In February 2020, amidst talk about of an impending global pandemic, we took a chance and flew to Puerto Varas Chile anyway, the home of hundreds of volcanoes, black basalt rocks and the River Futaleufu’, or ‘Fu,” a Mapuche word meaning “Big River.”  We rafted a level 4 river made for professional rafters. This river descends 5600 feet below the glaciers above into a valley that locals appropriately call “un paisaje pintado por Dios,” meaning, a landscape painted by God.

Glaciers, rivers, thick green forests, volcanoes, broken mountains, rainbows, landslides, a life that simply can’t isolate itself from the elements because of their sheer power. Humbling kayak experiences left me wanting to learn to “read the river,” which is required here if you want to live on it. Vertical hikes up impossible mountains inspired the desire to want to stay strong for as long as possible to experience as much of this crazy beautiful living world.

Proceeds from these and other photos of Patagonia go to InternationalRivers.org.