Kayaking new cultures

Fearless Palisade teen gains new perspective in Chile

By Sharon Sullivan

Grand Junction CO, Colorado Tuesday, March 6, 2007

The sun coming over the Andes Mountains was the first thing the Palisade high school senior saw as she flew into Santiago, Chile, one day last August.

Gwen Cameron, 18, got off the plane, retrieved her bags, and looked out at the mass of people coming and going. Chilean Adventures co-founder Todd Ericson was there to meet her. On the two-hour drive from Santiago to the town of Curico, Ericson filled her in on Chilean culture.

“He taught me some Chilean words, the customs. He gave me a quick run-down of life in Chile,” Cameron said.

They stopped in Curico for a quick tour and bought flowers for the host family.

Although Cameron had studied Spanish in high school, she couldn't do much more than read and write the language, so it was a relief when the Gonzalez family opened the door and the first thing they said was “hello.”

“The whole family was expecting me. There was a big lunch of course,” — in Latin America the main meal takes place midday, and it's an important sit-down affair. She told them about her family's farm in Palisade. She learned that her host dad grew blackberries.

Being raised on a farm in Palisade prepared Cameron somewhat for her adventure abroad.

“A couple of years ago, she said she wanted to be part of the field crew,” said her father, Thomas Cameron. “We've had a lot of international students who have worked on the farm while she was growing up. It's part of why she was so comfortable to go off to South America.”

Cameron showed courage before she even left the farm.

“She was the best (cherry) picker at the top of the trees,” Thomas said. “Her fearlessness helped out on those tallest trees.”

A new adventure

Cameron found Chilean Adventures last year while searching the Internet for a foreign exchange program in South America. The organization offers two programs — one where students stay with a host family and attend school, and another involving three weeks of whitewater kayaking. Cameron wanted to do both. The next step was convincing her parents, Thomas and Janet Cameron, to allow her to do the kayaking part.

“They were so excited for me to live abroad, but they had to warm up to the idea of the kayaking,” Cameron said. “It's a little scary to send your youngest off to a foreign country to kayak.”

Thomas was agreeable from the start.

“I'd spent six months in Chile when I was 14-15 years old,” he said. “I knew it was good for me and it would be good for her.”

Thomas stayed with an uncle's family who lived there.

Cameron's parents already knew she was competent and confident in the outdoors. She's an avid rock climber, likes to snowboard, and runs track for Palisade High School. She'd been kayaking a little on the Colorado River, and even convinced her mom to brave the whitewater with her at times.

Three weeks of kayaking followed three months of school in Chile. But Cameron didn't wait for school to end to get started with the kayaking. After she'd been in Curico for a month, Cameron took a bus up into the mountains where the Chilean Adventures headquarters was located. Instructors gave her a kayaking lesson where the Rio Clarao and Rio Teno converge.

“I learned the basics. We practiced different strokes, rolls. I got addicted to it,” Cameron said.

From then on, she'd take the small rickety South American bus up to the mountain rivers every weekend.

Sitting down to eat

At home in Palisade, Cameron was accustomed to coming home for lunch, “madly making some concoction, eating fast and then driving back to school.”

In Chile, she'd come home for lunch at 2 p.m. where a big meal prepared by the maid, would be waiting.

“There, it's a lot more important to sit down with your family, talk about your day and really just have a time to pause,” Cameron said. “In the U.S., we're always worried about time. We're always rushing around. I, myself, am a slave to the watch.”

Both breakfast and dinner consisted of small meals of bread, cheese and avocado. Bread is huge in Chile, said Cameron.

When she turned 18 on Sept. 26, her host family made homemade pizza for Cameron and her classmates.

Culture shock

By December, school was done and it was time to kayak full time. Cameron was joined by two other Americans — both in their mid-20s. There were three instructors and three students. They spent the next three weeks running various whitewater.

“It was pretty intimidating at first, but it's so much fun,” Cameron said.

The scariest part she said was when they took their kayaks out into the ocean for some surf kayaking off the coast of Pichilemu,” Cameron said. “The kayakers were challenged to keep their tiny plastic boats aloft amidst giant waves. It's about facing your fears.”

They camped and kayaked a week at Rio Nuble, and then headed north to the crystal clear water of Archibueno Rio where they kayaked for the remainder of the trip.

“That was the most amazing river and definitely my favorite part of the trip,” Cameron said. “You could see the rocks on the bottom as you were paddling. You could see the Andes Mountains behind you.”

At one point, a light rain began to fall and a huge rainbow spread out over the peaks of the Andes.

When Cameron returned to the U.S. on Jan. 7, she said she experienced a little culture shock — more in fact than when she arrived in Chile.

“You learn more about your culture when you're away from it,” Cameron said. She noticed upon her return that people speak louder in the U.S., and are more direct. She's glad for the greater cleanliness in the U.S., but not so impressed with the materialism she sees.

People communicate differently in Chile than in the U.S. For example, there are certain rules and customs to abide by when making tea. It would be an insult to make a direct comment about the tea.

“Instead of saying the tea is too hot, you'd say ‘It's a hot day,'” Cameron said. That way the tea-maker knows to prepare it differently next time.

Cameron's now back for her last semester at Palisade High School. When school's out, she's headed back to water — although this time a little bit closer to home.

Two of Cameron's kayak instructors work in Idaho on the Payette River in the summertime. They've drafted Cameron to come join them this summer. After a month of training, the 18-year-old will be guiding whitewater raft trips on the Payette River.