Where in the World is Bio Bio Expeditions?
It is no secret that Co-Founders and owners of Bio Bio Expeditions Worldwide, Marc Goddard and Laurence Alvarez-Roos, have lived an adventurous life. Where in the world do two men who's drug of choice is adrenaline, lifelong passion is thrilling whitewater rafting and kayaking, and home away from home is on the spectacular Futaleufu River in Chile, find suitable to call home here in the USA? It is none other than the "Jewel of the Sierras", breathtaking Lake Tahoe!
Truckee California, Marc and Laurence home, is a small town with a great deal to offer these two adventure seekers that grew up only three hours away in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Truckee offers all four distinct seasons, and is situated about 15 minutes from Lake Tahoe. The Lake Tahoe area is well known as a winter destination that boasts 7 world-class ski resorts, including one of our favorites- Squaw Valley. This is where you will often find Marc and Lars, when they are not rafting with clients on the Fu! Squaw Valley was the home of the 1960 winter olympic games, which brought the mountain resort into the spotlight.
In winter, there are plenty of outdoor pursuits to enjoy around Lake Tahoe, on blue bird and powder days alike. From alpine skiing and cross country skiing, to hardcore back country skiing, you will find plenty of fun in winter. BUT... with rivers rushing, and temperatures nearing the mid-70's; Summer is Calling! We wanted to share the paradise you will find in the Lake Tahoe area during the summer- what really draws us to this beautiful place!
In summer you will find kite surfers, kayakers, and stand up paddle boarders enjoying the lake, and plenty of lakeside beaches perfect for a day of fun with family and friends! The Bio Bio family spreads far and wide, and it is not unusual to find a Bio Bio lakeside barbecue going on with folks from several different countries, sharing a fantastic meal Bio Bio style (with plenty of libations)! You will also find miles and miles of world class mountain biking, and some of the most challenging single track in the states.
Even with all of this to experience around the lake, some of the best whitewater in the country can be found within an easy drive from Truckee...the REAL reason you will find Bio Bio Expedtions here in Lake Tahoe! Within 2 hours of Truckee California you will find an endless choice of amazing class V creeks and rivers right in our backyard, including the South Yuba, North Yuba, North Fork American, South Fork American and many others. There is also a whitewater play park just 30 minutes away in Reno.
It's pretty tough to glue Marc and Lars to their seats here at the Bio Bio office, and with all Tahoe has to offer, who can blame them! But if you ever find yourself in the area, please look us up and lets go paddle and have some fun! Have a fantastic summer- you know we will!
-From all of your friends at Bio Bio Expeditions
Awakening the Soul - Futaleufu Yoga Retreat
Awaken your soul in the
heart of Patagonia! A 9 day
immersion into deep yogic practice featuring 3 of the Lake Tahoe areas most beloved yoga
teachers, delicious organic cuisine, our beautiful riverside adventure camp,
incredible heart opening adventure activities, our amazing staff of guides, and the prana of Patagonia – This will
be a yoga retreat like no other! As one of the premiere adventure travel companies in the world, we
are delighted to offer a yoga retreat at our signature destination in southern
Chile. The Futaleufu River is the
place where we discovered and developed that magical alchemy of adventure,
rivers, culture, camaraderie, and unique touches that have come to represent
who we are at Bio Bio Expeditions.
Blending a yoga retreat into our signature trip will truly unite
everything we stand for and will be the Yoga Adventure of a Lifetime! For more information please visit the following link –
January 9th – January 17th
https://www.bbxrafting.com/awakening-the-soul-futaleufu-yoga-retreat
Featuring the following Yoga Teachers –
Shari
Beard – Shari grew up in St. Louis, MO and found yoga in 1995. Yoga has been her faithful tool and “friend”
ever since! Her first teacher
training, at the Nosara Institute in Costa Rica in 2002, confirmed that Shari
was on a spiritual quest. Being a
passionate student, and wanting to learn as much as she could, she did
subsequent teacher trainings in Ashtanga with David Swenson, Maya Yoga with
Eddie Modestini and Nikki Doane, and a year of training at the prestigious
Iyengar Institute in San Francisco.
After a 100 hour immersion into Anusara she found the style that most
expresses the joy and gratitude in her heart. She has almost finished her Anusara teacher training with
Abby Tucker. Besides yoga, Shari
is a passionate outdoorswoman with rock climbing and skiing being two of her
sports loves. Shari is an
inspiring, graceful teacher who has committed to helping people dedicate
themselves to a daily yoga/meditation practice. She gets so much joy watching the shift in others when they
commit to a daily practice. Shari
is also the mother of a beautiful 4 year old daughter. She warmly invites you to learn and
grow on this retreat and looks forward to providing you with guidance, support,
and strength in your practice.
Shaelah
Morris – Shaelah is the founder and director of Yoga Studio Tahoe. She is known for her
transformational Bhakti style yoga classes. Her deep devotion, wisdom, and
energy are evident in all her classes and are uplifting to all. Shaelah
has been committed to sharing the gift of yoga since 2000 when she did her
first teacher training. She has been blessed to study with some of the
world’s best teachers including Janet Stone, Baron Baptiste, Rusty Wells,
Bikram, Stephanie Snyder, and Dharma Mittra. She has over 1200 hours of
certified yoga training. Shaelah discovered her passion for yoga after
traveling the world as a professional skier. Yoga not only healed her injuries,
but took her on a journey far beyond anything she could have imagined. She
leads workshops and teacher training’s all around the world, including the
Wanderlust Festival, and bases herself in Tahoe for her love of skiing and the
lake. Shaelah’s yoga classes are designed to open your heart and transform your
life. They are vigorous, playful, full of sweat, sweet beats, and incorporate devotional
chants. She is very excited to
bring all these elements to the Patagonia Yoga Adventure in January, 2013.
Emily
Weer – Emily is the owner of Summit Lotus Yoga studio in the heart of the Sierra. Emily’s heart opening classes are inspired from over 15
years of experience in bodywork, meditation, wilderness therapy/ psychology,
guiding trips on rivers and mountains all over North and Central America, as
well as study and practice in various forms of yoga lineages along the journey.
In her teachings, Emily’s deep connection to nature shines as she invites
you to go inside and surrender more fully to your natural rhythm of breath.
As a competitive snowboarder and Class 5 whitewater kayaker, Emily knows how to
find stillness even in the most adrenaline filled moments. On the Patagonia Yoga Adventure Emily’s
yoga classes will help you connect even more deeply to your wild nature and the
beauty of nature around you. www.summitlotus.com
Social media - Brave New world!
We are excited to see you all connect before your adventure and use this fun medium to stay in touch, share fotos after the trip! If you have fun ideas how to do this, we are all ears! stay tuned!.... Facebook, Twitter and Instagram : here we come!!
Bio Bio Expeditions featured on MSNBC.com!
Bio Bio Expeditions was recently featured on MSNBC.com!
To read the article, click the image or visit the link below:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13559899/
National Geographic Traveler Magazine Selects our Zambezi trip as 50 Tours of a Life Time - 2009
“Every year, the editorial team combs the world to find the most
authentic, most innovative, most immersive, best-guided, and most
sustainable tours,” notes senior editor Norie Quintos. “This year, we
wanted to make sure that the trips we picked were also a great value,
given the economic climate. What we found is that there is no better
time to go on a guided tour than now as the traditional savings offered
by an outfitter being able to negotiate better rates on a trip’s
components is magnified by cheaper airfares, a strengthened dollar, and
more discounts, freebies, and extras.”
Raft the Zambezi
Jen
Eastwood vividly recalls the exhilaration she felt on this trip after
rafting the mighty Zambezi with its Class IV and V rapids stacked up at
almost one per mile. "We were rounding the bend and started hearing this
music. The people who live on the hill above where our camp was that
night had come down and were singing and dancing in our honor. We pulled
the boats up onto the rocks and joined them." The outfitter has long
had a stake in Zimbabwe and its people—to the extent of helping local
river guides launch a kayak rental business. Bio Bio Expeditions:
"Zambezi Explorer, Zimbabwe," 13 days; $3,700.
Aconcagua, Baby
Laurence and Ken, age 70, reached the summit of Aconcagua, (at 22,841
feet, the highest peak in the Americas) on Feb. 19th at 3:15 pm.
Laurence reports that it was a great challenge, but good weather
prevailed and made the summit attainable. Other members of the climbing
party reached their own personal summits - whether reaching the highest
camp, Berlin, or just challenging themselves in a whole new element.
Trekking to Aconcagua is a tremendous accomplishment - kudos to Laurence
for trip leading such an amazing journey!
The Aconcagua trek is
a far cry from the creature comforts of the Bio Bio Futaleufu camp.
Laurence was eager and ready to get back to his home-away-from-home
along the banks of the azure Futa. Laurence has been in Chile since
late November and has been at the helm of our Futaleufu operation
throughout the South American summer. He has been loving watching his
daughters, Sabine and Saskia, grow and learn in the clean air and
beautiful sunshine. Sabine (age 3 1/2) has been learning to ride horses
with her very own saddle while Saskia is going to be a very
sure-footed young lady perfecting her walking skills on the hills and in
the pastures of Patagonia.
Fishing Report from Futa (post-volcano)
For those of you interested in how the Chaiten Volcano eruption (in May,
2008) has affected fishing on the Futaleufu, read on for the
perspective of our guide Alex Obregon who was in Futa in February.......
Ahhh Futa, so much fun. The river is running low, great fishing flow!
I didn’t have all that much time but managed to fish a good deal, my
heart is content. You were right, the fishing is great! Fish in
front of camp (good), on the Island (good, small), Puerto Ramirez (fun),
magic carpet rapid (abundant, hit them like a sniper!), Inferno Canyon
(the challenge), El Limite (the border - clear water, lots of fish), El
Rio Azul (not rated) and the Seno Muerto Lake (beautiful). Some spots better than others but man...so fun.
There is an abundant and healthy bug population, caddis, mayflies,
stoneflies, dragon flies, damsel flies...the list goes on...basically
all good signs of the good health of the water’s ecosystem.
The visibility of the water is not quite the same as before, but the
color is just as dramatic - it picks up hues of turquoise more like the
Azul. The fish are not as easy to spot, but with good polarized aid
and a bit of “know where to” look, you will find them.
The section of El Limite (the border) is still crystal clear water,
there are lots of fish up there. Some say that the fish from the
Espolon got out and headed upstream, concentrating on that short
section. Dry fly fun everywhere. The take out not so easy, right at
the eddy above that “mini zeta” rapid under the Puente Robert...long
haul with the gear to the road.
In front of camp you can go out and catch an early morning Trucha
(rainbow trout) just before breakfast, while the Yogis stretch their
muscles...or... At the end of the day a happy hour hunt down by the
Island and come back just in time for dinner. Heading downstream to Magic Carpet rapid for a little kayak surf...and fish...
This is more laid back fishing (that is after negotiating the
whitewater that guards the pool). After a couple of magic carpet rides
(hopefully without getting whirlpooled) I sat on a warm rock
overlooking the eddy, while in it, the food spins around and
around...and with it comes the target...rainbows that feed carelessly
unaware, like riding on a carousel. Much like a sniper, pick your
target and put your fly out there...all is left are a few seconds of
suspense and zaz! Set your hook! Play your fish, loading the synergy of
the rod until your fish jumps out of the water to throw some aerial
moves...we could make a fish rodeo...what you think about that..!
Puerto Ramirez is a really beautiful section of water. I especially
like that turn behind the Island in front of the beach we once camped
at. The water here is almost still and also holds the clear color. So
calm you can spot any action breaking the surface from one corner of the
Island to the other...peaceful!
I think that my favorite venture was into the Seno Muerto Lake, that
little one next to Lake Lonconao. Dude, it is amazing the color of the
water. It has a shallow section about 3-4 feet deep that extends from
the shoreline like a white rim some 20-30 feet, and then drops
dramatically into the deep blue, disappearing underneath you in between
logs and old trees that have fallen down through time and now serve as
shelter for rainbows and browns...the latter more conservative,
shy...perhaps smarter...bigger...I only caught the not so smart ones...
When you look down into the water it feels as if one is diving under,
trying to find the bottom of the lake with the fish...like an aquarium.
I wanted to share my fishing with you, I know its long and boring, more
boring than fishing itself you might think...but when and if someone
asks you about the fishing on the Fu, post volcano eruption, you will
have more to tell them... I
am very happy I went and I am even happier we are going back, the place
is great! I wouldn’t say that there is no ash, but after you are in
the town of Futa, you come back to the Bio Bio camp in the sector Azul
and it feels like the oasis it has always been, now more so. I uploaded some pictures of the fishing adventure under “Fish Report”, check them out. ...Alex...
New Bio Bio Baby
Marc and Damara are proud to introduce the newest member of the Bio Bio
Team! Lilian Paz Goddard was born on December 22nd, 2008. She weighed 7
pounds, 2 ounces. The expanded family is doing great and Quinn loves
being a big brother! Although this kept us from Chile this year, we
have had a great winter here in Truckee and are looking forward to next
season on the Futaleufu.
Save Patagonia's Rivers
Hello friends of Bio Bio Expeditions!
Damara here – just wanting to
share some information with you about the threats facing the mighty
rivers of Patagonia (including our beloved Futaleufu). If you traveled
to the Futa with us last winter you may remember the environmental
letter I encouraged everyone to sign? Well, at the end of the season, I
sent off more than 60 letters to the President of Chile – Michelle
Bachelet. Two months later I received a formal response from the
President’s Cabinet thanking me (and all of you) for our concern and
assuring me that our concerns would be considered and sent through the
proper channels. Later in the summer I received another letter from the
President’s cabinet (see photo) also reassuring me that any hydro or
mining projects on the Futaleufu would go under rigorous study first and
that our comments would be considered. Both were very formal letters,
no promises, but I was quite pleased and impressed to have received a
response. So, thank you to all who helped me and signed a letter!!!
In other news, here are two websites you can click on to do your part
to save the beautiful, mighty rivers and forests of Patagonia. Both
the Pascua and Baker rivers, south of Futaleufu, are very threatened
right now. The power transmission lines they would have to build to
transport power from these massive dams would involve clearcutting a 400
foot wide swath (football field size) through pristine forest for
thousands of miles. You can read more about it, and send comments just
with the click of a mouse, at the following websites:
https://futaleufuriverkeeper.org/
and
https://www.internationalrivers.org/where-we-work/latin-america/patagonia/
If you loved it down there as much as we do, please take a moment to read
about the issues and take action! If you haven’t yet traveled to
Patagonia, now’s the time! Lets show the Chilean government that
tourism and adventure travel is a better alternative for Patagonia than
destructive mines and dams. Thanks everyone and hope you have a very
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love, Damara
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