There are also a few important pieces of information about Kayak Chile and next season.

Firstly, although last season some of you stayed in the Palguin Lodge, it was not yet completed. Well, finally we are nearly there, just the floor to go in over the winter. For pictures see below.

Also last season we opened the first white water specific kayak shop in Chile, it was a great success and we will be having even more stock next year, so if you ever forget, loose, or break a piece of paddling kit whilst in Chile, just give us a call and we can dispatch kit to any major city in Chile in 3 days or less. This year we will be stocking: NRS, Austal, Werner, Level 6, Aqua Bound, Pelican, Sweet helmets and many other brands so if you are in Pucon why not stop by and have a coffee and a browse.

For the first time last season, we took online payments and reservation for boat rental, with boats being sent to major bus stations all over the country, for people to collect the day they arrived in Chile. This worked great, with over 30 different people renting boats over the season.It also meant nobody missed out on their boat of choice, as they reserved it months in advance. Before October we will have 5 more boats arriving, taking the rental fleet to over 40. But the more popular models were fully booked for most of the season last year, so email early to reserve yours.

We are also looking for people to join our work experience program, running kayak lessons and ducky trips from our shop in Pucon next season, here is the advert which has been posted on different web forums feel free to email me for more details.

Kayak Chile is looking for 8 enthusiastic people to come to Chile for 4-5 months to learn to speak Spanish and enjoy South American culture whilst working in the kayak industry.

The type of people we are looking for:

Over 18.
A punctual professional person, as you will be dealing with customer on and off the water every day.
A Grade/Class 3 or above kayaker with a confident roll.

An out going personality to spend time working in our retail outlet and bookings office.
Someone with basic kayak teaching experience, not essential as full training will be given here in Chile.
A responsible self starter, due to the fact that towards the end of the 4-5 months you will be leading groups without a head guide present.

For more details contact me via this website and I will forward you the full info package.

With the devastating eruption of a volcano near the Futa Lefu we are not taking bookings for Futa trips until we have confirmation that the river is clear of ash. This is highly likely as the river valley only suffered a inch or two of ash at the bridge to bridge section and the heavy rains of the winter should wash most of it away. Again we will keep you informed as and when the situation changes.

Finally after over 2 years of work with Mariann Seather and Tyler Curtis The Chile Guide Book is finished and is at the printers. It will include over 60 rivers, many with multiple sections, great maps and it will be in full color. Chile has needed a guide for a long time and now this 200 page book will give kayakers all the information they need to inspire them to organize a trip to Chile. Hopefully it will be available in three months from the Kayak Chile shop in Pucon plus all paddling shops across Europe and the United States. It is being published by www.helipress.com so ask your local paddle shop to reserve you a copy now.

Now, at Kayak Chile we have always tried to give you the best value in kayak holidays, but the rising price of fuel is affecting us too, so sadly we will have to raise the prices for next year’s trips, but to give those of you already planning a trip at our current prices, we will honor our current prices on all trips booked before the first of August 2008. After this I am afraid the prices will have to increase, it is always something we don’t like doing but with the falling value of the dollar we don’t have a choice.

And finally last season a writer from Paddles magazine in the UK spent a few weeks with us on the Futa and here in Pucon. While he was here, he wrote a full interview with pictures, which will be published in August’s issue of Paddles in the UK, so check your local newsagent for a copy, for more information on Kayak Chile, paddling In Chile, and some nice photos of the Shop and kayaking in Chile.