Can't say I ever saw any camels while paddling. I've seen a lot of different things over the years and travels, but the most worriesome was a time I was in Chile (see Tall Tales post) paddling the Maipo river just south of the capitol. We were about to enter a small, sheer wall gorge and needed to scout from the top of it. I got out on the right and hiked a short way up to the top while looking at the river as I went. I never did look right...only at the river. My buddy caught up to me and as we walked, we talked and scouted the river. After we reached the top, we heard a "click, click". We turned around and there were 2 guys with machine guns pointing them at the ground in front of us. Scared me for a sec, but then I said in broken spanish that we needed to look at the river to be safe. I didn't know if they understood me, but I turned and took 2 more steps to scout the last bit. Figured the risk of running the canyon blind was higher than that. Plus, it was obvious that we were a threat wearing our pfd's and helmets. I got to see what we needed so I turned back, waved at them, said Gracias and walked back to the boats. A little scared, but knew that they wouldn't shoot.
Turns out it was the Former President Pinochet's former home.
Still no camels, but have seen an Alpaca in Kentucky.
