The Rapid with no Name
- 4 Nov 07, 03:00 PM
Posted from:Tocador.
After an early start and long drive we met up with our white water rafting guides and set out to explore one of the high Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon. This leg is going to be particularly difficult when working with the camera equipment as we need to capture great shots of white water rafting yet not destroy our cameras at the same time.
We have a mixture of waterproof cases and dry bags to protect the kit and all is tied to the rafts incase of capsizing.
We have three rafts in total: one for Bruce with two experienced rafting guides; a second for all things technical along with Matt B, Zubin, me and another guide; and a third for the camping and cooking equipment and two further helpers. It quickly turns into the most exciting leg of the journey.
The team enjoy a less treacherous part of the trip
Effe, our guide, sits high on the back of the raft in a frame with two oars to steer the raft, while us novices upfront supply the engine power with single paddles. As we approach some small rapids he shouts instructions ranging from 'Forwards!', 'Backwards!' and 'Stop!' If all goes wrong he'll shout Centre!' and it's time to forget paddling and instead hold on for your life. The leg we were journeying would usually take three days but we only had two so there was some serious paddling to do.
The team get stuck on a rock
The rapids along the way had been named by a previous US expedition. They had typical Americanized names such as 'Batman's Cave', 'The Rapid with No Name', 'The Rapid Before The Rapid With No Name' and 'Indiana Jones'. These names don't really fit well with the Peruvian landscape but the guides seemed to find them amusing.
Along either side of the river were enormous canyons, at some stages reaching three times the height of the Grand Canyon. Condors could be seen soaring on the thermal drafts way above and hot winds swept along the river channel.
We reached the first big rapid - a grade 4. The guides stopped all of the boats and checked the water conditions, whilst we rigged a small DV camera to Bruce's boat. This camera was in a waterproof housing and would film close-ups of Bruce as he paddled down the rapid. I would also film him from the bottom of the rapid on the large High Definition camera but would have to get down there first. Once he was happy our boat headed off. There was a lot of hollering and we followed Effe's instructions as best we could and, soaking wet, made it to the bottom. I then sat on a rock at the bottom of the rapid and filmed Bruce's boat as it made its way down through the white water.
Matt B gives a guided tour of the film set
We did this routine several times on a variety of grade rapids as well as filming chats with Bruce as he paddled down the calmer sections. At 4.40 today we set camp on a small beach. It's an idyllic spot but the nightmare was the sand flies. They seemed to get everywhere despite the insect repellent I was wearing. This meant manoeuvers such as removing a wetsuit and going to the loo had to turn into super-fast tasks.
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