The road goes on forever... and the party never ends

There´s something about a road trip that brings out the fun in driving. New friends and new places blurred together at 80 km/h creates a sense of solitude. With blue skies and hospitable people, how I wish the road just went on forever. After many hours behind the wheel of our cuad cab Chevy LUV pickup we so lovingly named the ¨go kart¨,amongst other things, we finally arrived in the promised land: Futalaefu. The town is smack dab in the middle of the Andes mountains. With craggy peaks surrounding us on all sides the feeling of paradise was hard to ignore. Once we reached the river though, all thoughts of any problems or trials and tribulations of the outside world just melted away.

The Futa is a pristine turquoise blue with magnificant glaciated peaks rising sharply from the river banks (I better stop describing in such detail... I might start to weep like a little girl). I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally take my first paddle strokes in the fabbled waters of the Futalaefu river. As we peeled out from the eddy Pat and I looked at each and grinned, knowing full well that the both of us had been dreaming of this moment for years.

The whitewater can only be described as perfect. With classic big wave trains, play spots, and even some pretty stout big water I felt I had, for myself, discovered a place I will return to for the rest of my life. By the end of our few short days of the river we left the Futa repeating ourselves incessintly, ¨proximo año¨...¨next year¨ to our new friends. If you boys are reading this Memo and Marcos, we´ll see you next year!

Alas, the road trip turned back north. The go-cart made it all the way back to Pucon, where we dropped it off at the rental agency who, of course, tried to con us out of $300! But with a little elbow grease and some punching of the roof, the ¨dents¨the agency claimed to be irrepairable were indeed repaired.

With bus tickets bought, and planes waiting on the tarmac, we prepare to make the epic journey back to Bozeman to see our friends, kiss our lady friends (pat), and get back to work and school.

Adios from Pucon,

we´ll be back Chile.