Abner Inzunza, Personal Reflections
My father is a good friend of Robert Currie’s and they used to build bicycles, ride and race together. Ever since I was old enough to understand what Robert did, I wanted to work on the Futaleufu. When I was 18 Robert invited me down to train. Usually guides who come down to train on the Futaleufu already have years of previous class 4 and 5 experience on other rivers. Not only was the learning curve challenging being my first river, but being so young, I was eager to guide clients long before I had the necessarily skills. It took many unpaid years before I guided my first guest. I can now appreciate the company’s rigorous standards and through the years have seen many training guides come down and never reach the level to guide clients or run a safety cataraft. As a senior guide now, I realize that guiding for Earth River isn’t about who you know, friends or favors. It isn’t about thinking you’re ready when you think you are but only when the rest of the guide team thinks you are.
