My First River Festival

This past week has been a very very wet week. It hasn't stopped raining in absolutely ages! As I mentioned last week I was invited to participate in the first river festival in a place called Curanilahue called "Nahuelbuta libre". River festivals are a big thing in Chile and are generally sparked by some campaign to dam a particular river, hence the local community organises a festival in defense of the river, gathering people from all works of life who have a mutual interest in protecting the rivers of Chile. There are now about 12 river festivals throughout the year in various parts of Chile and I've been told they all have different vibes, some have a more party-style vibe, others hippy and others more artisan crafts and things. I was invited to give a river rescue workshop at the first year of "Nahuelbuta libre", about 2hrs from where I live. The idea was to give it at 6pm on Saturday to 8 participants and all the equipment would be provided. When we arrived the place was an absolute mudbath, the rain having turned the whole place into a swamp. Loads of people turned up anyway (over 200 in total!) and the festival had a really good vibe, with decent music, environmental talks, food, rafting and drinks. Everything was behind schedule, as expected being the first year and given the rain, so I ended up just paddling with some friends on the lower section of the river which happened to be quite good fun.

It's a good thing I teach a watersport!!!

The next morning I was told I'd be giving the workshop at 10am, my first question (as with most events in Chile) was: Chilean time or English time? Punctuality is not a thing here. When the answer was Chilean time I knew I had at least 2hrs to wait, turns out we started at 1pm... Anyway, considering I banked on having 8 people and all the equipment provided, it was a bit of a shock when they gave me 19 people and no equipment. Resourcefulness was the order of the day, and I made it work more or less. We spent a good hour messing around with ropes and rescues and the feedback was all very positive. I followed it up by a quick blast down the river and a few hours chatting with the festival-goers and exactly 10 minutes after I got in the car to return home, the rain stopped. Typical.

Throwbagging practice

Made it work in the end!

Overall my first festival was a great experience, definitely going to try and get some more and have been invited to a few to compete in the races and teach more workshops and courses. This week is set to be a busy one, doing another two rescue workshops (they're getting popular now) and trying to finish an article I'm working it. Update to follow!