Demshitz arrived in Chile a few days late after missing a flight out of Philadelphia and had to spend the night in the Miami airport and then one night in Bogota Colombia! Check out this video of our 1st day in Chile on the Claro.
Sleeping at the airport...

The plaza in “el centro” of Bogota.

We had a good time in Colombia and finally arrived in Santiago Chile greeted by our bueno amigo and fellow Demshit Nico Buenaventura. Back at his casa, he began to fill us in on water levels and we formed a plan. Instead of going straight to Pucon, where the rest of Demshitz are impatiently waiting on our arrival, we decided to go check out the Rio Claro.

The Rio Claro we decided is the emblem of Chilean kayaking because of its profound and extremely narrow slot canyons and what seems like “made for kayaking” rapids and waterfalls. Some of the spots in the canyon are just wide enough for a kayak to squeeze through. It is truly a unique and special place.
Our group of Demshitz, Nico Buenaventura, Jake Greenbaum, Sergio Vidal and Edward “Palitroke” Arellamo arrived at the Claro Saturday night with hopes of paddling the middle section that contains the infamous Salto Caracol in the morning.
We knew the water was high so we decided we would just have a look once we got to the Caracol. When we put on the next morning the looks on the Chilean’s faces told me that the river was running at an extremely high flow for the Caracol, however the rest of the rapids were really fun so we continued downstream.


Palitroke running a drop before our salida.
The run was going great until we got to a sketchy rapid known as the Maricone drop, with no way to set safety for it we decided to climb out of the canyon... not an easy task. Once above the rim there were talks about just giving up on the Caracol and going to drink beer, but Demshitz needed at least a look at the Caracol. So we went and had a look.... and boy was that shit raging! One of the most unique waterfalls I have ever seen. From pool to pool roughly 40 feet ( 13-14 meters) the drop twists halfway down in a spiral formation and free-falls the remaining 20+ feet. Hence the name Caracol, which in spanish means “snail”.
This photo shows its “snail” like characteristics. Notice the pool at the bottom, the water coming off the drop pushes into a cave on river right with just a tiny exit on the left. Usually when kayakers come to run the Caracol it is in early spring and late summer and the pool is much more calm. But, Demshitz was here in the heart of the spring season with high water and what do you think they did....thats right.... we ran that shit!!!

This being my 3rd year in Chile and I have not yet run this beautiful thing and I was really fired up to give it a go. After much talk about the cave and the rest of the canyon I went first.
The scary thing about this drop is once you drop in there is no way of getting out, except via kayak for another 5 rapids deep inside the dangerously committing gorge. The river was running at what we think was the highest flow anyone has ever attempted the Caracol and the gorge following known as “el Gargante de el Diablo” which means “throat of the Devil.” I came off the Caracol and had a ballistically fast line that popped me up right in front of the cave. Amazingly I was able to paddle away from the cave and eventually into an eddy on river right where I waited as a safety precaution for my two amigos ready to drop in behind me. Jake was next.   
You can see me battling the currents pushing into the cave in the top of the photo as Jake drops in...

Jake lifting the bow ready to stomp! Money shot!!!

Jake, with the best line of the day, launched a mega boof off this sucker and cleaned right on through the slot on river left into the next rapid below. Now two down one to go, Nico Buenaventura stepped up to the plate.
Nico dropping in for his second run of this drop this year. 3 times total.

Right on line...

Nico coming in hot with a near perfect boof stomp lifted his paddle just a little too much and had it taken from his grasp by the power of the river. After which began an epic scramble that lead to him being forced to run the exit drop of the Caracol sin remo ( without a paddle ). Below Nico clings to the wall “I think you are just gona have to give ‘er ball!”

I peeled out followed closely by Nico and arrived at the bottom a little off line and got stuck in a hole with Nico hand paddling close behind plugging in completely underneath me and then we did a little hole riding together which resulted in a swim for Nico. In this gorge, swimming is the last thing you want to do, but after an exhausting couple of missed hand rolls he was forced to exit his kayak. Thankfully the river god blessed us this day con mucho suerte (with much good luck ) accompanied with Demshitz safety kayaker skills and we were able to retrieve the boat and paddle and tow Nico through a slot rapid where he took a few bumps and bruises but was soon reunited with his gear. After a quick drain of Nico’s boat in a micro eddy followed by celebratory battle cries to warm up, its sooo cold it there, we were back on track for the rest of the run. The Rio Claro at that level pushing through narrow slot canyons made for an extremely fast and pushy ride, but also a lot of fun! class 5 mas!!! At the end of the day when we were trying to estimate the flow I asked Nico, who is the only person to run the Caracol and the Gargante de el Diablo 3 times, “How much water do you think was in there today? His answer... “Too much weon!” An epic first day for Demshitz in Chile. Looking forward to more epicocity as we venture south to Pucon.