TURQUOISE GOLD                                                                                                     The old Chevrolet Blazer was slipping on the clay and round river rock strewn track wet from the nights rains,  up ahead of me was a farmer in his 4 wheel drive, crikey we had traffic jams out here, I had to crawl along behind him until he kindly let me pass, just before the swaying suspension bridge. From there in low ratio I was able crawl and grind up and down the last of the road to a small tributary, which with a bit of luck I would be able to descend  into the Rio Gualaca it would come out just above the canyon that had put an end to the descent from London. The morning was clear with mist over the mountain tops, the sun was out and illuminating the green hills and ridges. The creeks water level looked low compared to the descent of a couple of weeks ago from London, but of course this was not yet the main river.

It was now 8am and it had been another 5am start to get here, it’s amazing how we humans can manage to separate work from pleasure. The only sounds were of myself dragging the kayak out of the back of the truck, kitting up and the low roar of the creek.

I had come across only the one car and a couple of local campesinos on horseback up to this point, I carefully arranged the equipment inside the kayak,  the slamming of the doors of the vehicle,  dragging the boat down to the rocky riverbank at the creeks fording place, this was all that broke the peace.

 

At exactly the time all was ready to push off there arrived three local campesinos on horses, the last of which was an old man, they did not seem to know what to make of me, yellow helmet with camera and visor, lifejacket, forearm protectors black rash guard and sitting in a blue 8ft kayak in ten Centimetre’s of water, honestly I imagine I could have looked a little out of place here in these hills.

The old man told me that he thought this should be something for the dry season, I countered that water flow was required for this to work and that was the sum of the conversation, they sauntered off up the track, it was not hard to read their minds.

The creek proved a boney ride, and after only 500 meters It entered the river proper and then things started to happen. The water was at about half of the volume of  A fortnight ago, and was running clear with a green and white hue. The sun had not yet reached into the steep sided valley and there was a chill in the atmosphere, I had been coming down with a cold, the gripe,  and it had been difficult to get motivated in the morning. My body was shivering in the morning air, though the exercise was starting to have its affect. Sometimes its better to go for it knowing that if you wait until the next day you will probably feel worse.                                                                                                       The waterfall at the head of the canyon appeared up ahead, the river dropping away steeply beyond the pool at the base of the falls, I pulled into the left hand bank under thick trees at the point of exit of the previous visit.                                                                                                          The shimmering wet rock walls blended into dark green and blackened forest, the sun was having trouble penetrating this dank spot.

With some difficulty I was able to swim across quite a bit higher up to make the rocky island in the centre of the river and then to the lip of the cascade, the water split and descended some 3 meters to the left and the right of me, the right side being much less powerful than the left, but it landed close to a large rock making it more technical. I am glad I had terminated the previous descent here because the falls created a powerful hole which at this water volume could be negotiated, but I wondered what it might have been with double the flow of the previous descent.                                                                                           I made my way back across the river bouncing over the stones to regain the bank in the swift current, and climbed into the kayak.                   I jockeyed for the best line possible in the rapids above, before penciling into the spume at the base of the falls, the whole kayak and myself submerged into a frothy tumbling and bubbling world before resurfacing, the boat became still above me signaling the exit from the powerful hydraulic and I was able to quickly roll the boat upright to find myself in the pool below.

The beauty of the place took my breath away, twin falls split by a nose of black rock between them, the pool was the color of green jade which was surrounded by dark rock walls, tree trunks were blackened and the  green moss on the rocks came down to the waterline. It was almost as if I had fallen to another level of the natural world,  I could not resist taking a swim across to the other side where a cave beckoned to be explored.

The water descended out of the pool via  turbulent rapids,  it really was a special place, in fact I was not expecting anything like this, the rivers nature had completely changed it was in canyon lands now.

I climbed back into the kayak and ran a grade 3-4 rapid to leave this spot behind, as quickly as arriving, I departed the canyon and the river opened up a bit for a gentle ride, the sun now warming me, it shimmering on the surface, I did some practice rolls in a pool and just admired the scenery, small waterfalls descended into the main watercourse, mosses covered the tree limbs hanging in fronds like beards, shadows played across the surface and the riverbed could clearly be seen as the kayak passed along above it.

Letting my guard down I was surprised by a quickening of the river which squeezed down and sharply curved left and then hard right over a powerful rapid, the senses were instantly changed, I hardened up and lent forward and down river, running it on sight the paddle blade leading as the kayak dropped 2 meters and I shot out into the placid waters lower down, so much for daydreaming.

Again the river became tranquil my watch was showing 200 meters and It was now all over for sure.                                                                  Dropping a long gentle rapid the river could be seen to bend off to the right and disappear amongst some large rocks at the base of a cleft between the hillsides, I was entering another canyon, the entrance of which looked pretty complicated, this Rio Gualaca was full of surprises.

I exited to the right and walked down to the rocks choking the river, almost the whole volume squeezed down between a thin slot hardly the width of the Kayak, this set up what could only be described as a nozzle which shot the water out below as from the overflow of a dam. Unable to see what came next caused me to backtrack and swim the river further up, making my way to the choke I was able to climb down some 4 meters to below the nozzle, the sight below made me run cold.                                                                                                            Two-thirds of all the water flow shot from the churning water where the nozzle jetted the pool below went directly into two blind siphons (the rocks squeeze down and water can flow through but not a person or boat).

The other third of the flow was the least biased of the current, meaning one would be unlikely to end up in it.                                                The whole thing was totally amazing but lethal, close by I came across the skin of a snake, yeah fitting for sure.

Beyond this second row of teeth was another set of rapids of grade 4 or so, powerful but do able, from there the river ran the canyon through consistent grade 3+ rapids to exit somewhere lower down. Again I was struck by the beauty of the place, the turquoise and jade color of the river mixed with the jungle greens  which seemed the hallmark of this part of the descent.                                                                                                  Re crossing the river was a lot more nerve wracking knowing it was a one way trip if you were swept down into that shark mouth by the swift current.                                                                                                             Portaging the left side of this set of natural defenses was not too difficult, sweat poured as the kayak was alternately carried and dropped down to the head of the lower third set of teeth, and the much tamer grade 4 rapid.                                                                                                                                           A complex set of moves led to a chute and stopper which of course I got stuck in, surfing out backwards the kayak was flipped as I dipped the rail up current by mistake, holding the paddle out deep underwater, the current played on it and dragged me out of the hydraulic and it seemed to sweep me upright automatically and out of the rapid.

The river ran straight down through the canyon, I dropped into a sunlight pool where to the right a 30 meter waterfall cascaded down vertically to join the flow, a large bird was fishing close by and took to the air on perceiving me. A little lower down a larger tributary joined from the right hand side and the river turned left and fell through vertical cliffs.  An entire tree including its roots lay on a dry patch in the centre of the now widened river, dragged there by one of the wet season floods. The kayaking now became easier in this last canyon which was nowhere near as intense as the previous ones, rounding the last bend to the right the suspension bridge could be seen some way ahead,  so I decided to stop and drag the boat into the bush and hide it for the walk back to the truck, finding a large tree higher up the bank to accomplish this task.

It was incredibly pleasant making my way to the vehicle, the sun dried me slowly the atmosphere was absolutely still, with the view of the upper ranges draped in indigo and white laced rain clouds of the afternoon which filled my soul. I reflected on the Endeavour and felt that I had been privileged to have been able to have undergone this classic descent from London. It was as if I had personally been allowed to see the world at its finest, a three dimensional perfect canvas, of which I had been allowed to wander through. It brought home a hard truth to me, perhaps this being the true meaning of conservation, we do not know what we have lost until its gone,  and then its just too late.

For a short time I had been able to find myself, but down deep I knew  it was transient, the problems of life would reach out their bony twisted hands to drag me to its reality again.