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The 'Locos del Río' returned to their first love 50 years later: why they made history

2023-02-11T22:33:57.782Z


In 1973 they completely navigated the Colorado River in two tubs. It took 27 days. 'Here we are again. We are the same romantics', they say.


What are we capable of doing for love?

Can its power and footprint be measured?

And in that case, what is the measure and record?

The passion sustained over time?

Common goals and projects?

The explorers Alfredo Barragán, Rubén Tablar, Jorge Iriberri and José Luis Godoy discovered their own formula 50 years ago.

They fell madly in love with the Colorado River.

Like a new being in front of his eyes, they proposed to deeply know his secrets, to know everything about him.

It hadn't occurred to anyone before.

The Colorado was unknown.

It was the beginning of an unforgettable love.

So the four friends, ages 22 to 24, dreamed it up, planned it, and moved on.

In two rubber boats without motor

and a radio equipment to communicate, they navigated the then mighty Colorado between January 16 and February 11, 1973.

During 27 days -23 of them with a counterwind-

they rowed their 1,100 kilometers through the provinces of Mendoza, Neuquén, Río Negro, La Pampa and Buenos Aires.

They left their mark on Patagonia.

They challenged themselves.

They made an effort, they got tired, they were surprised.

They did it.

"We did it again."

The members of the 1973 journey, this Saturday, in the same place.

Photo: Christian Martinez.

For the history books, the expedition members were

the first to completely navigate the Colorado.

They called them the “Locos del Río”, a brand that defines them today, on February 11 but five decades later, when they

decided to return to their path to remind them that love is still intact.

50 years ago, after the historic Colorado River Expedition.

The same Locos del Río, 50 years later.

Over 70 years old, Barragán, Tablar, Iriberri and Godoy arrived this afternoon by kayak at Fortín Mercedes, near Pedro Luro (Buenos Aires province), the same place that

received them as heroes in 1973.

It was after sailing symbolic of two days that started on Thursday in Río Colorado (Río Negro) and La Adela (La Pampa), two towns that are opposite each other.

The original expedition had left Butacó, Neuquén.

This time, with the same essence of the old days, they shared the euphoria of doing what they like.

They camped again on the banks of the Colorado.

They found it much drier by stretches.

They prayed to heaven that their flow increases

.

They took him as a message a 'thank you' forever.

"We wanted our soul to be reunited with the river,"

Alfredo Barragán, a fundamental link in the expeditionary group

, shared with

Clarín .

In front of a crowd of neighbors, relatives and authorities who received them, the four explorers replicated the photo from 50 years ago.

Here we are again.

We are the same romantics.

Nothing is impossible.

We want to tell you that life is the construction of each brick that we lay every day.

Destiny is built.

We are moved by friendship, effort, perseverance and joy.

You have to make that bell ring more and be in love with what you do”, launched “Captain” Barragán, as they continue to call him.

"It was very exciting for us and for the community -he continued-. We were again alone with the river and the moon. The arrival was an act of celebration of geographical knowledge". 

The "captain" Barragán, after the first feat.

Supported by the documentary Expedición Río Colorado 1973, he also recalled the beginnings of the feat.

He said that the idea was born in his head in 1972. He was a 23-year-old law student at the time, with an unlimited imagination and an enormous desire to discover new worlds.

Then, life crossed him with other romantic explorers like him: Tablar and Godoy from Mar del Plata and Iriberri from Necochán. 

“With them, the idea was taking shape.

One day I told them: it cannot be that the Colorado has not been completely navigated.

There is no data of any kind.

We have to do it.

Let's go forward, ”Barragán recalled her youthful thought and harangued her group in one of the thousands of talks that brought them together.

The expedition that made history.

With a gregarious spirit, "El Capitan" knew from the beginning that he was not going to do it alone.

Confirmed Tablar, Iriberri and Godoy, together they began to analyze the little they had from Colorado.

For 10 months they evaluated possible problems and solutions.

They discarded the word “adventure”.

They put together an action plan.

The Navy lent them the two rubber boats without motor and the Air Force,

a radio equipment to communicate.

They got tents and supplies.

Their families gave them logistical and, above all, emotional support.

A few days before leaving, they found out that the river was suffering an epic flood.

Its waters, the product of melting snow on the high peaks, were out of control.

A huge snowfall in the Andes mountain range put the illusion in check.

They didn't back down.

When they were ready, they set out to navigate it.

With intuition and without GPS or cell phones, they rowed tirelessly for days for at least ten hours.

Swollen hands, rubber bands pierced by stones, horseflies, burning sun are some of the images engraved in the memory of the “Locos del Río”.

“They won't remember us for what we did, but for how we did it.

We built a monument to romanticism”,

stressed Barragán to those who gathered this Saturday in Fortín Mercedes.

“I always dreamed of being an explorer.

I grew up talking about rivers, seas and mountains and reading the travel chronicles of Jules Verne, Emilio Salgari and Daniel Defoe.

Mixed fantasy with reality.

As a boy he said that he was going to be a gentleman with a beard and a pipe and that he was going to cross the sea.

And here they see me, ”he smiled with an image almost identical to the dream.

Welcome.

Los Locos del Río, this Saturday, upon arrival at Fortín Mercedes, on the banks of the Colorado River.

Photo.

Christian Martinez.

The thank you message that was brought to the Colorado has its explanation.

It was the expedition that opened the door to the world of exploration.

What came next found them leading another 30 expeditions across five continents

with other romantics joining the group.

They formed the Center for Sports Activities, Exploration and Navigation (CADEI).

The crossing of the Atlantic by raft -"the Atlantis expedition"- had them as protagonists and also remained for history.

It was not the only thing.

The Aconcagua, the Andes Mountains, the Kilimanjaro volcano, Mont Blanc and the Sea of ​​the Antilles saw them plan and fulfill other odysseys.

They never accepted sponsors.

They always raised principles and values ​​to their missions, accompanied by the Argentine flag.

Entire lives meant to explore.

Thousands of kilometers by air, land and water.

Today, with the return to Fortín Mercedes, it was time to celebrate life with Colorado.

“We are still together.

We are very lucky”, agreed the “Locos del Río”.

And they joked:

"We load more than 300 years of age in the kayaks." 

True to themselves, they keep looking for new horizons.

“The engine of each one stops without projects.

We continue to believe in a phrase that we used to say when we were young: "That man knows that man can", they added, recalling one of the phrases that defines them.

In their sights they have "an overcoming objective" that would unite everything done so far.

They want to create in Dolores, the payments of Barragán,

the Museum of Exploration

.

There they seek to gather maps, photos, videos and all the objects that accompanied them for decades.

They kept them as treasures of their many feats.

As usually happens, officials from all levels of government celebrated the museum's initiative but the money to materialize it did not appear.

“It would be a unique museum, a moral and cultural beacon.

There is no such thing in the world.

With the money with which they make two kilometers of the route, we could raise it”, launched Barragán.

It is clear that the expedition members are not going to stop until they achieve it.

The background of his achievements is wind in favor.

They know the way and are moved by an unstoppable and infinite internal engine: the love of exploring.

50 years later, the return to Colorado confirmed that love has no measure.

Source: clarin

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