On the way to the Colca Canyon

On the way to the Colca Canyon. 40th Anniversary of the First Descent of the Colca Canyon in Peru. , A passion for kayaking and a great desire to learn about the world are the two main reasons why a group of students from the Krakow Academic Kayaking Club "Bystrze" mobilized all the efforts and resources to get to South America. And it was not so easy to accomplish this feat at the end of the 1970s in communist Poland. It required a lot of determination to obtain passports and permits to leave the country and to collect equipment, money, and food at the peak of an economic crisis. But why South America?, After paddling dozens of rivers in Poland and Europe, someone came up with the idea to try their luck somewhere much further, for example in Argentina. The young kayakers quickly picked up on that idea and set up an expedition with a name that was the quintessence of their goals: kayaking the South American mountain rivers in 1979, hence Canoandes'79 (canoe + Andes). The set off on the expedition with ten members: Jacek Bogucki, Marek Byliński (leader), Zbigniew Bzdak, Piotr Chmieliński, Stanisław Grodecki, Tomasz Jaroszeewski, Włlodzimierz Herman, Jerzy Majcherszyk, Andrzej Piętowski, Jósef Woch and Jan Kasprzyk who drove the truck carrying their equipment., The weather conditions and political complications forced the kayakers to alter their destination from Argentina to Mexico. They started by rafting the Río Amacuzak on July 16, 1979. Then they explored other rivers: the Río Grande de Santiago, Balsas, Mixteco, Atoyac, Moctezuma, and the technically very difficult Santa Maria and Río Pescados with their canyons. Photographic documentation made during those trips, especially of previously unnavigated rivers, gained a great recognition from the Mexican National Institute of Sport., From Mexico, the kayakers set off south, but only with five members: Jacek Bogucki, Zbigniew Bzdak, Piotr Chmienliński, Jerzy Majcherczyk, and the new leader Andrzej Piętowski. The other participants returned to Poland., Their route marked with the rivers to explore , Aguacapa in Guatemala, Grande de Matagalpa, Bocana de Paiwas in Nicaragua, Pacuare in Costa Rica, Napo in Ecuador , the group eventually reached Peru in May 1981. Along the way, two sailors Stefan Danielski and Krzysztof "Biczu" Kraśniewski joined the Canoandes expedition. The explorers now faced the most important and the most dangerous challenge to date: the unexplored, undefeated, and unrecognized Colca Canyon.