It was in 1972 when the idea arose from a talk between four Buenos Aires university friends: Alfredo Barragán, José Luis Godoy, Jorge Iriberri and Rubén Tablar. They learned that the Colorado River had never been fully navigated and found it a great challenge to try.
The company was not easy for young people in their twenties. Those who had tried gave up following a few kilometers. The rapids of the mountain range turned their boats upside down.
“It took us 10 months of planning before we hit the water on January 16, 1973.at the confluence of the Grande and Barrancas rivers, right on the border between Mendoza and Neuquén”, he explained to BLACK RIVER Barragan. They used two rowing rafts lent to them by the Navy and loaded them with 150 kilos of equipment.
In search of the headwaters of the Colorado, in a Chevy with a car
The expedition reached the area of the spring in a Chevy, which climbed as far as it might pulling a cart full of food and a radio and antenna equipment. They did the last 7 kilometers on horseback, provided by a Mapuche family from Butacó, in the north of Neuquén.
Already in the water, heThe rubbers jerked in the rapids, but the rower-riders kept them in line with their wooden oars.
They navigated by eye. They had asked the competent agencies for the nautical chart but none had it. Unlike the Río Negro, which had its first regatta in 1965, the Colorado was an invitation to adventure. and discover it.
In the summer of 1973 the river was very swollen and had created many arms. Sometimes they missed the channel and got stuck. In others, the stones of the bed pierced the boat and it had to be patchedwait all night for it to dry, and row once more the next day.
There was no GPS or any means of modern positioning. We had no information regarding anything, so we dedicated ourselves to rowing and rowing from sunrise to sunset»
jose louis godoy
“We rowed close so we might talk to each other from boat to boat; and discover what came following each curve. Sometimes at night, depending on how the wind was, we heard the noise of the river ahead”Barragan explained. “Many times he was thunderous, we didn’t know if they were coming fast or a little drop, or jump. It was to turn and see…”, added “El Capitan”.
Already in Río Colorado they began to sign autographs and gave their first notes to the media that wanted to know regarding them. There was a lot of interest in the adventure of “the crazy people of the river”, as they were baptized by those who saw them pass from the coast.
Triumphal arrival at Fortín Mercedes
The arrival at Fortín Mercedes was a party, with a crowd on the coast, authorities, planes flying over the boats and a Navy boat escorting them. After 27 days paddling from sunrise to sunset, the feat had been accomplished.
“There we were able to crystallize what we dreamed of as boys. The Colorado River opened an infinite door for us to the world of exploration”, Barragán reported.
When we arrived at Fortín Mercedes on February 11, 1973, the Colorado was 200 meters wide and two meters deep. Today the same place is full of sandbanks, the channel is 20 meters wide and the water reaches your knees”
Alfredo Barragan
The legendary expedition on the raft “Atlantis” in 1983, the balloon crossings of the Andes and the sea of the Antilles in kayaks would be part of his next 30 follies. Today they want to pay tribute to the Colorado River, where everything was born.
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