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Exploration of South American rivers
One of the greatest expeditions of the 20th century was Canoandes '79, a three-year voyage of students from Krakow's Academy of Mining and Metallurgy, which resulted in the navigation of 23 mountain rivers (including 12 first descents) in South America, covering in the process 120 thousand kilometers by cars and nearly 1,800 km in kayaks and rafts.
The kayakers from Krakow (Jacek Bogucki, Marek Byliński, Zbigniew Bzdak, Piotr Chmieliński, Stanisław Grodecki, Włodzimierz Herma, Tomasz Jaroszewski, Jan Kasprzyk, Jerzy Majcherczyk, Andrzej Piętowski, Józef Woch) began their adventure in 1979 by navigating fiver rivers in Mexico: Rio Amacuzac, Rio Mixteco, Rio Balsas, Rio Atoyac, Rio Pescados (Antigua). During the next year, they explored more rivers in Mexico, navigating Rio Montezuma and the five canyons of Rio Santa Maria, all with the highest degree of difficulty.
Some participants returned to Poland after that, but Jacek Bogucki, Zbigniew Bzdak, Piotr Chmieliński, Jerzy Majcherczyk and Andrzej Piętowski stayed in South America; they navigated Rio Grande de Santiago, the Aguapa River in Guatemala and Rio Grande de Matagalpa in Nicaragua, featuring class V rapids. In Costa Rica, the kayakers ran Rio Reventazón together with a group of American athletes, and then they conquered the mountain section of Rio Pacuare. Rio Aguarico was their next target, their first river in South America, flowing parallel to the equator. After that they navigated Rio Napo, reaching its sources at the height of over 4,500 m above sea level. In Peru, they decided to run several rivers during the rainy season. Running the 160 km (100 miles) of Rio Maranon in three days became widespread news in Lima. The Peruvian press wrote about the Polish achievement, which helped the kayakers prepare an expedition to the deepest canyon in the world on the Colca River. After fighting through 100 km of this wild river in 33 days, the Poles became world-famous.
They also ran a short section of Rio Vilcabamba, the holy river of the Incas, and visited the ruins of their ancient capital city of Machu Picchu. Next, they reached the springs of the Amazon, where Piotr Chmieliński and Jerzy Majcherczyk, together with Tim Biggs of South Africa and Conrad Zwanzig of the US, navigated its upper section called Rio Apurimac. The Canoandes '79 expedition did reach its ultimate goal. In October of 1981, the kayakers crossed Chile to Argentina. Symbolically, they ran several kilometers of the lazy current of Rio Gallegos. Crossing the Magellan Straits and Tierra del Fuego, they reached Usuhaia, the southernmost town on the continent.
Their Peruvian exploits resulted in a book entitled In a Kayak through Peru, written and published in Lima by the expedition participants.
In March of 2001 in Krakow, the Canoandes '79 expedition was granted the Colossus award, given for most outstanding Polish exploratory achievement.
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