I have two knees!

I am finally done with the last knee surgery. 9 months after I tore my ACL, its finally over!

I was pretty nervous going into this surgery. It was the 3rd surgery on the same knee, and the 2nd one wasn't very easy, so I was fearing what it would be like when I woke up in the Post Op bed. And after about 2 days, it wasn't that bad.

This surgery was the 2nd half of my ACL revision surgeries. The first surgery was to fill in the tunnels with bone grafts and remove the torn ACL. This surgery was to re-drill the tunnels and repair the ACL using my hamstring tendon. So, I've already had this surgery... kinda in my first ACL reconstruction.

For the last 6 months, I've been rehabbing the knee from the last surgery. It took over a month to walk again, but then progressed quickly after that. In the last month and a half before this surgery, I was able to go riverboarding, so I did... quite a bit. I was at the gym, on the river or in the pool 6 days a week, which was awesome. The hardest part about it was that I didn't have an ACL, so I was really limited in the things I could do. After this surgery, the sky's the limit.

Surgery date: 6/25/09.... the day Michael Jackson died.
During surgery, Dr. Roberts put a drain in my knee so the excess swelling would drain out. The day after surgery, I had to go to Physical Therapy and get it removed. I met my awesome PTs Chris and Steve and did some quad sets and range of motion bending. In my first ACL surgery I was immobilized for 3 weeks, so to move it right after surgery was weird... but good.













I got my brace unlocked after one week, and another week later I got my stitches out. After the stitches were out and most of the steri strips gone, I could see and feel the full potential and range of motion of my knee.



All this time of course, looking hot and stylish in my sexy white compression stocking.







This pic is from my first shower, 3 days after surgery. I've still got Dr. Robert's initials on my leg. I have one new scar on my outer knee and the vertical scar on the middle of my knee is longer. All the other scars are old news, just pinker and fresher now. My knee was pretty swollen after surgery. It doesn't really look like a knee in this pic. I think this is the most swollen it's ever been. It might have been around the same size as it was when I injured it in September.




I had a little bit of compartment syndrome on my shin area, leaving it with pitting edema. It was pretty disgusting. Pitting edema is when you press on the swelling and it leaves an indent in the tissue. It's pretty much totally disgusting and extremely painful. I found these 2 pics entitled "fun with pitting edema" online. I did not have fun with pitting edema. To do what they're doing in the pics would be incredibly painful. *insert vomit noise*












The pitting edema went away within 2 weeks or so (thank God) and left a super awesome yellow bruise for a while.


The bruising wasn't as bad as the PTs said it would be. Just some deep bruising near where they took the hamstring tendon, and on the other side, where they put the large metal pin into my knee. Those points are still pretty tender to this day.


This is a pic of when I got my stitches out. I've got some awesome bruising around the scar where the pin went in. Good times.










I got the super awesome Game Ready machine again. I can not say enough good things about this machine. It pumps ice water and air into a sleeve around your knee. So it gives ice and compression at the same time. It is the nicest thing EVER after surgery or anytime I'm in any kind of pain. Instantly relieved. Right after surgery I was in it all day. Now I'm just in it once or twice a day whenever my knee is bugging.



So, things are on the up and up every day. I'm amazed at how more things are easier every day.
More super awesome updates to come.....

Knee Surgery

Knee Surgery #1 (which is really #2 in the grand scheme of things)
Let me start at the beginning and paint a picture....
Gauley Season 2008. I drove across the country with my friend Ted from Portland, OR to Fayetteville, WV. Good times. They had cancelled the training day on Thursday due to low water. The lake was low and so our releases were less than normal. I was on the Upper Gauley the first day of the season at about 2500 cfs... which could've been closer to 2300. Great day. Awesome crew. They had so much fun, they requested me for the next day on the Upper Gauley too.
With two great first days under my belt, I showed up to surf for work on the 3rd day. I got put on an 11:00 Lower Gauley trip. The trip was going great.... mellow Lower Gauley day. What more could I ask for?
After lunch, below Heavens Gates, above Stairsteps, is a rapid called BFR. We call it that because there's a Big F-ing Rock in the middle of the river. Class 3 rapid. It's called Picture Rock on the map. We entered the rapid on the right and the boat kicked hard to the left, ejecting half my boat out the left side and throwing the rest of us to the left side of the boat.
When I was tossed to the left, I put my foot out to catch myself.... but instead of catching myself, my foot wedged under the cross tube of the raft, between it and the floor, and my leg twisted.
Instantly I was floored by the pain. As I sat in the bottom of the boat, grabbing my knee, I knew something bad had happened. BUT... I didn't hear a pop. I couldn't help the people in the water, I couldn't talk, I just let them handle it on their own and paddle us to shore. My leg was immediately splinted, wrapped, and iced and I made the evacuation call about 5 minutes later. Not only was my day over, my season was over. 3 days into Gauley Season, I was done. Bummer. I couldn't be evacuated until Pure Screaming Hell, a bigger rapid about 4 miles downstream. That was the scary part. How do I guide a raft through rapids, without letting my knee move, or using those muscles? Very carefully. I had to run Upper Staircase, Lower Staircase, Roller coaster, Cliffside, Rattlesnake, and Roostertail as conservatively as possible. It worked out, and I was evac -ed above PSH.

I saw a doctor in Charleston 2 days later, who concluded that my ACL was torn again, and he ordered an MRI. About a week later, the MRI confirmed a torn ACL and deep bone bruising. The doctor suggested that I disregard another knee surgery, saying that I didn't need an ACL. I liked the idea of not having surgery again, but I was doubtful that I wouldn't need one.

And so began the trek back to Portland. Since I had such a nice group of friends and a job at my rafting company, I decided to come back to the White Salmon and deal with it amongst friends. I sent out emails to everyone asking for help finding an orthopedic surgeon, and help is what I got.

My friend Allen Roberts' dad is an orthopedic surgeon, perhaps the best in the Portland area. Allen told his dad about my situation, about the same time as he was pestered with emails and calls from other people about me. Dr. Roberts agreed to help me out. He suggested that I have 2 surgeries to fix my torn ACL. The first surgery would be to remove the hardware from my original ACL reconstruction. They would clean out the torn ACL, unscrew the screws, drill the tunnels slightly bigger, and then pack in bone grafts into the holes. Sounds like fun, right? The second surgery would be to replace the ACL, by redrilling the tunnels, and putting in a new ACL graft.

My first surgery was on 12/8/08. It went well. It felt like someone had cut me open, drilled and scraped into my bone, then pounded in some bone grafts. It pretty much feels exactly like it sounds.... painful. I left the hospital with this cool machine, the Game Ready. It is a sleeve that pumps in cold water, as well as fills up with air for ice and compression. It feels really good. I wish I had it for my first surgery.

My crazy machine

Every day is better than the last. I have greater range of motion, and can do things more easily as the days go by, so that's nice to see. I took my first shower yesterday, and it was awesome. I got to check out my stitches up close and survey the damage.






















I basically only have 2 new scars. The one up on my quad is new, and the one below the big one is new. The big one is longer than it originally was, but that's no biggie.

More updates coming soon.

GORGE GAMES

This weekend was the Gorge Games. This is a nationally televised local event. It's an event that highlights all the sports that the Columbia River Gorge has to offer. It's sweet. People come from everywhere to compete in the Gorge Games event.

This years Gorge Games had riverboarding as one of the events. This was also the first nationally recognized riverboarding event. Usually there's riverboarding at whitewater events and adventure racing, not in a multiple sport competition. So... in short, it was a big deal for the sport of riverboarding.

I had started training before the Gorge Games, riverboarding the downriver section as fast as I could and getting out on the water as much as I could on my board.The weekend started off great. I was totally nervous and didn't sleep for the 2 nights before the competition. I showed up at the Extreme Downriver Race and there were lots of cameras and people. I met a bunch of riverboarders at the check in.... some that I had met before, but a lot that I didn't know. It was really cool to see that many riverboarders in one place.

The race started at 8 am. It started at the cliff jump below BZ Falls. I was in the first heat of people to jump off the rock and start racing. In heats of 3, we jumped off the cliff jump and were in the water racing. I jumped in with Dave, Docta P, and Kevin. As soon as I hit the water, I felt someone hit the water right behind me. It was crazy mass jumping off the sketchy cliff jump. I hate that jump. It freaks me out.

So, I took the lead at the bottom of Maytag and stayed in front of the pack until the Barge Wave. That's when Sean O'Shea totally passed me with his huge arms and legs just moving the water aside. No one had a chance against that guy. Ha ha. I held on to second for a while, until Alex Koutzoukis passed me in the flats. I stayed right behind Alex until the last stretch just above Husum, where I almost passed him, but ended up dropping the falls right behind him and finishing in 3rd.

Photo by Joel Policar

Kevin Yount came in 4th, but there was a considerable gap between us. River Dave came in 5th with Rochelle just behind him. Hell yeah. Two girls reprezentin! Docta P came in somewhere in the middle of the pack. My one goal of the Gorge Games was to beat Docta P. I thought that he was the one to beat. All the hype was on him, all the news articles, all the cameras were on him, and he was the favorite going into the Games. And I kicked his ass. Hell yeah.
Once the race was over, it was all hugs and high fives. Overall, I thought there was a great display of sportsmanship from most of the riverboarders. There was one poor sport in the bunch, but that didn't bring the rest of us down. Congrats to Sean O'Shea and Alex Koutzoukis on their 1st and 2nd place wins! They earned it!

The next race was at 3 pm and I spent the rest of the day still freaking out about more racing. The second event was the Timed Sprint. It started at the cliff jump at BZ and then ended in the last wave of Maytag Rapid (Top Drop). That frickin cliff jump got me so freaked out and so nervous that I actually think it made me race better. My first time was 2:18 and my second time was 2:16. My two times were overall faster than everyone's and I got 1st place in the Sprint event. Hell yeah. Congrats to Rory Camm for coming in 2nd, and Alex Koutzoukis for 3rd. Both those boys had times like 3/100ths of a second faster than me, but their other runs were slower times.
So, day 1 was over, and I had 3rd place in the Extreme Downriver Race, and 1st place in the Timed Sprint under my belt. It felt good. I've never been so sore in my life.... but it was a good sore, a rewarding pain. I spent Saturday laying low and preparing for Sunday's events.

Photo by Joel Policar

Sunday started out with the Surfing Event at Rattlesnake Rapid. Rattlesnake was stompy and not easy to surf. A bunch of boys from Idaho that competed at the PBR Whitewater event showed up and reprezented. I didn't even make it to the semi-finals. But I think I scored one point! Ha ha. It was fun. Levi Gallas totally laid it down and killed it. He came in 1st, followed by Morgan from Idaho, and Rory took 3rd with his crazy board throwing spin move. Good stuff.

The last event of the Gorge Games was the Boardercross Event. I had been... guess what... nervous! Since it was such a full contact mass start off that friggin cliff, I was all freaked out again. We ended up racing from the put- in right above Maytag Rapid, and then racing to an undetermined location. I was less nervous about the race now, but still freaking out. I was in the first heat with Kevin Yount and a guy named John. I came in 1st, but didn't see the finish line, and neither did Kevin. So, they changed the finish, and we had to re-race. Aaaah!

Ok, same thing, 10 minutes later. I came in 1st again and advanced to the Semi-finals. Next race... me, Rory, and Docta P. I was nervous. At the start I got clobbered by both of them, and started in the back. I almost passed Rory, but ran into him in Maytag and came in last. No finals for me. Props to Rochelle for coming in 2nd!! and Alex Koutzoukis came in 3rd. Docta P came in 1st, and in my mind, displayed the most poor sportsmanship I've ever seen. I think the P stands for Poor Sport. Boo.

I came in 2nd place overall. Alex Koutzoukis came in 1st, and Rory Camm came in 3rd. I think that's awesome. In a world full of dudes, it was nice to reprezent for the ladies and give those boys a run for their money. I hope my win is motivational for some more ladies to come out and compete next year.

All in all, I thought the weekend went awesome! It was a great display of riverboarders from all over. It was so nice to meet some of the people I've been hearing about for so long, like Alex and Levi. It was good to see Kevin and Dave again. I'm really glad to have met Rory and Rochelle and Sean and John... all the people I met this weekend. A big thanks to Josh Galt/Ice for organizing everything and making it happen so smoothly. I bet that was hard. Thanks to the Gorge Games for having a Riverboarding category. It was a great display of people doing what they love and getting to share it with each other and the world. Experiences of a lifetime packed into one weekend. Good times.

Dinner at the Tacqueria, clockwise;
Me, Dave Boucke, Josh Galt, Levi Gallas,
Rory Camm, Kevin Yount, Rochelle Parry,
Eric PetersonJohn Walker, Alex Koutzoukis

PBR Whitewater Event

I got to the surfing competition with my best friend Jenny, 2 hrs before it started on Friday and checked in. Turns out it was a junior freestyle comp with a junior boogie boarding comp in the middle of it... and I was not a junior.... but I competed anyways and made it to the semi finals but not the finals. All the 14 year olds schooled me with their light limber bodies.
Surfing the Gutter


So.. the wave that they had it on was the Gutter wave, which was pretty small and it was not easy to surf with the Ripboard. Ice showed up and lent me the new Carlson surfer to try.. which was easier to surf but hard to stay on. I lost anyways. Whatever. The whole thing was kind of dissappointing.

So after that, my friend Steve showed up and we went out to the Bladder Wave which was the bigger hole. It had a really big bladder in the middle of the river that they can inflate and change the shape of the wave. It was 9,000 or so cfs and the eddy lines around it were crazy. So I spent an hour and a half trying to get on the wave and getting my ass kicked in the eddy lines... couldn't stay on the wave for more than a few seconds... it was HARD WORK to catch that thing.

So, that night, we went to the party next to Otter Slide Rapid and hung out with all the kayakers and rafting teams. I saw a bunch of people that I knew from WV and met a bunch of new people. Good stuff.

The next day, Saturday, we got some breakfast and then headed to the Staircase section, where they were doing the raft and kayak races. I talked to the organizer dude and he wouldn't let me compete with the kayakers, but told me to just get out there and board and show people... so I did. My friend Steve and I did 2 laps on the Staircase section, at 7,000 cfs, each lap took us around 40 mins. So, we did our 2 laps right in the middle of the races, between rafting teams, keeping out of the way, with maximum people watching. It was sweet. Got the whole crowd cheering both times. The Staircase section of the S. Fork of the Payette was a super fun run. It was big, fun, and fast.

Hounds Tooth Rapid on the N. Fork

After the 2nd run, Steve, Jenny and I drove up to the N. Fork of the Payette to scout the lower 5 rapids. Some of them looked good to go, but a lot of it didn't. So, after that, I went back to the Bladder wave to try to get my ass kicked again... but was too tired and hungry to get out there... ended up getting some dinner, then heading to the festivities in the town of Crouch. I met a lot of people there and talked about riverboarding and about making it a real event in the PBR event next year. I thought I got a lot of respect from other people about my sport. I talked with a bunch of people about getting on the N. Fork lower 5 rapids the next day too.

Sunday, I got up and couldn't find anyone to go boating with. I went up to the N. Fork of the Payette to watch the kayak race. I watched the race and took some video... which was super entertaining, then headed to the put in for the Staircase section again. I saw a bunch of cool boaters that were hanging out the night before and went down the river with about 15 of em. They asked me all kinds of questions about riverboarding and Ripboards. I think it was an awesome way to get out there and get the thought of riverboarding in people's heads.
Everyone was impressed. Good stuff.

By then it was 2 pm and I had to go back to Boise and spend some time with my friend Jenny. I headed back to Boise feeling like I accomplished a lot for riverboarding this weekend. I had a lot of interest. A lot of people said they wanted to try, but then didn't... so I gave them a brochure to check out the website. I really feel like I did all I could to be a good riverboarding representative... and Ripboard representative. I think it turned out really well too.

So, from my perspective, the weekend went really well. I'm super stoked on the amount of people I met and talked about boarding with, and went riverboarding with. People are starting to take our sport more seriously and that's cool to see and make happen.

When I got back to Boise, I went on a really fun bike ride with Steve and Jenny on the Greenbelt, a long trail that goes all through Boise. Good times. We went to a Nature Preserve and had a great afternoon! YAY IDAHO!

Eddy Flower Vertical Challenge.... Team Wet Planet!

This year, I decided to start a Wet Planet team in the Eddy Flower Vertical Challenge. Our team is me, Todd Collins, Heather Herbeck, Andy Round, and Gynner Paris.
The Eddy Flower Vertical Challenge is a competition to see who can boat the most vertical feet in one month. It started on May 15th and goes till June 15th. The Vertical Challenge is also a competition to see who can get the most donations towards First Descents, a kayaking and outdoor experience camp for young adults with cancer. It's a pretty good cause, and it's a good motivator to get out on the river.
It's May 26th and Team Wet Planet is in 3rd place! We have 17,035 ft! Check out our standings at the Eddy Flower site.
http://www.eddyflower.com/VerticalStandings.aspx

For the next 2 weeks, I'm still accepting donations for the Challenge. First Descents is an awesome cause... and any donation would be greatly appreciated!
So, wish us luck in the next 2 weeks! We'll be vertin it up!!

Back home.... wherever that is...

Well, I made it home.....

I'm in upstate NY for the moment hanging out with the 'rents. I'm in Cobleskill, NY. It's pretty rural and really pretty. It was kind of a shock to go from 85 and sunny to 15 and snowy... but I'm managing. I like snow.
I got a job at a really cool ski, snowboard, and bike shop, Plaine and Son. I really like it. I even made me some cool friends here. Woo hoo.

It wasn't as much of a culture shock as I thought it would be, coming back to the US. I definately return home with a different perspective of life, and a greater sense of self. It's a cool feeling. I've been home for about a month now, and am still missing South America, of course. I don't think I'll ever stop missing it. It is a part of me, and a part of my life. I made a lot of awesome friends down there, and I also had the opportunity to get closer to some acquaintances. It's a really cool feeling running into people you know in other countries... even cooler to hang out with them and get to know them a little better!

So lately, I've just been working away and getting ready for the long haul back out to WA. I've planned stops in WV, CO, UT, and CA along the way. Gunna take about 2 weeks to get out there and have some fun all the way acrossed the country. Yeah baby.

Had plans to go to the bar the other night, but spent too much time in the frigid night with Nate and my mom, looking at the lunar eclipse. Ha ha, gave up and watched a movie. Got some cool shots of the eclipse. It was pretty sweet. Check it.

Mendoza

Mendoza... wow... good times!!

After leaving Futa, John Cornwell gave Jim and I a ride to Esquel, where we took the bus to Bariloche. Jim is my new travel buddy for the week. We were heading north at the same time. Worked out well. 

Jim and I took the bus from Esquel to Bariloche, spent the night in Bariloche, then left the next day for Mendoza. It was an overnight bus, so we came prepared with valium I had leftover from Peru. The 17 hr. bus ride seemed like nothing. 

Along the way, I won the Bus Bingo game and won a bottle of wine! Woo hoo! Ha ha.

We arrived in Mendoza at 10 am and found us a hostel to plop our crap in, then walked around town. We found the rafting companies that our friends worked at... but not our friends. I ended up going to the hospital and getting my brain checked out cuz I was having these crazy headaches over the last week or two. The test revealed............ nothing. Well, at least I don't have a brain tumor.

The next day, Coleman showed up at our hostel! YAY! We found out about a moonlight raft trip at Argentina Rafting, where my friend Sylvio works. We talked Coleman into coming with us.  We left earlier than the party bus so we could hang out with our friends and secure a spot on the moonlight float. When we got there, no one we knew was there, but Argentina Rafting was super friendly and told us where to put our stuff and what was going on. We met a guy named Mario from Argentina, who works at Clear Creek Rafting in the summer and knows Wiese and Casey! Small world.

The party bus left at 8 or 9, We went to the put in to load boats and help them get ready. They had an 8 boat float. We also loaded Jim's shredder and my board. The people all showed up around 11 pm, and about an hour later we were ready for the rio.

There were 8 boats, 8 safety kayaks, a shredder, and me on my board. The moon was full and bright...... until we put on.... it went behind the clouds and never came back out. Darkness. Lots of darkness. Pitch black on a river I'd never seen before. The river has a lot of sediment in it, it's brown, so there's really no whitewater to key off of either. Just darkness. Woo hoo. 

The run ended up being pretty mellow. I was just following the barely distinguishable rafts in front of me. I got chundered in a hole I didn't see. Ha ha. It was funny. The run ended at the lake with about 1 km of flat water. 
 

Once everyone was all showered and changed, the party began. The band started at 3 am. They kicked ass! Everyone was dancing. Coleman, Jim and I were drinking beers. Good times. The band stopped playing at 6, when the bus left to take everyone back home. About another hour later, people started going to bed. 

The next day, Jim and I took the shredder out with the commercial trip. We put in higher than we did for the moonlight run. We had SO MUCH FUN shredding!!! We were coming up on a rapid that they were taking pictures of, and Jim's all waving at the camera as we're heading into this pretty big hole. "Something big! Something big!" was all I could say before I fell out... ha ha.... then I got halfway back in and we hit another wave and I fell out again! Pretty hilarious. 

It was a great last day on the river in South America!

Later that day, we got a ride back to Mendoza and I packed up all my crap because I was taking the bus to Santiago the next morning so I could catch my flight. We met up with some friends we made the day before at the midnight float, and Jim had a friend from Buff Joe's, Mike (five o), who came to hang out too. Small world. Mike was working at Argentina Rafting totally by coincidence and neither of them knew eachother was there until they ran into eachother. Coleman was a little punk and didn't show up to hang out.

We went to a bar called Moe's... like Moe from the Simpsons.... totally randomly awesome! It's like a tienda in the front, but a bar in the back... so you buy your beer at the tienda and then go in the back and drink it. What a concept!

So long Futa

The time has come for me to leave Futa. I've been here a month and a half.

I've met so many amazing people, and had so many great experiences, it makes it hard to say goodbye.

It was a good month for boarding down in Patagonia. I got to surf on the Espolon wave, I got to riverboard the Futaleufu 6 times at different flows, and I got a 1st descent of a riverboard on the Rio Azul!

And of course I'll miss my H20 Homies!
Thanks H20 Patagonia for the amazing experience! Love you guys!

I'm really gunna miss it here....

Espolon Event

Pueblo Espolon.....

Today was a big event in the tiny town of Espolon to inform them about the proposed mines in their area and let them know what kind of an impact it would have on them, their town, their quality of life, and the lives of others in their watershed.
It was great. We took the ferry acrossed the Lago Espolon fully loaded with people and stuff. H20 took their trip up there to bike up to the event, then raft back down to the ferry.


The presentation was interesting. It was all in español, but I understood a lot of it. They showed a video about the mines in Esquel, Argentina and it´s impacts on that community. They talked about the road that they are building and it´s impacts, and it´s direct involvement with the mines. It was very informative for me, as well as the locals.

A lot of rafting companies represented as well. There were like 10 or more of us from H20, including Brian, the owner. There were about 8 from EX Chile, and about the same from Bio Bio. Brian came to reprezent for Earth River. It was a great turnout.

After the presentation, there was a big asado with 4 lambs and TONS of food. Our trip left to go rafting and I stayed for a little while to hang out at the asado. I left on the first ferry back, which takes about an hour to cross the lake.

It wa sa great day for everyone, gringos and locals. I rode my bike home from the lake, which is about 10 km... and kicked my ass, but in a good way. All in all, it was a great day for the community. I´m glad I could be a part.

Christmas and New Years in Patagonia

I have to say that I had the best Christmas ever in Futaleufu this year.

I found Jess, who works at Class VI, here rafting some and working with Mitch and other locals for her senior thesis on dams and mines on the Futa. I've been staying with her in town, with Umberto, who's a Chilean training with me, and Brian, who's from the US and works in Idaho. I've been hanging out with a pretty big crowd of people, some Canadians, Frenchies, Argentinians, only a few from the US, a Colombian, an Italian, and a bunch of Chilenos. There's like 15 or more of us. We've been hanging out since it's the holidays and not a lot of people are working.

So, Christmas Eve, we all planned to each make a dish from where we're from and have a pot luck, and then later go to a big Asado with people from all over town. Our "family" dinner was great. Jess and I made a cherry and apple cobbler together. Brian made a stew, Colo made some potato dish,and Josie made a pumpkin pie. Everyone else said they would make something, but ended up getting drunk instead... ha ha. They brought beer and liquor.. ha ha that
was their contribution.

We ate all together, then headed to the Casa Azul, the Futa Explore house to have an asado with 2 lambs and hang out with everyone. There was a 96 year old woman there partying with us. It was her 96th birthday on Xmas eve. Really cool lady. It turned into a huge party after a while, and we all rallied to the disco down the road. The disco is the shit. Always good times guaranteed at the Futa disco. Ha ha.

I remember the sun coming up as I walked home from the disco.... and Colo dropping the cobbler in the dirt ha ha.

Christmas day, we all got up and had leftovers for breakfast, then rallied to the Rio Espolon to a play wave with 3 kayaks and my board. We spent 7 hours there, playing around, drinking chicha, hanging out. Everyone tried kayaking and everyone tried riverboarding. It was a blast. The board was a hit.... as usual.


We cooked a bunch of hot dogs on a fire... it was great. It really reminded me of good times at Canyon Doors. We headed home around 7pm and had an awesome italian dinner made by the best Italian chef in Futa.. and then all passed out early.



We really have this tight international family here. I feel like Futa is home and I'm surrounded by family. I really am loving it here. Every day is better than the last.
So... I didn't have a horrible xmas all alone... as I had feared. I was surrounded by family and love, just like it should be.

New Years was a good one too....
I rowed the safety raft down the Rio Espolon all day, and then got a ride into town for the fiesta later that night.
I bought a bottle of White Horse Whiskey and it disappeared quickly... ha ha. There was definately an asado and a disco involved in the evening.
The next day, New Years day, we had a trip on the Rio Azul, and I was riverboarding along. I was drunk till about 2 pm when we put on... It was all I could do to keep from vomiting while puting my wetsuit on.. ha ha. But, made it through the day puke free and sobered up within the first 3 rapids. Ha ha. It was a pretty leisurely day, since everyone was pretty hung over. Good times. Pelado was in a ducky, Sarah was kayaking, Aren was kayaking, Mitch was rowing Brian and Henrick down, while they drank beers, and Hernan took a raft of people down. Really fun day.