Film

Paddle Peru 2012 from Adam Holland on Vimeo.

This is the film we edited for the trip, hope you enjoy it!

Back in the UK

We are all safely back in the UK and our epic adventure has come to an end. We want to thank a few individuals in Peru who made our dreams of paddling some of the world's greatest rivers a reality and really helped us out:

Gian Marco Vellutino of Cola de Mono http://www.canopyperu.com/ and Cusipata Rafting Perú (Santa Teresa)

Julio Cesar Baca Vargas - all round Peruvian kayaking legend (Cusco)

Paul Cripps of Amazonas explorer http://www.amazonas-explorer.com/ (Cusco)
  Daniel Rondon and family of Expediciones y Adventuras Rafting (Arequipa)

The Girls at Hitchhikers Backpackers Hostal, possibly the best hostel in the world! (Cusco)

And of course to thank our sponsors from the UK whose support was invaluable:

Imperial College London, Armourgel, Dam Watersports, Lyon Outdoor, Kent Canoes, Canon, Hereford Cathedral School, Old Centralians' Trust.


Stay tuned for the film we our currently editing of the trip!

Two Tits Travel To Titicaca

Two intrepid explorers ready to brave the mighty Lake

In the last couple of weeks of the expedition there was a division of forces in the team. whilst Adam, Alex and Tom decided to stay in the Urabamba valley and continue to chase the white water dream Alby and myself took a different adventure to lake Titicaca.

06/09/2012 - 09/09/2012

Heading back to Cusco we paid a visit to Paul Cripps at Amazonas Explorers to collect Derf’s Mamba as I took the decision to sell my beloved Jefe to Gian Marco back in Colo De Mono. Having retrieved the boat we jumped on a bus and whipped down to Puno where we planned to begin our journey across the lake. Arriving late in the evening we quickly sourced a tasty polleria meal before heading to bed for an early start in the morning.

By 11 o’clock we were underway and on the lake having acquired supplies. In the taxi to the port we asked our taxi drivers if we needed a permit or license to paddle on the lake. He didn't seem to know but radioed his HQ to find out - the operator on the other end shouted (in Spanish) “Sir we are a Taxi company. How should we know?!. Guess not then.

Tim enjoy the mighty reed beds

Heading off into the reed beds we quickly made our way to the Islas Uros. These stunning man made floating islands are made from dead reeds which are matted together to create a floating structure for people to live on.

Alby approaching the Islas Uros

The first islands we visited are a tourist attraction and as such are not lived on in a traditional manner, however we heard that behind the reeds there are islands where people live as they have for years. Great we thought, we shall paddle there and spend the night! Stopping for a quick spot of lunch and a chat with a couple of locals to find the best way to get to the none touristy islands we were met with worried faces. The locals tried to dissuade us from leaving as the islands and were adamant that they were too far away, we would get lost, the lake was choppy, we would drown, etc. Having finally convinced them that it would probably be fine we set off.

Alby considers swapping his boat!

After 2 emotional hours of navigating the narrow channels through reed beds the lake proper finally appeared. Turns out it's pretty big. Skirting around the huge expanse of reeds looking for a village to stay in it wasn’t long before we saw some islands and headed in to speak to the inhabitants. First paddling into the village we were ignored but then the children spotted us and came across for a chat. After negotiating with the children to speak to an adult we started asking around trying to find somewhere to sleep. The question “is it possible to stay here” was answered with “si” so you obviously ask “we can stay yes?” however the reply was “no, not here go and find somewhere else”. It was now 5 o’clock and getting towards sun set. In the end we found a couple of buildings on stilts, a sneaky look inside showed them to be the school, and was surrounded by an expanse of floating reeds.

The sun setting over the not so friendly village

 Excellent - a camp site! As it was getting dark we decided to bivvy out on the school and leave at first light the following day so as to avoid any unpleasant confrontations. It should be mentioned that we brought some beers to share with anyone who would put us up, however as we were on our own it was an obvious chore to drink them and watch a beautiful sunset!

One Camp-site!

At 5.30 the following morning we arose, packed up and escaped from our bivvy/school site. The plan  was to paddle across the lake to the Peninsula de Chuquito (opposite) and from there possibly on or find another camp site depending how far and tired we were. A quick breakfast of biscuits and the long flat slog began. Unfortunately the weather had turned and it had become quite overcast, but with some paddling we were soon warm and within an hour and a half across the lake to the town of Luquina Grande.

Tim has a healthy breakfast

  Amazingly this town was in the middle of a three day fiesta so now at about 8 in the morning we were greeted and welcomed into a party, given beer and soup! Spending an hour relaxing and chatting to the locals who were very excited to have two heroic kayakistas in their mix! As much fun as it would have been to stay we still wanted to see more of the lake so returned to the boats and paddled on around the peninsula, a brief coffee stop at 11.30 at the next town along, Luquina Chico and the decision was taken to man up and charge across to the island of Taquile.

Our hosts at the fiesta

Alby point to the island "it can't be that far!"

The island looked quite small, however it is in fact 7km long… Paddling away in the afternoon sun it took us three and a half hours to cover the distance but we were rewarded with a very excited harbour master who was very surprised to see us and impressed that we had paddled from the main land. He kindly offered to hide our boats in his shed before giving us directions to a homestay up in the main town.

After an amazing night sleep and the best breakfast in a long time (fried bready dohnuts, coffee, eggs and pancakes!) we went off to explore the island. The people that live on Taquile continue to wear traditional (and very unique) clothing and fish and farm the lake itself.

The island complete with terracing

Obviously the water was too inviting to turn down, but we had both forgotten our trunks!

Nuff said

After lunch we caught a local boat back to Puno as we couldn't face the thought of the paddle back! After a swift shower it was time polleria, beer and salsa dancing!

Tim relaxing on the boat back to Puno

Rio Urubamba - Hydroelectrica to Santa Teresa

06/09/12

"Don't forget your handbags and makeup ladies... today we paddle class 5" exclaimed Gian Marco as the remaining kayakistas prepared their balls for this difficult section of the Urubamba. Steep, high-volume, continuous rapids provided the most intense and difficult river experience of the trip.

After visualising some fantasy lines on the enormous man-made waterfall which marks the end of the Hydroelectrica section it is then possible to paddle to the confluence with the Santa Teresa. We paddled the run in about 3 hours, though without Gian Marco leading us it could have taken twice as long as inspections would be necessary.

GM and el Mono just after Hidroelectrica

With Gian Marco demonstrating some big lines, eddies were only available every hundred metres or so: arrive in the eddy, get your shit together and then quickly turn to see how GM avoids the next set of big holes!

The river didn't let up so we couldn't even think about taking any bank-footage or photos. Check out this quick edit of my Go Pro footage to get a feel for the beast instead:

Rio Lucumayo - Alex´s cumpleaños

Tom deep in the jungle gorge

02/09/12

And Tom asked of Gian Marco "Will we have enough daylight to finish the run?", "Well you are English kayakistas; I hope you have your head torches!"

After another sporting run down the Urubamba from Santa Teresa to Santa Maria, we met Gian Marco in Santa Maria. From here it was a 45 minute drive to the put on for the Lucumayo, a tributary that meanders down the valley before entering the Urubamba at Santa Maria. This run was also to be Alex´s birthday treat. And he was certainly treated to an enchanting jungle gorge and some great kayaking. However he was also treated to a heinous walk-out from the river in the dark after we missed the painfully obvious take-out!

Adam awaiting Tim´s signal

After hiding our boats in the jungle bush the night before, the next day we trecked down a steep side trib from the road to retrieve the boats - quite a slog, but overall a great river experience.

Trekking in to retrieve the boats

And back up again!

Rio Urubamba - Paddling in the shadow of Machu Picchu

The paddleable section of the Urubamba begins on the left of the picture, with Machu Picchu to the right!

01/09/12

This day section of the Urubamba begins close to the train station for Machu Picchu and ends at the waterfall where the water extracted for the hydroelectric power station re-enters the river. The removal of water from the river here has turned an otherwise un-paddlable stretch of whitewater into a great low volume class 5 creek with some great boof drops amongst giant boulders!

Tom

We paddled this section with Gian Marco, who pioneered the first decent last year! We expect we made the first British descent of this section.

Gian Marco

Alby

The team watch Alex

Rio Santa Teresa

31/08/12


The Rio Santa Teresa is a tributary that flows into the Rio Urubamba at the town of Santa Teresa. We paddled a 10-15km section of this river to the confluence. It took a few hours and was continuous grade 3 read and run. A very pleasant run! Unfortunately no photos this time.

Rio Urubamba - Santa Teresa to Santa Maria

Mono, our Colombian kayaking friend

30/08/12

The section of whitewater between Santa Teresa and Santa Maria became one of our favourite day runs in Peru. A non stop roller coaster ride of continuous IV+ (V) that didn´t let up for 20km! We ran this section 4 times as read and run with no portages. What also makes the section particularly special is that part of the way down there are some hot springs where filthy kayakers can take a much needed bath!

Alby and Mono

Tom

Three Amigos Alex, Tom and Adam

Cola de Mono

Cola de Mono campsite

For our final leg of the trip we were lucky enough to stay at Cola de Mono camping and Zip line, run by Peruvian kayaking legend Gian Marco Vellutino. We spent 10 days here and the campsite is ideally placed for kayaking different sections of the Urubamba and it's tributaries as well as visiting the great Inca ruins of Machu Picchu and Vilcabamba. If you are ever in Peru on a paddling trip you should definitely pay Cola de Mono a visit and paddle some of the fantastic rivers the area has to offer!

http://www.canopyperu.com/

The man himself - Gian Marco Vellutino

Rio Colca - Lunar Canyon

The team paddling towards the impressive "Condor shower"

14/08/12 - 19/08/12

The Cañon del Colca is a stunning canyon which is beaten in depth only by its nearby cousin the Cotahuasi. Unlike the Cotahuasi the banks of the Colca are totally deserted and uninhabitted - even the Incas coundn´t muster the strength to build along it´s infertile and vertical walls. We found it a truly remote and exhilerating adventure through moonscape rock formations and azure blue waters.

Day 1-2

The Lunar Canyon section of the Colca took us 3 days to paddle and 3 days of transport to get to the put-in from Arequipa. The journey began with the team pilling into a bus from Arequipa at 2pm to Cabanaconde where we checked in to a hostel for the night. The following morning at the less sociable time of 5am we took a second bus to the town of Huambo. From Huambo the plan was to hire Burros (donkeys) to carry the boats down to the river.

Arriving in Huambo at 7am we where greeted off the bus by a group of Spanish kayakers with there tales of woe with regards to hiring donkeys to get to the river. They pointed us in the direction of their donkey driver in the hope he could aquire a few more and get us to the river with them. Unfortunately this was not possible and we spent a day wandering around town under intense negotiations to try and reach the river the following day. By evening there was still no confirmed plans so after checking into a hostel alarms where set early to get organised and leave Huambo the following day.

Alex in negotiations with a donkey man.

Huambo all became too much for Alby

Day 3

Awoken before the sun was up we were out and continuing our search for donkeys, within minutes we found the man used by our Spanish compardres! By the time the Sun was properly up over the surrounding mountain peaks plans where in place to take a truck to the end of the road before loading the boats onto donkeys and then trekking down to the river, all that was left to do was have breakfast! A dose of egg sandwiches and coffee later and we were ready to move.

Adam with Derek the Donkey

By 11am the donkeys were all loaded and the 6 hour trek down to the put-on hamlet of Canco could begin. The first km or so was nerve racking with boats falling off donkeys about every 100m. Eventually we refined our tieing-on technique and continued down the valley of the Rio Huambo which after 12km meets the Rio Colca. The scenery was stunning and the donkeys easily negotiated the difficult terrain with the boats - traversing scree slopes with precariously balanced kayaks on the back of tired donkeys above an almost shear 400m drop into the whitewater below was a testing experience.

Adam ensuring the donkeys went the right way

The view down to the river

We reached Canco at 5pm having decended a total of 2000m from Huambo and after a brief discussion with the locals headed to the aguas calientes (hot springs) in the river! The only access to the springs was via a rope bridge but getting into the hot springs, I say hot springs but perhaps "tepid eddies" is a better description after the day of stress in Huambo followed by the arduous trek was bliss!

Tom bravely crossing the river

A quick spot of male bonding in the hotsprings

Day 4

After the long couple of days the decision to have a lie in until 8 was made. However we were all woken during the night by rock falls down the face of the cliff on the opposite side of the river. At one point sitting up in the tents we could see sparks flying down as the rocks bounced into the river.

After a lesuirely start we were on to the clear blue waters of the Colca. The river started with pleasant grade 3 white water through massive cathedral like structures gouged out of the rock walls. After a few kilometers the Rio Mamacocha enters and the warm crystal clear waters and doubles the flow of the river. The rapids now start to pick up and the gorge opens slightly. Here we came across our first big rapid of the trip.

Tom leading the way

This rapid began with some nice grade 4+ boulder gardens before rounding a corner and forming 3 terminal looking holes up against a huge wall. Not knowing what lay in wait around the corner we all dropped into the first half of the rapid before jumping out to inspect round the corner. No one fancied the questionable line weaving through the huge holes on the second half of the rapid so we had a quick walk followed by lunch!

The team enjoying the first big rapid

Alby charging in

After lunch the gorge began to steepen up around the river and the rapids became fun read and run grade 4, giving out to some absolute gems within stunning surroundings.

 

Tim enjoying the fun!

Adam

The day ended when we found a nice grade 5 where the water dropped between some huge boulders, the left hand side held some slotty mess whereas the right had a nice clean toungue charging into a big curling wave. Alby, Alex and Tim elected to run the rapid in the evening, perhaps to avoid carrying their boats from the campsite in the morning, whilst Adam and Tom saved it for the following morning.

Tim barrelling down the last rapid of the day

Alby doing the same

Tim savouring a birthday cigar!

Day 5

This morning we awoke early to our morning gruel as we still had a lot of ground to cover in the canyon and after yesterday´s late start wanted to crack on. Sliding into the river from the campsite we were to discover a huge landslide had formed a massive grade 5 rapid, it looked fairly recent as there were still smaller pebbles on top of the boulders. After a good hard look and soul search everyone decided it was too early to attempt something this big so boats where shouldered, roped and dragged round.

Below the big rapid the river continued to give more classic read and run grade 4 for a few kilometers until the canyon opened up and we reached the spectacular condor shower. This is a water fall which crashes down the entire canyon wall, giving off nothing more than a fine spray at river level. We had been told that in the afternoon Condors fly through the spray using it like a shower! Unfortunately none made an apperance whilst we had a chocolate break on the rocks below. Past the condor shower the canyon again gorged up and the rapids came thick and fast. Before long the walls had become a chocolate brown colour and we were deep in the Chocolate Canyon.

Alex heading away from the siphon!

We stopped for lunch at a grade 5 rapid, although the line was not the hardest half the flow went under a rock and into a siphon on river right. Because of this only Alex stepped up to run the rapid the rest of us snuck past sheepishly on the bank!

Alex adding to the excitement of the rapid

As we continued through the canyon the walls really closed in into a steep sided gorge with the gradient picking up some rapids required bank scouting with everyone making their own desicions on what they wanted to paddle and walk.

A classic steeper rapid

Adam getting his gurn on

Finally the walls closed into an ominous looking gorge with a corner we could not see around, Adam snuck into an eddy and clambered out onto rocks and peered into the depths of "Reparaz" - the must portage siphon hell at the end of the Chocolate Canyon. Everyone jumped out in the last eddy and we started to pace the boats through the bouldery caves fromed by various landslides across the river.

Alby waiting for the boats

It took us about an hour to complete the portage and below it we were rewarded with the canyon opening out and soon found a sandy beach to set up camp on. Having been on the water by 8am and only stopping at 5pm this was our longest day on the river and everyone was excited about the dinner of pasta, sausage with tomato sauce!

Day 6

This would be our third day on the water and we awoke to find everything covered in dew. The stove was lit and we sat with coffee waiting for the sun to get up and dry out thermals for the day´s adventure. With everything packed away the team was on the water by 9am. After a few kilometers of grade 3 warm up we rounded a corner to discover a steep walled gorge with another ominous horizon line. This was Poles Canyon - eddying out we discovered an unrunable boulder jumble with no way to portage from our current position but a promising looking ledge on the opposite side of the river. A must make ferry to a small eddy on river right and we were underway roping the boats up the vertical cliff to the ledge before carrying them down to an even smaller eddy above an unscoutable must run grade 4 drop.

The portage in full swing

Unfortunately Tim had an explosive bowel movement midway through the portage and then had a tactical chunder in the eddy above the must run rapid! He made the line and everything was fine.

Tom and Alby enjoy the must run drop at the end of Poles Canyon

After the portage the gorge again opened up and the river contined with beautiful rapids in stunning scenery down to the confluence with the Río Andamayo. From here down to the take out village of La Central was, for me, some of the best read and run grade 3/4 rapids so far on the trip!

The canyon walls open out

Arriving in La Central we luckily managed to grab a lift from a cattle wagon from the river bank up to the main road. From there we flagged down a local combi who took us to the larger town of Aplao, 30 minutes drive away, from where we caught a 4 hour bus back to Arequipa.

Typical Peruvian transport with the gringo Kayakistas