Bellingham Whitewater

RPP does Ecuador!

Posted by Eric on January 16, 2009 at 3:15 pm | In Trip Reports |

Our trip to Ecuador didn’t exactly start out the way we had planned.

Actually, it started out in Miami. With weather problems in Chicago clogging up the runways across the country, Amy and I landed at Miami International almost exactly two hours after our flight to Quito had left. With no luggage. Sigh.

The next flight didn’t leave until the following day, so we got to spend a bonus night in bee-yootiful Miami.  The next day, we made the best of it and passed the time by walking around the South Beach area. Strangely enough, we found that we didn’t exactly blend in, with our hiking boots and backpacks. Still, we had a pretty nice time, considering that we’d been on our South American vacation for 24 hours already, during which we’d been wearing the same clothes the whole time (this was to become a theme for the next several days) and hadn’t yet managed to leave the country.

Amy sporting the latest in beach attire, Miami. Photo by Eric.

That afternoon, one long walk on the beach, one  unhappy waiter, and one long taxi ride later, we found ourselves back on a plane, winging our way to Ecuador.  Finally!  Upon arrival, the customs agents were not too impressed with the condition of my passport, but let us in anyway.  They don’t take very well to being put through the washing machine.  Passports, that is, not customs agents.  The agents probably don’t like it much either, though.

After a long, unexplained delay, during which we, along with a full one-third of the plane, milled about aimlessly looking for our luggage, it became apparent that our bags had not, in fact, made the journey to Ecuador with us.  Sigh.  We crossed our fingers , and Amy made arrangements to have our luggage sent to us at our hostal.  After about an hour and a half of airport fun, we left at about midnight, after which we:

1. Caught a taxi to our hostal, which our driver found largely by trial and error.
2. Encountered the biggest party of the year in Quito going on outside our room (a six-day affair celebrating the founding of Quito).
3. May or may not have been harassed by a drunk guy on the street as we were attempting to open the gate to get in.  He may have just been telling us the trick for getting the damned gate open , but he was too drunk, and we were too tired to be sure.  In retrospect, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but at the time we felt a little uneasy about the whole thing.
4. Gave up on trying to open the gate, hucked our bags over the wall, and climbed over after them to get in.
5. Actually got a pretty decent night’s sleep, considering the raging party just outside that lasted until 4AM.

The next day, we got up early, discovered that our luggage would not be arriving that day (we finally got it back later, thanks to Larry V!), caught the bus to Baeza, and hopped on a taxi truck to Cabanas Tres Rios (the lodge owned by Small World Adventures) where Chris, Hilary, and Dirk were staying.  They were out boating when we got there, but got back not long after we settled in.  We were stoked to finally be there!  I still had nothing but the clothes on my back, but getting to hang out with good friends in a beautiful country halfway around the world sure felt great!  We hoisted the first of the many Pilseners we were to enjoy in Ecuador and talk turned to boating.

First night at Cabanas Tres Rios with RPP! What could be better? Photo by Eric.

What can I say about the boating in Ecuador, other than that it is phenomenal!   The whitewater is consistently high quality, the scenery is fantastic, and the water is warm.  And the runs are looong!  My off-the-couch training regimen didn’t exactly pay dividends during the trip.  If you go, I’d recommend doing at least something kayaking related in the weeks or months before you go.  Watching kayaking videos doesn’t count.  Take it from me.  I was one tired hombre at the end of a couple of the runs.  That being said, here’s a kayaking video, courtesy of Mr. Tretwold:

Here’s a few photo highlights:

There were good lines,

Eric at the “Van Damme” boof on the Oyacachi, so named because it’s so good you can’t help but yell like this. Jean-Claude van Damme that’s a fun boof! Photo by Chris.

Amy running Aphrodesia, Upper Jondachi. Photo by Eric.

Chris on the Jondachi. Photo by Amy.

and there were bad lines.

Eric, prelude to beat-down, Upper Jondachi. Photo by Chris.

There were boofs.  Oh, so many boofs!

Amy on one of the many Oyacachi boofs. The Oyacachi was one of our favorite runs. Photo by Chris.

Amy and Eric, upper Jondachi. Photo by Chris.

Hilary at Discoteca on the Rio Piatua. Photo by Chris.

Eric at the first boof on the Urcusiqui put-in for the Upper Jondachi. Photo by Amy.

There were waterfalls,

The 20-footer at the put-in for the Hollin. Photo by Amy.

The 40 footer on the Hollin Chico. Photo by Eric.

and there were caves.

The entrance to the cave rapid on the Hollin. This is one of the most unique rapids anywhere, and is near the start of 28 miles of class III-IV whitewater. Photo by Amy.

Panoramic photo of Eric at the cave rapid. Check out the bigger version here. Photo by Chris.

Chris boofing at the cave rapid. Photo by Amy.

We were some gatos contentos!

Stoked to be in Ecuador! Photo by Dirk.

Killing the bugs with rum on the lower Mis. Photo by Hilary.

Enjoying Coco Rons at the Arana Bar, Tena. Photo by Dirk.

Chris and Hil on the bus. Photo by Dirk.

Blending in with the locals at the bus stop, Borje. Photo by Amy.

If you ever get the chance to head down to do some boating in Ecuador, by all means GO! It is a beautiful country, with fantastic paddling and friendly people.  I wanted to stay longer than two weeks!  While we didn’t do an organized trip with Small World Adventures, I would highly recommend doing a trip with them if you get the chance.  Don, Darcy, Larry, and the Cabanas Tres Rios crew are great- excellent guides and fun folks to hang out with.  The staff at Small World really serve up some great food,  and their beautiful lodge is located at the takeout for a bunch of different runs.

Thanks to Chris and Hilary for showing us around!  We had a blast.

Postscript:  Just for symmetry, the airlines continued their excellent service on the way home, where I got to spend another wonderful unplanned night in Miami.  When I got to Seattle, I once again had no luggage.  Thanks American Airlines!  To think that I thought that traveling within Ecuador would be the hard part!

As if those pics weren’t enough, here’s a slideshow of a few more: