Adventures in Chile by Gabriel Cote-Valiquette

After graduating from the Adventure Guide Diploma, I decided to transfer my 2 years into the BIS. I chose this program because it is quite open and gives me the opportunity to travel while continuing my studies. I felt the need for adventure so I signed up for a student exchange in Viña del Mar, Chile (1h30 out of the capital Santiago on the coast). As a kayaker, my dream has always been to paddle in this country.

It was definitely a big shock to arrive in Santiago, home of 6 million people, and travel with all my kayaking gear in the public transit system. Most of the good kayaking in Chile is down south, around the city of Pucón (about 12 hours away from where I live) so I was expecting to only be able to paddle during my summer vacation. In Chile school ends December 7^th and starts in March so really my reason to study in Chile was to spend those 3 months kayaking there. Luckily, after a little research I realized that there is some great kayaking and rafting on the Maipo River just 60 km south-east of Santiago in the Andes mountains. The Spanish program I am following offers a 3 day weekend so I traveled there every week to spend as much time on the water as possible. I was very well hosted there by a company called Cascada de las Animas, which is an awesome camping resort with many different activities, including rafting, zip lining, horse back ridding, etc. It is owned by a well known Chilean family, the Astorgas. They have a long history in the world of whitewater here and recently, their rafting team composed of 6 cousins did very well at the Rafting World Championship in Costa Rica. I made great friends there and was even able to work as a security kayaker. They even let me raft guide in Spanish once, which was an awesome opportunity for me.

I am now fluent in spanish and after spending 10 days in Pucón a few months ago, I managed to make enough contacts to possibly work on the Futaleufu in January and February. It is known as one of the 10 best rafting destinations in the world so this is great news for me.

Studying in another country was one of the best things that happened to me. I learned a lot about myself by looking back at me threw the eyes of a totally different culture. I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity and I am thankful to everyone who made this possible. I was also fortunate enough to arrive in Chile in a time that might mark history. As you may have heard, there are big protests here against the current education system and profits that are made out of it.

I attached a few pictures and videos… I hope they will make you want to visit Chile!

¡Que estén bien!

Gabriel

A typical sunset in Vina del Mar

Kayaking in the Andes on the Rio Yeso

Gabriel on the Rio Claro

Check out some video here!!!

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~ by TRUadventureproject on December 5, 2011.