Todd Wells’ Chile Update
Volcan Villarica
by Todd Wells
Photos by: Candace Sanders, Erik Parker, Jason Cohen, Hannah Kertesz, and Ben Kinsella.
Spending the last semester of my high school career with the World Class Kayak Academy (WCKA) has been unlike any of my previous academic experiences. WCKA is a traveling college preparatory school that focuses on whitewater kayaking. One quarter of each semester is spent studying and kayaking abroad, while the other is spent traveling along either the West Coast or East Coast.
My journey with WCKA began at the airport in Dallas, Texas where I met with my nine classmates and four teachers from all over the country. After our brief introductions we left for the eight hour flight to Santiago, Chile. In Santiago we loaded our kayaks and gear onto our 17 passenger van and its accompanying trailer and set out for the two hour drive to the Rio Maipo.
The next day, in the town of Banos Morales, I began my first day of the WCKA lifestyle. Waking up at 7:00 in the morning we started off the day with an hour of work out. Shortly afterward we sat down to a beautiful spread of traditional Chilean breakfast prepared by our local cooks, Israel and Estrella. After breakfast we all prepared for our first of five one hour classes. At first sitting down to a class of five students seemed awkward, but within the first hour of class I grew to appreciate the small and interactive classes. At noon we took an hour break from class for lunch then finished the last two periods of the day. As soon as all of our classes were finished we loaded our boats into the trailer and drove to the put-in for the Upper section of the Maipo River. At the put in we geared up, chose a buddy for the day, and talked about safety precautions and communication on the river. Between the big waves and high volume rapids of the Rio Maipo we all enjoyed getting to better know each other. After a couple hours on the river we returned to our camp for a hearty dinner where we discussed plans for the next day. Finally, before going to sleep, we each spent what free time we had finishing our homework and preparing for the following day.
For the next few days we followed a similar schedule, keeping each day fresh with different classes, original workout programs, and new sections of river. On one of our days off from school we all hiked to a lush valley beneath the towering peaks of the Andes and enjoyed a refreshing swim in a beautiful spring fed lake. After enjoying all that Banos Morales and the Rio Maipo had to offer we packed up our gear and moved south to the Rio Claro.
Though we spent less time on the Claro, we all had plenty of fun between the perfect waterfalls of the Siete Tazas (Seven Teacups) section and the crystal clear swimming holes less than a hundred feet from our campground. The Claro is one of the most beautiful rivers that I have ever visited, but it is a very popular tourist destination and its banks are heavily littered in trash. As part of WCKA’s dedication to community service all the students and teachers spent four hours one afternoon removing litter from over a mile of the river. In those four hours we removed over 20 full trash bags, and at the end of the day rewarded ourselves with a dip in one of the pristine swimming holes. At the end of our stay at the Rio Claro we packed up our gear and drove even further south to Pucon.
Here in Pucon I continue to enjoy living the World Class lifestyle of school, kayaking and culture, and I only look forward to what the next four weeks here in Chile have to offer.
For in multi-part Chile update and more whitewater stories visit toddwellswhitewater.blogspot.com
Capo Retig boofing on the Siete Tazas
The team in between classes
Falling off the Middle Palguin
picking up trash on the Rio Claro
Miestro Capo on the Palguin
