balsear

To cross a river, lake, or stretch of water on a raft (balsa) — used across Latin America, especially in regions crossed by wide rivers without bridges, like the Amazon basin: balsear el río para llegar al otro pueblo. It's a concrete, physical verb, not used figuratively.

• Los pobladores balsean el río cada mañana para ir a vender sus productos. — The villagers raft across the river every morning to go sell their goods.
• Tuvimos que balsear el afluente porque el puente se había caído. — We had to raft across the tributary because the bridge had collapsed.
• En época de crecida, balsear se vuelve peligroso. — During flood season, rafting across becomes dangerous.

Don't confuse balsear (to cross by raft) with navegar (to sail/navigate in general) — balsear specifically implies a raft as the vessel, not any boat.

Often confused with navegar.