We took a detour off the Carretera Austral to reach Futaleufu, a town and river well- known as one of the most exciting whitewater rivers in the world.

We have both done a nice amount of exciting class III/IV river rafting (I even rafted the Rio Trancura in Chile back when I was bullet-proof) and we are willing to rest on our laurels. As self-preserving geezers, we’re giving a big fat pass to rafting the Futaleufu!

The town of Futaleufu has an Argentine flavor, as before the Carretera Austral connected it with the rest of Chile by road in 1980, their only road access was to Argentina. One of the main reasons Chile undertook the great expense of building the Carretera Austral was to head off any ideas their rivals Argentina might have.