The Apurimac River (#25 above) is considered the headwaters of the Amazon. It is world-famous for its whitewater rafting, with rapids up to Class V (Class VI is considered unraftable).
I paid for a tour offered by Amazonas Explorer, which is a Swiss-English-Peruvian venture with the best combination of safety and ecological record that I could find in the Cuzco area. Its website is http://www.amazonas-explorer.com/. Ecological concern is important because all the camping is done on narrow beaches -- our guides packed out all the group's waste and garbage. We took the day-long drive westward down into the Apurimac canyon. It was a 3-night/4-day rafting trip.
I paid for a tour offered by Amazonas Explorer, which is a Swiss-English-Peruvian venture with the best combination of safety and ecological record that I could find in the Cuzco area. Its website is http://www.amazonas-explorer.com/. Ecological concern is important because all the camping is done on narrow beaches -- our guides packed out all the group's waste and garbage. We took the day-long drive westward down into the Apurimac canyon. It was a 3-night/4-day rafting trip.
Left: My crewmates, clockwise from top: me, with my splinted left wrist, in the helmsman position (normally occupied by our guide Kali), Kali, Dhawal, Prathop, and Eric. Somehow I sprained my wrist while asleep, probably by entangling it in my sleeping bag liner and then rolling over it in my sleep. Honest. I wore the splint for a week, after which it felt much better.
Right: A series of pics while we run Class III rapids.
We tourists generally were only allowed to run Class IIIs, though we did run a couple Class IVs, which were fantastic.
Left: We ran this narrow channel. The river's velocity through it was exhilarating.
Left: Pepe barking orders to his crew.
They had the misfortune of being dumped . . . twice! The first time was especially bad, with all of them in the water, and our raft (which was downstream) rescuing 3 of them. The others made it to shore by themselves or were rescued by Mario in the kayak.
Right: Kali navigating our raft through the end of Class IV rapids, with Mario in the rescue kayak looking on. We tourists portaged around. There was an additional raft of tourists captained by Pepe, who was also the lead guide for the whole trip, as well as a third raft full of our supplies, managed by Daniel.
Left: Pepe barking orders to his crew.They had the misfortune of being dumped . . . twice! The first time was especially bad, with all of them in the water, and our raft (which was downstream) rescuing 3 of them. The others made it to shore by themselves or were rescued by Mario in the kayak.
Right: "Mexican Night" -- our final night, drinking shots of Tequila before our dinner of enchiladas. Kali, Mario, and Daniel (l to r) are the trio standing in the center.
