My kind of “School of Life”

Rafting on the Marañón River in Peru offers an exhilarating and unforgettable adventure that combines the thrill of navigating dynamic rapids with the allure of exploring a remote and stunning natural environment. Often referred to as the “Grand Canyon of South America,” the Marañón River carves its way through a dramatic landscape of towering canyons, lush rainforests, and arid desert regions, creating a breathtaking backdrop for intrepid rafters.

Originating in the Andes Mountains, the Marañón River stretches over 1,000 miles, ultimately merging with the Amazon River basin.

Beyond the thrill of the rapids, the Marañón River expedition offers moments of serene reflection as you drift past remote villages and secluded beaches perfect for camping under the stars. Rafting on the Marañón promises an adventure that will leave you with a profound connection to both nature and culture.

This is what AI offered when I looked up “Rafting on the Marañón River” to serve as introduction to my travel journey. And AI got it right.

Now to my own, real rafting adventure that I have experienced on the Marañón River in November 2024. The adventure lasted for almost two weeks, we have paddled the Central and Lower Canyon of the Marañón River, a bit over 300K. I had a small notebook with me which served as travel journal. After coming home I read my notes and this is when I actually came up with the idea to publish my Marañón journal in a personal blog. So here it is.

Preparations

DAY(S) 0 – Saturday, 9 November 2024 and Sunday, 10 November 2024

We met in Huanchaco, a small town close to Trujillo, the third largest town in Peru, situated in the northern part of the country on the Pacific Ocean. A group of total 16 people, 10 from the Balkans, 5 Chileans and one Australian.

Our Balkan team – Davor, Marko, Tamara and me from Croatia, Aleksandar (Aco) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marko, Nenad and Damir from Serbia and Bochi and Simona from Bulgaria. Davor brought us together, both he and Aco have extensive experience with rafting trips and expeditions, but this was also their first time on the Marañón. Davor had made the contact with our trip guide, Gigo from Chile, who organized the gear, food, maps and whatever necessary for the trip. Besides Gigo, the Chilean team consisted of Gigo’s girlfriend Jimena, Cony, Keyla and Basti. Basti is actually responsible for connecting Davor and Gigo, as he has been spending half of the year in Croatia working for Davor’s outdoor company. And there was Mitch, a young kayaker from Australia, travelling all over the world to the most attractive kayak destinations. He met Gigo in Norway being on his way to Chile and decided to join us in our journey on the Marañón.

Now back to Huanchaco. We met on Saturday morning in a café opposite the surfers’ beach and learned from Gigo the overall plan for the trip, still subject to changes and improvisations. Huanchaco is quite a nice place to stay (for me also for one day after the Marañón trip), very peaceful, unlike the big Trujillo. We spent the morning eating delicious “caldo de gallina” (chicken soup) at the local market, drinking the best coffee and cappuccino in town (and probably wider) and in the afternoon we went to Trujillo to the warehouse where all the gear and food was waiting to be packed on a truck. The original plan was to load all the gear on the truck in the late afternoon/evening and then depart from Trujillo next morning by (rented) bus to Chagual, a place you can hardly find on the map, where the put in for the Marañón journey is.

But the plan didn’t work out. For some reason the money we had wired for renting the gear has not arrived on time and we could not leave in the morning. The driver was also not happy to drive a bus full of gringos unless during the night when the other, regular buses travel on same roads. Apparently there had been some robberies recently and yes, this really scared me, I thought Peru was quite a safe country and that the only dangers I was about to experience were the rapids on the river and not the bus journey.

Davor and Aco killing time at the best coffee bar in Huanchaco

Me enjoying the caldo de galina in the morning at the local market

We left Huanchaco by 7 pm with our large dry bags on the roofs of three taxis which drove us to Trujillo and from there we continued by bus to Chagual. I had a Decathlon 60l dry bag to be transported on the cargo boat and a smaller one where I kept the things I needed for the day on the water, which was fixed to our raft. At the beginning it was a bit difficult to pack all the things for 2 weeks into one 60l bag (tent, pad, sleeping bag, clothes – including a thin down jacket!, medicine, personal hygiene items), but the every morning practise improved my packing skills.

Our taxis

Still smiling, Simona and Bochi in the back

Earlier in the afternoon the truck with the gear left from Trujillo to Chagual. I knew that the road to Chagual would not be nice, but still… Our journey was to last for the entire night and lead through numerous mountain passes in the Andes, even over 4,000 m high, on bad roads, with plenty of turns, holes and bumps. Since I tend to get the travel sickness, I followed the advice to try chewing some coca leaves (they taste awful), I even took a pill against seasickness and tried to get some sleep in the bus, but it was pointless. Luckily I had a plastic bag which I grabbed just in time to avoid making a mess in the bus (three times!). This was one of the worst nights I’ve ever had, I thought I was going to die in that bus in the middle of the night, somewhere high in the Andes. But well, I survived this horrible night. When morning finally came and we could see outside the bus window we realised that the narrow road was leading so close to a chasm that it was better we travelled by night!

Bochi “fixing” our bus before departure

Let the adventure begin!

DAY 1 – Monday, 11 November 2024

So once we arrived in the middle of nowhere (there is in fact a gold mine just next to our input), we had no time to lose. The truck left us with all the gear on the “beach” where we were supposed to start our journey and so we started unpacking and packing, the Chilean team being in charge of making breakfast – some scrambled eggs, ham, cheese (a mere look at food made me sick).

The truck, some of our gear and the containers with food

We prepared the rafts and got bitten by these awful beasts – kind of insects not big enough to be mosquitoes, more the midget kind, they were all over us! The sun, the heat and these bugs – just the “perfect” start of an adventurous journey. Some days later on the river I realised that the best and only way how to escape those bites which left tiny red dots on our legs and arms and were so itchy, was to cover my whole body as soon as we got off the river with a long sleeves thin merino shirt, long light trousers, socks and Keens (such a stylish look!). We all had repellents with us (which we emptied even before the end of our journey) but they weren’t really helpful.

Preparing the rafts

Shortly after 10 am. off we went. The six of us – Davor, Marko, Nenad, Damir, Tamara and me – in the red paddle raft, Gigo and Jimena in one cargo raft (oar raft), Basti with Cony and Kayla in another cargo raft and Aco in third cargo raft, Mony (Simona), Bochi, Marko P. and Mitch in kayaks. The first day on the river and already very adventurous for several reasons. We were tired from the night and we actually just stepped out of the bus and took off straight into the river. And the water level was quite high, in fact the highest of all days on the river and we were not prepared for what was to come.

Packing almost done

And off we go! Our team in the red raft – Nenad, Tamara and Davor on the left side of the raft, Damir, me and Marko on the right

It started very exciting. There were several rapids, the river was running really fast, high water. This whole section was in fact grade II, except for this one detail marked on the map as grade III, so nothing really to worry about, but suddenly there was a “hole” and we were lucky to make it and not to flip. And it was so much fun until we noticed that our last cargo raft run by Aco got into trouble. Aco had fought hard to escape the hole and not to flip with the whole stuff but just couldn’t make it. The boat flipped and not only Aco, but some of the gear from his boat was suddenly floating on the river. Mitch (our “Flying Kangaroo” – this is the nickname he has earned with so much grace, skills and kindness) came quickly to rescue Aco from the huge waves just in time and we took Aco over from Mitch’s kayak to our raft. We stopped in the first possible eddy after catching whatever was there to catch in the river – a couple of big dry bags, water barrels. Some damage was done, one oar broke but luckily this could be fixed and the continuation of our trip was not jeopardised. But it could have been on the very first day!

Inspection of damage after the incident

We continued to paddle until we reached our camp destination for the first night, a beach with a creek relatively close to it, some 33K from our input. It was almost 4 pm. We were all tired from the night on the bus and the unexpected adventure. The Chilean team set up the kitchen and prepared some simple snacks for lunch, another team went to the creek to get water.

The kitchen looked very inviting

Exhausted after the long day, Marko fell asleep as soon as we got off the boat

The thing with water – for drinking, cooking, dishes and washing hands – is quite complicated. We had to take water from a creek which seemed to be much cleaner than the river, at least the colour thereof. Then the water needs to be filtered (which takes some time), after filtration purification tablets have to be added and half an hour later the water is good for consumption (with kind of chemical taste from the tablets).

Cooling in the creek and waiting for the water to be filtered

Toilet – another subject of utmost importance on such trip – consists of station one, a paddle, a water barrel with pump and liquid soap and station two, another paddle, toilet paper on a branch and the actual spot – a practical hole with sand, distant enough from our tents. It works like if the toilet is free, the first paddle is in sight, if the “toilet” is taken, the paddle is with the one who uses it (and the paddle to pour the sand after usage). The most important thing – do not forget to wash your hands before coming back to the camp and always wash your hands before touching any of the food.

After the late lunch I laid down in my tent, so terribly tired and fell asleep immediately. I woke up to the bells ringing (or that was at least what I heard when they called for dinner) and persuaded myself to get up and grab some more food. Dinner was really good, chicken with vegetables and potatoes. Before going back to sleep I took a (small) whisky (thanks to Davor and the guys who thought of this supply), a proper treat after the long day. The night was hot (like every night, later I got smarter and removed the second layer from my tent), I woke up several times during the night, but I slept!

Chilling after dinner and discussing what to expect the next day

This is our first map, we had total 11 maps for our trip

DAY 2 – Tuesday, 12 November 2024

I got up at 6 in the morning, packed my things and tent. Since soon after sunrise it becomes quite hot, it is important to make the tent, pack the dry bag and get it to the cargo rafts before breakfast so that the the rafts are ready to go before the heat.

For breakfast we usually had cereals, fruit (we had one container filled with oranges, apples and pears) and scrambled eggs, toast bread, ham and cheese.

Our second day was easy, no grade III, just I and II. After 7K we stopped and went for a hike in a dry creek, total a bit more than one hour . Hikes are good for breaking the “sitting” on the boat. I tend to get injured on rocks, nothing serious only some bruises, so I was cautious since I didn’t want to end up with an infection. And then I cut my finger on the knife when preparing tortillas for lunch after the hike! Luckily not too deep so it was not a big deal.

At the end of our hike

After lunch we continued “floating” to a little place called Calemar, there was a small “shop” that had beer. The place is quite charming, with a little “park” in the centre, we sat in front of the store and enjoyed the cold beer. It’s amazing how you get to appreciate moments like this – you don’t need anything but a cold beer to feel so happy.

The shop in the village

A beer with the locals

We went back to our boats and after some more floating (altogether almost 15K after lunch) stopped on a beach close to a place called Chanatoc to make our camp for the night. It was our turn to make dinner (our, meaning the Croatian/Bulgarian cooking team – Tamara, Marko, Mony, Bochi and me). We were divided into three teams, the Chilean team (with Mitch as guest), the Croatian team and the Serbian team (with Davor and Aco as guests). Since it was our turn, once we got off the water we had to install the kitchen – the gas bottle and the herd, the tables for preparing meals and the dish washing station and then make dinner. The next morning we were in charge of breakfast and then it was the next team’s turn. Marko was the chef of the evening and made excellent spaghetti bolognese (the first week we were good with ground beef, the second week we were good with beens instead of meat). There was a beautiful creek at our camping site, with a small “pool”, just right for taking a proper bath, so much needed after the first two nights and days.

Chef Marko making bolognese

We are floating…

DAY 3 – Wednesday, 13 November 2024

I woke up before 6 after a very good night sleep to make coffee and prepare breakfast. After loading the rafts and breakfast Gigo took us for a hike of app. 3K, by the creek and then a bit uphill where we passed small plantations of coca, bananas, mangos. The landscape in this part of the canyon is dominated by huge cacti. Back at the beach we waited for a man who had visited our camp with his son last night to ask for some food. He brought us plenty of oranges as a thank you gesture, which were green but very tasteful.

Our morning hike

Off we went to float more or less (I-II level) for 9.5 K before we stopped at another village (for another beer break). The village – Chuquiten – is quite big, it has a school which celebrated its 15th anniversary with music and dancing. The principal told me that there are total 45 children attending the school (I am so happy to be able to speak this little Spanish, since no one spoke English in the villages). We stopped at the village store (hardly a proper store) with beer that was not cold so the owner had to put the big Trujillo bottles (of 6 dl) into a creek. In meantime we got some oranges, so we just sat in front of the store on empty beer boxes and chilled waiting for the beer to cool. Three big Trujillo bottles were 25 soles (we paid the day before 40 soles for 6 cans of beer at the proper store in the other village). One USD makes 3.72 soles.

Floating on the Maranon

Tamara and me enjoying the beer

After a long break at the village we continued our floating. Although there were three grade II rapids, as the water level was lower than on the first day, it was not a proper grade II. It was extremely hot, the wind was warm and I had the feeling my legs were burning in the sun – at that time I was not wearing leggings under my wet shorts yet. After 25 K we stopped at our camp site for the night. This was not supposed to be our camp, but the place close to a waterfall that we passed was not good, the creek had dried out and it was too windy to make a camp. So we stopped at this place Milandia. The third team – Davor, Aco and the Serbian guys Nenad, Damir and Marko – was in charge of making dinner. They prepared it quite fast and it was good, rice with vegetables, fried eggs and salad. After this early dinner (at 5 pm) we sat and talked and looked at the maps what was to be expected in the upcoming days. One more calm day to go and then rapids III-IV.

DAY 4 – Thursday, 14 November 2024

I woke up as soon as the sun rose at 5:30 in the morning. I got used to the feeling like time has stopped running – every morning is pretty much the same routine – I get up, fold my sleeping bag (I fall asleep without it, but very early in the morning it finally gets a bit colder, just right to cover with the sleeping bag), flatten the pad, get out of the tent, brush my teeth with some remaining drinking water from yesterday, undo my tent and try to pack all the things in my 60l dry bag. Then I get the dry bag to the shore so that the cargo raft guys can load it. Coffee and breakfast, I make myself tea with some fresh ginger and lime for the boat just to drink something different than the water which has this specific chemical taste due to the purification pills, then change into my river outfit, put on my contact lenses and off we go. After three days of getting too much sun, in spite of applying sunscreen on my legs, I put on the thin leggings I took with me just in case of cold or whatever and the wet shorts (for rafting/kayaking) on top of that. I wear the same long arm water shirt (UV proof) for 6 or 7 days in a row before I replace it with another one. A lot of sunscreen on my face, reapplying it twice or three times on the river. The only thing that bothers me most in the morning is the dryness of my eyes, nose and throat. Maybe it is because of reduced immunity or just the conditions on the river – heat, sun, wind and sand. I have to apply some eye drops every now and then (luckily Marko had some with him because I haven’t thought of this) and wearing contacts on the river makes it even worse.

This was the most beautiful camp

The plan for today was app 19 K. After 9 K we stopped to fill our water tanks in a creek. Just for this trip I bought a flask with a water filter so I tried it out, filled water directly from the creek and survived. We used the creek to take a “bath”, cooling down a bit – it was so hot, the whole time around 35 and 35 degrees Celsius. After another 10 K we arrived at a beach where children from a close by village had their sports activity – swimming in the Marañón! They were so excited when we got there with the rafts. We went up to the village for more beers (well, we had to, because who knows when there will be another opportunity). The kids were following us, of course, and led us to the store and their surprisingly big school with a football playground next to it. All kids were wearing football jerseys and one boy had Luka Modric’s no. 10 jersey. On the way up to the village we picked some cocoas from the tree and tried the seeds. They taste sweet and wet. The store had only 12 large beers to offer, the owner told us that there was some heavy drinking last night and the next delivery is only on Saturday. So we took the box with the 12 beers to our boat, paddled across to the other side of the river where our camp site for the night was and shared the beers.

We had the whole afternoon with nothing to do! This is something so uncommon in our normal lives and here you just have to get used to this. It’s like there is only now and here, you don’t have civilisation, no internet (just at some spots every 2-3 days or so), you can just relax, read a book or talk or sleep. A completely different world. But you get used to it quickly and it is nice (at least for some time, I cannot do it for too long).

After some lunch – boiled eggs, bread and salad – I tried to relax and read (I took a Kindle with me) but it was a bit difficult because the wind was very strong and blew the sand everywhere. Sand – I don’t like sand. Here, sand was everywhere, at first I tried to keep my things away from the sand but you just can’t, so the sand was in my tent, in my cloth bags, in my sleeping bag, in the sunscreen, the vaseline … Well, you get used to it, just like to the other things which are not so comfortable. We talked about the next day, that was supposed to be quite challenging, with a short hike, a grade III section and some 6-7 K of III-IV rapids. Jimena, Gigo’s girlfriend, picked some quite nice pieces of gemstones on the beach, malachite, achat, tiger’s eye. The Latino team made delicious dinner – lentils with vegetables and salad.

The neverending day – portage

DAY 5 – Friday, 15 November 2024

The challenging day! After undoing the camp we went off and in less than an hour we arrived at the spot where we had to do scouting because the map showed a III-IV rapid. This spot was also a hiking spot, so we went for a hike in the canyon to a beautiful waterfall, despite the extreme heat and sunshine (the “hiking section” went, not all guys were too excited about hiking in the heat). The waterfall was worth the hike, it was such a nice cold shower.

On our way back we took a look at the rapid to see where it is best to run it. The rapid was fun, we ran it really smoothly and after the rapid there was another app. 45 minutes of slow water that ended just before the section of app. 6-7 K of rapids with grade III-IV, called Samosierra aka Bombon. There we stopped to scout . We quickly discussed that we will not take a break for lunch but try to run the rapid and make the camp just after this section. After almost one hour of scouting, Gigo and the guys decided that the first spot of the Samosierra rapid is too risky to run, it is very narrow and has holes. Gigo said that this detail was new (the last time he was on the Marañón was 5 years ago), since the river changes, so a rapid that was not a big deal some years ago can change and become even a level V rapid because of the potential danger of getting stuck in the holes. So, we had to portage.

Portage means we need to take all our heavy dry bags off the cargo boats, also other things that cannot be fixed properly to the boats. So the cargo boats remain only with very few things. The section on the river where we had to portage was about 300 metres long, but it was not easy to carry the heavy stuff over the rocks in the heat and sun. The biggest challenge were the boats, the point was not to carry them over the rocks but to fix them with ropes and make them float by the shore. Gigo ran the rapid on his cargo boat and he did it well, without flipping, so one cargo boat less to unload. Mitch – the Flying Kangaroo as we called him later – also ran the rapid in the kayak, flipped but managed to roll and made it without swimming (we named this spot on the river the “Flying Mitch”). The whole portage was extremely hard because of the sun, we did not drink enough water (we were even a bit short with water) and it took us almost 5 hours to get the boats to a spot where it was safe to put in and load the cargo rafts. It was 5 pm and we hoped to make the entire Bombon section until dark (sunset was a bit earlier than 6:30 pm) and then camp. But that was just the plan and things sometimes (or even quite often) don’t go by the plan. At one spot Basti got stuck on a rock and he and the girls who were with him on the cargo raft were trying to move the boat for a very long time. They couldn’t make it. So Bochi and our guys came up with a plan how to help them. The five of them took our raft, luckily could get it to a spot where they were able to access Basti’s boat and bump into it and make it move. This maneuvre was successful, Basti’s boat moved but three of the guys flipped and ended up in the river. That was not a big deal but they lost one paddle. So our raft had now just the six paddles, the spare one was gone. This meant we had to be very careful not to lose another one.

Once the rescue operation ended, we stopped at the next beach (without a creek) and tried to make camp despite the strong wind that was blowing the sand everywhere and it almost blew away my tent. Making dinner and eating was quite a challenge, with all that sand. At last the (full) moon showed up in the sky and the wind stopped. So we sat down close to the river, the wet sand was a bit cooler, emptied a bottle of rum (the last one as it turned out because the second one broke a couple of days later in Aco’s dry bag), smoked some tasty stuff and went to sleep. The summary of the day – total 16.5 K and 5 hours of challenging portage.

Beer and a bit of civilisation is so good!

DAY 6 – Saturday 17 November 2024

We got up early, our team was in charge of making breakfast. We quickly undid the camp and off we went. The plan was to make it close to the town Balsas, where there is a bridge on the river and a small place called Chacanto with a store and even kind of a restaurant. This place was app. 35 km away.

The water level dropped so all the rapids classified as grade II were peanuts and we had to paddle hard to make these 35 K on the pretty slow river. We stopped at a creek to take water. At 3 pm we arrived in Chacanto, looking very much forward to a cold beer and the possibility to charge our phones and other devices and get some wifi (after 3 days of no connection with the world!).

Chacanto is a pretty place with a square in the centre, a police station, 2-3 little stores, one “restaurant” and many children and dogs! My mobile network Claro was not working but the policemen were kind enough to share their wifi with us and let us charge the phones. We got nice cold beers at the restaurant, 8 soles per big bottle, this was just so good after the sun and heat. We spent the afternoon and evening in Chacanto, while waiting for the phone to charge I got six bananas for 1 sol in the little shop to make it until dinner. Gigo arranged dinner for us at Mamita’s shop/restaurant later in the evening. I spent the afternoon hanging around, getting a proper shower for 1 sol just next to the restaurant. The bathroom was really something, wooden door, dirt floor, a toilet, a chicken inside, which Mamita made leave and a shower consisting of a pipe and hose with pouring water (for me just right, not really warm). But the shower was really good, the first (and last) “shower” since the beginning of our journey. It was an extremely hot evening, 37 degrees, once the sun was down, the guys were playing dodgeball with the kids on the street.

The entire scenery of the village was just perfect. Also the dogs were something, some so cute like little lambs and some looking really dangerous. The bugs continued to attack us, even my arms were itching from the bites, so the best protection was to have long sleeves and long trousers. Mamita and her daughters brought us dinner outside where they arranged a large table for us. Dinner consisted of plenty of rice, potatoes and a nice piece of baked chicken. Our vegetarians got fried eggs, a huge corn and avocado instead of the meat. I had another beer telling myself, well, who knows when there will be next opportunity to have one. After the beer I went back to the camp and fell asleep but woke up several times in the night because of the heat. Gigo told us in the evening that we will leave later the next morning (but plans change).

The 55K day

DAY 7 – Sunday, 17 November 2024

I got up shortly after 6 am, made coffee and sat down to write my notes in the journal thinking there is no hurry. But Gigo changed the plan for today and we were now supposed to leave early and run app 50 K. We packed our stuff, prepared two barrels of water for the trip and off we went into a III rapid and some more waves. After that it was slow water so we had to paddle a lot. The strong wind blowing against our chest was not helping.

Gigo had a bit of a problem with applying the scale from the maps to real situation – his 10 K sometimes became 15 K in reality but ok, it didn’t really matter, we are flexible. The plan was to make two breaks on our way today, one to scout a rapid with grade IV and the other one to have some fruit as lunch break. The rapid after 30 K – El Choclon – was great, Davor navigated us perfectly into the flow, it was an exciting run! We stopped at a creek, the wind was still very strong, and had some mangos that Gigo got in Chacanto. After the break we still had some 15 K or more to got with a few grade II rapids, the wind was a real disaster, slowing us down. Finally, at 4:30 pm we arrived at our camp for the night, after 55 K of paddling.

We were all quite tired after the long day and the sun and wind. Aco was not too well, the portage the other day got him, he hadn’t drunk enough and suffered from dehydration and heat. Bochi was helping him out with the cargo raft. Our camp was close to the village Tupen Grande, the village that was fighting to preserve the Marañón river from construction of the dam (and succeeded). Later in the evening a guy visited us asking if we would like some coconuts and oranges. He got us the fruit (1 coconut for 3 soles and 2 oranges for 1 sol), he cut the coconuts for us with a large machete, what a show! The plan for next day was to have a rest day at Tupen Grande, breakfast at 8 in the village!

Tupen Grande – the fighting village and an unforgettable day

DAY 8 – Monday, 18 November 2024

After a tough night – the wind was strong and blew sand into my tent, I woke up several times during the night – came an amazing day in the village Tupen Grande. It was a 10 minutes walk from the river bank to the village. Tupen Grande is a village with app. 300 inhabitants. It is so remote, with no road connection (to get to the first bus station you need to go by foot or take a donkey ride for almost four hours!). There is no electricity, just solar panels. There is no mobile network connection, the only wi-fi you can get is at the local shop. When arriving at the village we heard the regional anthem playing and the school children standing in front of the school building. The region Amazona is where most of the Marañón river flows and the anthem mentiones Marañón. Our host for breakfast was a lady who lost her only son some years ago in the river (he was a rafting guide). She hosts rafting adventurers in the memory of her late son. It was a good breakfast, scrambled eggs with some herbs, yucca and yucca bread and coffee.

After breakfast I visited the school. The kids were excited to see us, “las turistas”. Two classrooms, one with children from first till fourth grade and another one with older children. Altogether 18 school children. What struck me that none of the teachers spoke English, so I was doing my best speaking Spanish to communicate with them and learn more about how they live. The children are beautiful, very welcoming and communicative. We arrived just when they had their math lesson so right in time to give them a break. The teacher played some local hits and we danced with the children in the classroom, they were so nice. Then we went out to play some volleyball in front of the school in the yard. It was fun but very hot. We sat down on a bench in front of the shop for a beer and some wi-fi access, charged a few soles per hour by the shop owner and chief of the village Cesar.

Gigo arranged with Cesar to prepare for us dinner later tonight. It was a long day. I was chilling for a while in a hammock installed in someone’s yard, reading, then went for a bath in the creek where the local children were having fun. After that we gathered in the main square of the village, together with many of the locals, where the school children were about to perform their dances . But before the dances, the school teacher held quite a long speech, repeatedly mentioning “Bienvenidos a nos turistas” and “Buen cumpleano a nuestro amigo Basti” – it was Basti’s birthday. After the speeches, the children performed beautifully Peruvian dances, all dressed up. Basti got an egg cracked on his head – this is obviously a local custom to celebrate someone’s birthday. Finally dinner was served in the backyard of Cesar’s house, on a large table set on artificial grass. Before dinner I took a quick look inside the large kitchen where the meal was being prepared and saw numerous guinea pigs running freely around the kitchen! That was really something. For dinner we had duck with rice and yucca and some salad. I was a bit cautious about the salad but decided to give it a try. Luckily with no consequences. After dinner we went back to our camp to rest.

Magdalena

DAY 9, Tuesday 19 November 2024

After a windy night I got up at 6 in the morning. The plan for today was to make app. 35 K. After some 25K we were supposed to arrive at the rapid called Magdalena which is grade IV where we were going to scout and maybe even do portage. Before that we were to stop at a creek to take new water supplies. The morning was beautiful, the sky blue and it was not too hot. There were already some rapids II-III at the very beginning, it was looking like a beautiful whitewater day. After 25 K we stopped to scout a rapid, convinced this was Magdalena, but Gigo told us that Magdalena was yet to come. The rapid was a bit tough but we made it just right trough it. I was a bit worried because Davor got some diarrhoea with fever after yesterday dinner and was pretty much exhausted. And Davor was our skipper! But he felt better throughout the day and guided our raft just perfectly through the rapids. There was another strong rapid after the allegedly not Magdalena rapid and after app. 5 K of smaller rapids and calm water Gigo finally admitted that the earlier rapid was in fact Magdalena. At app. 40 K we reached a creek and replenished our water supplies. 3K downstream we stopped for the night. The dinner was quite simple but good, rice, beetroot, black beans and French fries.

Learning to do nothing on a very hot and windy day

Day 10, Wednesday 20 November 2024

After a very hot night with several awakenings I got up at 6. The sun was quite early at our beach and it started to get hot so we wanted to pack our gear and get on the river as quickly as possible. This was such a hot day! After a few smaller rapids and 4K we arrived at the spot with a rapid grade IV, the Linlin aka California. First we scouted the rapid a bit and then found a path uphill leading to a creek where we decided to take some water. Close to the creek we met a man who lives there for several months a year in a shed where he keeps his tent and takes care of the banana trees, cocos, oranges, papayas and sugar cane. He offered us a proper feast. The bananas were just perfect.

After we replenished our water tanks we continued down the river, through the California rapid that went well and then ran some more kilometres to stop only after total 6.4K on a beach with a creek to end the river day. This was really bad, because it was just past noon, extremely hot with strong wind gusts. I used the opportunity to bath in the creek, wash my hair and cool down a bit, went for a short walk up the creek to find a nice spot with a small cascade and then back to our camp. I managed to find kind of a spot hidden from the sun under a tree but the heat was just so exhausting. Finally at 4 p.m. the sun hid behind the hills of the canyon and it was easier to breath. I was glad I took my Kindle on the trip, otherwise I think I would go a bit mad on a day like this (I am not used doing nothing). I made some coffee and then we started to cook dinner – pasta with veggies. In the evening we shared the last bottle of rum and discussed plans for tomorrow.

The pools and birthday party

DAY 11, Thursday 21 November 2024

I slept until 6:30! We left the camp at 8:30 and after app. 8K there was a III+ rapid called Totoro and then there were some more grade III rapids. We stopped at a beach after almost 18K and half of us went for a hike to explore some natural pools on cascades. The path was not very promising, with plenty of spiked bushes but then we arrived at the cascades. The water in these pools was not inviting, it was more like a pond because of the poor water level. And there were so many mosquitoes! On our way down back to the river we found another “pool” with so much more beautiful water, it was amazing and we had a wonderful swim there with a view on the river.

When we came back to the beach in the afternoon (this was our camp for tonight), the kitchen part of the camp was decorated with balloons and Aco had cooked a very good soup of all the remaining veggies. A cup of coffee after the soup and Jimena started to prepare some kind of dough for the torta frita to be cooked in hot oil. That was really good, served plain or with dulce de leche. Since it was Marko’s birthday, we shared a Pisco that Marko brought on the trip (Marko doesn’t drink) after dinner, talked a bit and waited until 8 p.m. It is funny but once it was 8 p.m. this was kind of a sign for us that it is ok to go to your tent and sleep. Every night in the tent was spectacular – since the cover of my tent (one layer only) was transparent I could see the sky with so many stars and some days ago also the full moon, it was just perfect.

Time to say goodbye

DAY 12, Friday 22 November 2024

It was our last proper day on the river. I woke up before 6 and some time after 8 we were on the river. After 6.5 K we arrived at a place that was kind of a “beach bar” – a rarity on the Marañón. We got out and went for a beer, it was super cool. We stayed there just for half an hour and then continued down the river to the Amazon Cave – a very nice spot. After that we had to run some two more rapids grade II+ and that was it for the day. Much too early, the day was hot and there was no shade on our beach. We tried to use one raft to give us shelter from the sun. Gigo and Basti went with moto taxi to the next village, Puerta Malleta, our final stop for tomorrow – we couldn’t end the trip today because there was no proper place to make a camp in Puerta Malleta. They got us some beers, so we drank, played some games, read, chilled and waited for the evening. Our dinner was modest but tasty – potatoes, beetroot and tuna salad. After dinner Gigo and Mitch prepared a surprise for everyone. Each participant of our adventure got a stone with its “nickname” written thereon. Mine was Village Queen because of my interaction with the locals in villages. We talked about our highlights of the trip, I suppose mine were several, the whole experience as such, the adventure, the peace and calmness of the river, the doing nothing mode, the villages, the children in Tupen Grande, the nature. Unforgettable.

On this last evening I had so many mixed feelings. On one hand, I was looking forward to being soon back in civilization, taking a proper shower, sleeping in a bed (although I haven’t slept in a bed for two more nights after leaving the river, just on the bus!), but on the other hand, I was kind of sad this amazing travel was over. I knew I was going to be fine before I decided to go for this adventure, but still, you never know. It turned out to be this once in a lifetime adventure (although I am looking forward to some more in future), where I learnt that I need so little to be happy and how to live just day by day, enjoy every moment and place and be thankful for my health and curiosity that allowed and made me dive into this adventure.

DAY 13, Saturday 23 November 2024

We were on the river only at 9 a.m. and already at 10 we arrived in Puerta Malleta. There we had to unload all the stuff, clean the containers, the boats. The remaining food was distributed to the women and children on the beach. Shortly before noon we packed our things into two bigger cars (all our bags were on the roof of the cars) and off we went to the closest town, Jaen. We drove for app. 2 hours, even crossed the river on a small ferry. We arrived at 2 p.m in Jaen, a town with a couple of bus stations where we got tickets for our next destinations. Davor, Aco, Marko, Nenad, Marko, Damir and Tamara continued in the direction of Iquitos on the Amazona and Mony, Bochi and I travelled (over night) back to Trujillo where we left our other things in the hostel in Huanchaco. On the streets of Jaen Bochi was robbed of his iPhone – this was the only unpleasant thing that happened to us on this trip (after the river trip).

The next morning, on Sunday, 24 November 2024, I woke up in Trujillo and we got quickly back to Huanchaco where I had a full day to relax, until the evening when I embarked on the next bus taking me overnight to my hiking destination, Huaraz.