Whitewater Rafting on the Rio Mendoza

Well, my husband said it best: There are river rats the world over. "River Rats" meaning the guides who earn their livelihoods operating river rafting companies - and rely on personality and the delivery of adrenaline more than any business acumen to survive. We've dealt with them here in the states time and time again, and turns out, the business model is the same in Argentina. That doesn't mean that whitewater rafting is not fun and totally worthwhile, you just have to admit that your time is not your own and let go of anything like a schedule.

That being said, Patty, Windsor and I did manage to have a fantastic day of whitewater fun on the Rio Mendoza, but it was a comedy of errors to actually get us there. Let's see if I can synopsize:

• Our original guides, that we had booked more than three months in advance, canceled on us less than a week before our scheduled trip.
• I found another rafting company online that had gotten good reviews, but their website listed only a phone number, no email address.
• Given that I didn't have an international phone and don't speak Spanish, I turned to the most wonderfully helpful liaison at our hotel in Mendoza and asked if she could make the arrangements for us - which, of course, she did.
• The morning of the trip, we waited in the hotel lobby for our 8:30 pick-up ... no guides.
• By 9:00, the owner of the hotel had called the company several times (no answer, no reply), and was in the process of furiously trying to book us with yet another rafting company.
• The driver finally shows up at 9:30 and simply shrugs in response to inquiries of why he was late.
• The driver aimlessly circles the city with his van full of charges for a good 15 minutes. Finally we rendezvous with another car, which we follow for a another 20 or so minutes before having to stop for gas. We continue to follow the mystery car through the suburbs, where the car was deposited at the gates of a home; the mystery car driver hops into the van - it's our river guide. We then had to pull over to a convenience store so this dude could get a junk food breakfast. We all surmise that this guy was out all night, so we were now becoming his shuttle service to work as well. All of the diversions in getting our guide added at least an extra hour in the van. The rafting headquarters where we had to gear up was still another hour away; the put-in, 30 minutes beyond that.

Finally, we get on the river, and the water was a lot of fun. The annoyances of the morning started to melt away - I was rafting on the freaking Mendoza River! The scenery was spectacular, and the river cut through the bone-dry mountains like a ribbon of churning chocolate milk. The full-day trip was billed as Class III-IV... but I'd give it a solid II-III. I wished I was in a kayak instead - I wanted to play in those waves! The river is wide, flat and shallow, so we didn't experience any difficult rapids or heart-stopping drops, but the riffles and whitecaps were consistent the entire way. We met some great new friends on our boat, and it was a joy to see one German medical student experience his first whitewater trip - I think it just might have been the most adventurous thing he'd ever done in his life... or at least that's what his unbridled enthusiasm would indicate. :)





After several hours on the river, we dumped off three of our boat mates (they had only signed up for half a day on the water); at that point, the boat was way more comfortable, but more annoyances ensued (and things were finally going so well!):

• We learned that lunch wouldn't happen until the end of our activity - another several hours away. Cereal bars were dispersed; tummies grumbled.
• When we did finish the river and get back to headquarters, we wandered over to the restaurant where our lunch was being served, and lo and behold, there sat our three former boat mates. They had to wait out the entire afternoon doing absolutely nothing in the middle of nowhere because the company only offers one shuttle to/from town each day. Needless to say, that hadn't been communicated to them - otherwise, duh - they would have opted to stay on the river the whole time. At least one of the people missed other activities he had booked for the afternoon.
• When we left for lunch (by then, 4 p.m.), the guide had another boatload of folks just heading out for their rafting adventure. Our shuttle back to town wouldn't leave until this second group was finished and done. At that point, a number of us did speak up and demand a compromise, since we all had plans and reservations back in Mendoza that evening. We wound up leaving the headquarters for our hour and a half ride back to town by 6:30 p.m.
• The ride back to town was marred by the Argentine rock music that the driver blared nonstop at high volume the entire time. Music - good, but at that decibel level, bad.

Ugh. So I struggle with this. Was it a good experience, or a mediocre one? Ultimately, the river portion of the trip was fantastic. The guide was safe, the water was a blast, the scenery was phenomenal. As late as it was, my lunch was delicious. The photo CD that I bought was full of great shots, taken by the safety kayaker that followed our boat the whole way. And I honestly did just go with the flow, live in the moment and appreciate the fact that I was rafting in South America. All that was good good good. But obviously, the annoyances still get to me - otherwise, why chronicle them? At any rate, the company responsible for this good/not-so-good journey is SER_O Outdoors. I leave it to you to decide if you'd ever book with them. If ever there is a next time for me, I think I'll look elsewhere.