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Beyond the Alps
Part II – There and Back Again
by Mark Rainsley
NB. This two part article was first published in 'Paddles' Magazine. It is intended to offer advice to paddlers contemplating their first big overseas paddling trip.
In Part I we looked at planning a trip to paddle exotic whitewater in awesome surroundings. We steered you through the minefield of choosing a group, gathering info, wading through paperwork and blagging your boat onto the plane. Now we take you by the hand - not literally mind, we might catch something - and lead you through your first long-haul boating trip. Overseas trips are simply the best buzz boating can give you and our painfully earned globe-trotting experience will ensure you get the most from it. Or your money back. Not that we’ll be paying, mind.
Incoming!
Jetlagged, bleary-eyed and possibly drunk, you alight from your plane onto
foreign soil. You and your boating buddies have several weeks of blinding
boating lined up, the trip you’ve planned and anticipated for months. However,
a few obstacles remain between you and the bluewater creeks and sculpted
playspots you seek. Not least, getting out of the airport. If you have a
hire car prebooked, all credit to you…but never tell them you’re boating
and be careful, foreigners drive funny. No roofracks? The inflatable HandiRack
(from www.wwc.co.uk) is a stopgap solution. You’ll be hot, tired and disorientated
in unfamiliar surroundings; be careful. In less economically developed countries
(LEDCs, aka the Third World),, you’ll meet a billion taxis outside the airport
competing for your wonga. You’ll be charged 9000 times the local rate but
they’ll accommodate your boat anyhow – I’ve taxied into Kathmandu with the
boat sticking out of both side windows. Give the driver a hotel name (see
‘Lonely Planet’) and stick to it whatever; a certain American boater agreed
to ride all the way to war torn Kashmir, after his Delhi taxi driver persuaded
him that the entire subcontinent’s rivers were flooded…
Take me to the River
You’re going to get more boating done if you can hire a vehicle. If it’s your
credit card being bashed, record every dink and scratch before driving away.
If your group only has one vehicle, stick to roadside runs. Hitching is easy
in the Western World but is gruelling elsewhere; shuttling Chile’s Rio Bio-Bio
took 36 hours and 14 lifts, despite being accompanied by the only blonde
woman in Latin America. In LEDCs, local transport is usually the way to go;
buses, taxis, porters, carts, mules, anything that moves. Here we enter a
world of amusing pain. These journeys will drive the most serene boater to
stressed despair, assuming you survive – my running total is three Asian
bus crashes and one rickshaw pile-up – but oddly, will be among your most
cherished trip memories. Inspecting Indian gorges from bus roofs, negotiating
with Nepali porters, explaining the brake pedal’s function to an Ecuadorian
lorry driver…priceless experiences. Just remember to secure your boat where
it can’t be damaged or removed; and when an outrageous ‘boat tax’ is demanded;
swallow your pride and cough up.
Toys ‘R’ Us
Take a boat you are very familiar with. Which one? The old adage ‘big boat
for big river’ is long since outdated by modern skills and designs; many
hybrid river-play designs are perfect for big volume rivers. Pure park’n’playboats
have no place in a river-running scenario however, and if your trip involves
even a smidgeon of creeking, then accept it – you take the creek boat, however
bored you’ll get at the playspots. If you were listening in Part
I, then
you’ve lugged every item of your boating widgets abroad; no cutting corners
for weight limits! Most importantly, you’ll have the same safety kit that
you’d carry on UK trips, beefed up for the extra commitment of foreign climes.
We found a night lost in a Californian gorge was helpful for reinforcing
the importance of safety kit; like a map or torch, neither of which we had.
A top-notch set of splits is essential; after a spanking in Terminator Rapid,
try chancing the rest of Chile’s Rio Futaleufu with something bodged from
Schlegel remnants! Protect your precious throwline from misuse by packing
roofrack straps. Scrutinise your first aid kit; a small damp elastoplast
and a paracetamol won’t cut the mustard, especially boating someplace with
limited medical facilities. Carry clean hypos in LEDCs; although this author
actually forgot about his supply during three days of treatment in an Indian
dentist. Waterproof waist or neck pouches allow you to keep a minimalist
survival kit on your person (boats can get mislaid on rivers); passport,
dosh, matches, iodine drops (to treat iffy water), map, beer bottle opener.
There is a sharp guide to river safety kit at www.thamesweirproject.co.uk/kit.htm,
written by a reformed playboater…although all of the above applies to playboat
hols too.
Eat Sleep Boat
Food and accommodation options will reflect the paddlers concerned. Scrounging
students will be happy kipping on riverbanks, soaking lentils for lunch.
A compromise variation is, “Eat well, sleep cheap” where a full restaurant
bloat-up takes the edge off the bivvying. Weak soft people will require good
food and a proper bed; thankfully, cheapish accommodation is always possible,
from Chile’s ‘Hospedaje’s to the USA’s motels. If making a multi-day trip,
two options…the first is to join a raft trip if available – slow and often
expensive (unless you agree to ‘safety kayak’), but with empty boats for
playing and all the food you can chow. The second option is to go self-support.
This is demanding but great fun. Space and weight being everything, paddlers
usually carry a group plastic tarp instead of a tent. Thermarests are wonderful
things and fit down one side of the kayak with a 1-2 season sleeping bag;
not too chilly if you wear your wardrobe to bed. Camp high above the river;
it gets cold down there and rivers can rise; we’ve woken with damp feet on
India’s Zanskar! Consider the minimalist approach to catering; boil pasta
and random sundries in a single pot over an open fire. Each boater carries
a spoon and…well, that’s it. Just focus on the blow-out meal waiting back
in civilisation…
Culture Shock
As a boater, you have single-minded tunnel vision reaching only to the next
river; but there is more to boating abroad than the rapids (so we’ve heard).
Contact with locals is often rewarding and at worst, never dull; from seeking
directions in Pidgeon Spanish to conversations about guns with Appalachian
Rednecks, be nice to Johnny Foreigner. What goes around comes around; offend
the locals and the next boaters through will suffer for your ignorance. Don’t
be too literal in exposing yourself to different cultures; poncing about
in rubber shorts will cause offence in quiet villages from Tibet to Norway.
Respect the local paddlers and rafters too; take time to seek them out and
buy them a beer. These folk can be a mine of information on the local rivers
and if not, they may still have warm floors to sleep on! However friendly
the natives, maintain sensible security. We left hundreds of dollars in an
Ecuadorian hotel room as we totally trusted our pal, the receptionist. Oops.
A bigger danger is losing gear; a UK group had their spraydecks nicked on
arrival in Madagascar; end of trip. Always leave someone with the gear whilst
you buy rail tickets, run shuttle, and so forth.
Read and Run
We’re not going to tell you how to paddle, you know that already. Be alert
though, to the markedly different river environments you’ll encounter. Ecuador’s
ineffable Rio Jondachi is actually a dead ringer for Devon’s East Lyn River…except
that the Jondachi is relentless for over twenty miles, lurks deep in a rainforest
canyon and suffers frequent flash floods. Factors like this need to be understood
and compensated for before your spraydeck goes on. Even shiny new guidebooks
can’t be relied upon…we’ve been surprised by landslides, low bridges, river-swallowing
tunnels, fishing nets, log jams and the old favourite, large waterfalls behind
blind bends. So, boat awake. Outside Europe, big water can be very big indeed,
and steep rivers can be very…well, you get the gist. ‘Shrinkavision’ is the
phenomenon by which you misjudge this scale, inspecting from a road above.
Hilarious results ensue, I still get nightmares about a certain ninety minutes
in India. Similarly, river levels can catch you out. In the UK, we equate
clear water with low river levels and brown water with paddleable levels.
Abroad, these might equate to optimum and suicidal levels, then again they
might not…look twice. This reads rather negatively and we really don’t want
to scare you off the rivers; they’re fantastic and that’s why you came, after
all. But if nothing else, note that our biggest frights and mishaps have
happened early on in trips. Please be very, very careful in selecting your
first river on arrival.
Picking up the Pieces
That’s all folks! Except to say, take a camera. Drive your mates mad by hopping
out and clicking at every juncture. Protect your film like the gold dust
it is; once it’s developed back home, use it! Present a slideshow to your
envious friends, then write up your trip and send your report and photos
to ‘Paddles’…this isn’t (completely) vain egotism. Others will want to hear
about your experiences so don’t be shy, share them. Then right away, get
planning for the next trip…how else are you going to bear being back at work?
