to music. Then it was a presentation of pictures of the greatness of Futaleufú set to music. I´m pretty sure I was the only foreigner that was watching so I had trouble figuring out the purpose of the movies because it seemed like something you would show a tourist to try to entice them to come to Futaleufú. There were about 15 other people watching, basically all young people. It was quite chilly but many were just walking around in short sleeve t-shirts. After a while, the main presentation began which was the TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Movie). This was the newer cartoon version all dubbed in Spanish. A good chance to practice some Spanish. After the movie ended around 1am, everyone dispersed back to their homes, and I to my tent. On Tuesday, I awoke to the sound of roosters and a blaring radio in the distance. I found out that the bus left on Wednesday morning so it was a pretty leisurely day. At the bank, while I waited in line and I was able to watch the Simpsons dubbed in Spanish. I have found that the Simpsons is really popular in Chile and Argentina. It´s wierd not hearing the voices that I am so accustomed to. While in an internet café later in the day, I saw some people watching Mythbusters dubbed in Spanish which was also interesting. Considering that it was such a small town, I spent most of the day reading and relaxing. For lunch, I had a sandwich very characteristic of Chile. It has beef, tomatos, tons of avocado, tons of mayonaise, and cheese. A little too much mayonaise for my liking. And there was soap operas in Spanish for viewing entertainment. I also had papas fritas (french fries) which I learned is very common in Chile and Argentina. In Argentina, it´s basically the only vegetable they eat with their meat and french fries can hardly be called a vegetable. I had always thought of french fries as a very American food, but it seems that its more common in Chile and Argentina than it is in the US. There isn´t really much of a nightlife in Futaleufú so your better off waking up early rather than staying up late.
No comments:
Post a Comment