Adventure in Futaleufú

Futaleufú is a small town on the border between Chile and Argentina. I took a detour from the carretera austral to visit this place, since it’s famous for rafting. Arriving here was not the easiest, especially since I left from a small town called Puyuhuapi. Earlier, when I was staying in the city, I’d informed about bus times from Puyuhuapi. I went to the bus stop at the indicated time and waited. And waited. And waited. After about an hour I had a decision to make: wait and hope the bus shows up, or try to hitchhike. So I walked to the main road and put up my thumb. I was picked up in a matter of minutes by a small family. They dropped me off in Villa Santa Lucía. I had several hours until the bus to Futaleufú, but I didn’t want to hitchhike again. So I waited in a café and afterwards I nervously stood at the bus stop. Part of me was doubting it would arrive. But after a while the bus that should have picked me up in Puyuhuapi stopped and dropped off some other guys that were transferring to Futaleufú. I was lucky. The bus showed up, and it arrived safely in Futa. I’d heard from a travel buddy who took an earlier bus, that they’d had motor problems. All the passengers were just told to try to hitchhike or wait for other passing buses.

On my first day I decided to check out the rafting companies to see what’s possible. It turned out they had a trip available that afternoon, so I signed up. For the few hours I had left, I walked to Cerro la bandera, a short walk just on the edge of town. It’s on private property. There is a small reception, but unfortunately there was no one there. I waited and an old woman came out to greet me. She pointed me to the trail and I set off. It wasn’t long, but it was steep! I regretted not bringing my hiking poles. But I arrived on top, sun shining, looking out over the village, listening to the dogs barking below. It was absolutely stunning.

Later in the day I went back to the rafting office. We still had to drive a fair distance to the rafting spot and picked up some equipment along the way. The rafting took place on the Futaleufú river. Its color was spectacular; a turquoise with white. You could see all the rocks that lie under water. It was so clear. We were surrounded by mountains and our guide frequently reminded us not to forget to look around and enjoy the scenery. Meanwhile we went through class 3 to 5 rapids with names like más of menos and Tiburón. When we reached postre we were allowed to jump in the water and float for a bit. I was the only one in the boat who took the offer, but it was so nice and refreshing. You quickly get warm in a wetsuit. Our guide was a great navigator and although not everyone was paddling as hard as they should have, we went around the rocks and through the rapids without a glitch. It was nice to have safety boats around us, but luckily we didn’t need them. I had a huge smile on my face throughout the trip, but the most fun was paddling in the front of the boat, diving into the rapids on full speed. Time flew by way too fast.

There are a bunch of walks you can do around Futaleufú, but several require some hitchhiking to get to the start. At first I walked to the hitchhiking point, but being honest with myself, I noticed I really didn’t feel like waiting for someone to pick me up and having random conversations. So I opted for a walk next to the road that lead to a small trail: Pozón de los Reyes. It’s a part of the Río Futaleufú that’s relatively close to town. When I found the trail, a dog started following me. He was super chill and kept checking up on me to see if I was still following. When I stopped, he’d hang around until I picked myself up to continue. The path went through a piece of forest towards a lookout. The water below was beautiful, but so were the views. Back in town I found the hidden beach near the river. There was a clear trail, but the entrance was kind of hidden in a corner of the street. Some people were wild camping behind bushes. Others were smoking weed. It was a bit of an odd place. But, what a stunning part of this planet.

Another day I walked to piedra del Águila, another walk on private property outside of the town. The walk there wasn’t spectacular and most people drive out to the start. There’s a small parking space and then you follow a country road that steeply goes up the mountain to someone’s house. The very old owner of the house limped towards me so that I could pay. He then opened a gate that led to a much smaller trail. From here it was a short climb towards a couple of viewpoints. I met a group of friends who were vacationing in Futaleufú. Later, a retired guy, who was parking his car as I started walking, also reached the top. We had the usual conversation of where are you from etc. and then he offered me a ride back to town. I’d sat on top of the mountain for about 1,5 hours. There were views in different directions. One way you could see lakes in the distance. Another way was the countryside with some farms spread out like dots on the plain. It was amazing in the sunshine. Very calming. I was glad to have a ride back. What takes nearly 2 hours on foot, took only 15 minutes in a car!

I loved Futaleufú. I’d do a lot more rafting if it wasn’t so expensive. But it was also a nice place to just be. There was a lake with some benches and gigantic wooden sun beds. There was a nice square with some shops and cafés. There was the beautiful surrounding nature. I couldn’t help but think: “Maybe I should become a rafting guide”.