Small World Adventures--Kayak Ecuador

Congratulations to June's Winner!

2008-07-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jeffrey Hatcher--June's AW/SWA contest winner. I hope those new Smith shades fit you well! You are still eligible to win the grand prize of a week-long kayaking trip in Ecuador with Small World Adventures. Stay tuned, we'll draw the winner on October 15th.

For all you other viewers, I thought I would throw up a melange of Ecuador photos to whet your palate. Ecuador, while being an amazing whitewater mecca, is also an incredible country to explore on foot. The markets, the mountains, the people are all simply amazing. Combine that with world class whitewater, and you've got yourself 1 damn good vacation!

One of the many vegatable markets in Ecuador. The fruit and vegetables are all super fresh in Ecuador, it's easy to spoil yourself with delicious food. Especially if you are staying at Small World's lodge--Cabanas Tres Rios--and eating Lily's amazing food.

Everyone loves playing in the water in Ecuador!

And, there is some good scnery too. 2 of Small World's owners, Don and Larry, are enjoying some of Ecuador's fantastic scenery. This is the Coca run, and this is just 1 of about 100 spectacular waterfalls.

And of course I had to throw in a photo of the good ol' Jondachi.

Don exploring the Rio Sarapullo on the western slope of the Andes.

Congratulations to May's Winner.

2008-06-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Susan and Robert

Glanville of New York! You've won the AW/SWA lottery for the month of May and get a free pair of Smith Optics Sunglasses. You are also still eligible to win a free kayaking trip in Ecuador with us (Small World Adventures). For those of you who haven't heard about the contest, here is how it works:

American Whitewater and Small World Adventures have teamed up to help save North America's Rivers. If you donate $10 or more to AW, become a new member, or renew an old membership, you'll be entered into the lottery. You get 1 entry for every $10 you donate. We are picking a winner each month between now and October, and the monthly winners get a pair of Smith Sunglasses. Then, on October 15th we will draw a winner for the Grand Prize--a week-long kayaking vacation in Ecuador with Small World Adventures.

To donate, go to www.americanwhitewater.com

To learn about about Small World Adventures go to www.smallworldadventures.com

Donate today and this could be you!

2008-05-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

Ecuador's Classic Jondachi River Needs Your Help!

Don't let Ecuador's Jondachi become another victim. The Ecuadorian Rivers Institute has been very successful in stopping projects in Ecuador in the past, and we are hopeful they can stop this one as well, but they can't do it without our help. You can actually make a difference in this case, see below what you can do to preserve one of Ecuador's most classic creek run.

The state-owned thermal-power generating company, Termopichincha, has announced plans to develop a hydroelectric project on the Upper Jondachi River, and would mostly de-water the section of river from La Merced de Jondachi to the take-out bridge at Km-18 on the road from Tena to Baeza (This is the ultra-classic section that we all love to paddle). This would have a devastating impact to one of the best whitewater creek runs in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian Rivers Institute (ERI) is leading a local opposition from paddlers, business owners, and local communities to keep the upper section of the river free-flowing. This legal opposition will prevent Termopichincha from obtaining a water concession for the project. Financial support is needed to cover legal expenses and logistics.

How can you help?

2 ways:

#1 make a donation to ERI. They are operating on a very limited budget and hiring laywers and such is expensive in Ecuador too. Visit ERI's site to make your donation http://www.kayakecuador.com/ERI_Home.htm#donations

#2 Matt, the founder of ERI has written up an opposition to the project which must be submitted to the government by May 23rd, 2008. Visit http://www.smallworldadventures.com/darcy/smallworldadventures/extra%20page%204.html

The last page has a place for signatures of people opposing the project. You can then fax the form into ERI at 1-888-353-9849. I know it's short notice, but if you can get the form into Matt by May 22nd, he will have time to submit it to the government.

If you can speak Spanish and you want more information, you can read more about the project here http://www.termopichincha.com.ec/contenidos.php?menu=30&submenu1=55&submenu2=23&idiom=1

Otherwise you can contact Matt Terry at info@kayakecuador.com

Act now! Don't let the Jondachi be taken away from us!

River conservation in Ecuador

2008-05-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

San Rafael Falls - site of future diversion for a hydro project In general Ecuador has quite healthy rivers and less pressure to dam them than many places I have traveled. This is likely changing with numerous hydro generation projects being proposed that will affect both whitewater rivers and the wildlife living in some beautiful jungle canyons. So far there are few potential projects that threaten the rivers we regularly run, but there seems to be an increasing interest in them. One of the main reasons for this is that Ecuador is trying to reduce their carbon footprint. Although we of course hope that all nations can succeed rapidly in this goal we also hope that river recreation will be considered when making decisions on these projects. The reality is that Ecuador is a developing nation and its environmental standards are sometimes lax and enforcement of these regulations can be nonexistent.

Fortunately we have a great advocate working on these issues. His name is Matt Terry, he is from the USA but is now a resident in Ecuador and started the Ecuadorian River Institute in 2002. The ERI targets river drainages which are important for recreational river use and advocates protecting river corridors for the benefit of maintaining the high levels of biodiversity and realizing sustainable, tourism-based economies in these areas. This is a non profit 501c3 organization set up in Colorado although the work being done is all in Ecuador. Their website is http://www.kayakecuador.com/ and I encourage everyone who cares about rivers to visit this site and to contact Matt for more information. He has an amazing amount of energy and persistence to deal with these issues and SWA is happy that he is the river watchdog in Ecuador. We are now facing some critical water management issues, and we all need to support Matt in his efforts to work with the government on sustainable energy development BEFORE we lose valuable paddling resources.

Illegal project on the Rio Pucuno

A recent example of what the ERI is doing: On April 18, 2008, the Ecuadorian Water Authority suspended construction by the Napo Provincial Government on the Pucuno Hydro Project in response to the legal demand brought forward by the ERI for not complying with any environmental regulations or government permits. The Provincial Government has been levied a fine that will supposedly finance the remediation of the affected area. This will be an important precedent for how imprudent and inappropriate development practices by local governments are managed by national government authorities. This project was well on it's way and without ERI bringing it to the authorities attentions it may have been completed without any environmental oversight or even governmental permission.
If you have paddled in Ecuador (or even if you hope to one day), and want to help ERI out, please go to http://www.kayakecuador.com/ERI_Home.htm#donations. Remember the ERI is up against some big multinational players so they could really use the help.

I plan to post a monthly blog about different conservation issues relating to Ecuador's rivers that will have some good info from Matt as well as some cool photos. Stay tuned, the next one will be on the Rio Jondachi.

Congratulations to the winner of April's contest!

2008-05-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

The Small World Adventures, American Whitewater, and Smith Optics summer contest has produced its first winner!

Congrats to Steven M. who was the winner of the monthly contest for Smith products in April! Steven will get his free Smith glasses, and will still have a shot at the grand prize of a free week of kayaking in Ecuador with us.

Steven, this could be you:

SMALL WORLD AND AMERICAN WHITEWATER TEAM UP TO HELP THE RIVERS YOU LOVE TO PADDLE

2008-04-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

SMALL WORLD ADVENTURES, AMERICAN WHITEWATER, AND SMITH OPTICS ARE TEAMING UP THIS SPRING AND SUMMER TO HELP SAVE THE RIVERS WE ALL LOVE TO PADDLE.

Jump into action today to help protect the rivers in the US that you love to paddle. Anyone who becomes a new AW member, renews their membership, or donates $10 or more to AW will be entered into an email lottery (1 entry per $10 donation so $100 = 10 entries). Smith Optics will be giving away monthly prizes to winners of this lottery, and, for the grand prize, Small World Adventures is giving away a week-long kayaking trip in Ecuador for the 2008/2009 season. We will draw the winner for the trip on October 15th.

The winner can pick the trip of their choice--we offer Class II through Class V so there is a trip for everyone out there!

FUN WITH WATER LEVELS IN ECUADOR!

2008-03-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

headwaters of the Quijos River.

Ok, we are all back from Ecuador now and are trying to ease back into our lives here in the US. Our goal for this spring and summer is to keep this blog focused on Ecuador, which should be fairly easy as we have so much material that we didn't have time to blog over the last season.

This blog is dedicated to the water levels down in Ecuador. People often have a hard time grasping just how quickly things change there. We often say, "well, we'll tell you the plan tomorrow morning after we see if it rains tonight," and people think we are just full of it. But, honestly, the rivers can fluctuate feet in a matter of hours.

On one of our latest exploration missions, we were at the same bridge over the same river three days in a row. I've got a series of 3 photos here to help you see what we mean by fluctuating water levels in Ecuador.This was the water level on day 1. Please note how high out of the water the old bridge supports are, and how many boulders are out. We took this photo at 2pm.

We took this photo at 10am on day 2. Please notice that you cannot see any supports or rocks (ok, you can barely make out the tops of the supports, but this is a heck of a lot more water!Day 3, 11am. Not quite as low as day 1, but the river dropped considerable in only 23 hours.

The great thing about getting different water levels, is that paddlers in Ecuador get to experience all kinds of different paddling. Each water level offers its own unique characteristics that give Ecuador its outstanding reputation for having tons of variety. This wave that Don is surfing, for example, only comes out at high flows.

Whereas this boof that Don is boofing only comes out at low flows. So whatever the water level may be, there is always something great to paddle!

PARTING SHOT:

YUM!

LARRY VERMEEREN IS A BAD ASS KAYAKER

2008-03-03T10:07:00.001-08:00

This blog is dedicated to Larry V. for being such a bad ass! He has been kayaking and working in Ecuador for the past 15 years and is still getting after it as hard as anyone (in fact, I'd say he's getting after it harder than anyone).

Larry decided he wanted to paddle a lot in 2008--a sort of New Year's resolution if you will--and he is off to a great start. He is just fresh off a stint where he paddled for 58 consecutive days in 2008 starting Jan. 1st, 2008(not to mention that he had 9 days going already at the end of 2007, making it a total of 67 days in a row).

So, hats off to Larry!

Saturday, February 16th, Larry paddled in the morning with our group, then took them all back to Quito for the farewell dinner and to pick up 2 new incoming groups. Because of some screwy flight arrival times, he was not able to ride with the group to the lodge Sunday morning, and was not able to paddle with them that afternoon...the streak was looking like it was in jeopardy... But, he arrived just in time (around 6:30pm) just as the sun was setting, and we decided we simply could not stand by and watch his streak get broken. Offers of shuttle driving and allowances for being late for dinner started flying, and before we knew it, Larry was in his paddling gear. At 6:39pm he was heading down our trail to the put in for a evening Pica Piedra run.

I hopped in the Niva to go pick him up and watch in the twilight as my friend--the bad ass--pulled into the eddy above Pica Piedra. It was just getting too dark to see, so I gave Larry 1 encouraging hoot. Knowing that he had run the rapid hundreds of times before, that he had the line dialed, and that he is, indeed a bad ass, Larry peeled out of the eddy, styled the rapid, and completed his 48th day of paddling in a row, keeping the streak alive. Hopefully all you paddlers out there will take some inspiration from Larry--I know I do!

KAYAK ECUADOR--SMALL WORLD ADVENTURES--LAST TRIP(S) OF THE SEASON

2008-03-03T07:14:00.001-08:00

KAYAK ECUADOR-SMALL WORLD ADVENTURES

For our last week of the season we had a big crew from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New York, and Connecticut. Don got so excited to have such a great group that he was just loopy.
Saskia, representing BC, is here spinning around in Don's hole on the Lower Quijos.

Don Beveridge, ripping up Darcy's Wave on the Lower Quijos. We had a great level--20.5 on the gauge--which makes for some epic surf waves. The best part is, at this level, Gringos Revueltos is washed out, so instead of stressing out about big holes, you just get to enjoy some HUMONGOUS waves--yes, even bigger than this one here if you can believe it.

Keegan, showing off how well the Bliss Stick Scud can surf.

Here are Keegan and Jimmy, stretching their legs and taking a little time to relax on the Quijos River.

On a high water run down the Upper Cosanga, we saw these dudes skillfully using the cable crossing. They are working on replacing the bridge here, but in the meantime they hook themselves up to this cable via a rope harness, clip into the pulley and start pulling. Not sure who was having more fun.

Then we went to Tena...Chris here is splashing off after a muddy, but entertaining hike into the Lower Jondachi.

Saskia and Curt also chilling out after the hike in, and getting prepared for the 15 miles of paddling ahead. Uh, boater cross?

Jimmy seemed to be very attractive to the butterflies on the Jondachi. If you look closely, you'll notice 2 on him--1 on the right side of his helmet, and the other on his neck. These white and black butterflies followed him for the first hour of the run!

Ben checking out the first waterfall of the day.

Yeah, they don't call this the land of the waterfalls for nothing!

Jimmy at the base of the waterfall just above the biggest rapid of the day--Belgium Waffle, aka Follow Don if You Want a Beat Down (just ask Curt about this).

Here we are in Belgium Waffle, or F.D.I.Y.W.AB.D hmmm, it doesn't make such a good acronym.(

Chris at lunch...he stole Jimmy's butterfly's affection.Connie punching through "Hatless Hole" on a high water run of the Jatunyacu.Curt ripping it up in one of the many play features on this run.Ben surfs the Ammo on the Jatunyacu (also called the Upper Napo). This river confluences with the Mishualli just about 20 miles below this surf wave. Further down it is joined by the Quijos/Coca, then flows to the Maranon and becomes the Amazon...

One evening while having happy hour on the porch of our hotel in Tena one of those wily Canadians spotted this Tapir in the river down below us. It was a first for me as far as wildlife sightings go, and we got to watch this little guy while we finished our Pilseners in the twilight. What a way to finish off a great day of kayaking.

We returned to our lodge to find that Lily, Rosa, Memo, and Eduardo had secretly planned an end of the season party for us. Complete with pinatas and all.

I was selected to be the one to hit the pinata--I mean, I was the one selected to put a blind fold on and wander around looking like an idiot swinging a stick around my head.

Then, Ben volunteered to be the idiot with the stick! But at least he is sporting a stellar outfit. (Ben, I am just making fun of you because I know you read the blog and I know you can take it! Thanks for being such a good sport).

At the end of the evening, fun was had by all.

Thanks to everyone who paddled with us in 2007 and 2008. It was a great season, with tons of fun paddling, and many fun evenings at the lodge. I hope you all will have as fond of memories as we do of kayaking in Ecuador!

PARTING SHOT

Well, this is certainly something you don't see everyday. It looks like a bad scene out of a Chevy Chase movie or something...But it did provide some good entertainment on our way to the Cosanga River!

KAYAKING ECUADOR FEB. 9TH-17TH

2008-02-29T18:56:00.000-08:00

Well, yep, this photo here pretty much sums it all up! Here is Christy clowning around at one of the put ins.February 9th-17th, we had a crew from Arizona, Wisconsin, and Tennessee--Peter, Pete, Trey, Christy, and Ken. We had a little more rain than we had expected, and so ended up paddling quite a bit of big water over the 7 days (although we did get in the Upper Cosanga and Upper Mis to satisfy our creeking needs). Despite Trey's hate of big water, he seemed to come around in the end and was able to see some of its virtues:)Here is our beloved Sprinter looking good on the Way to Tena. If anyone is wondering, Antisana is the 18, 871 foot tall Volcanoe that makes the headwaters of the Quijos River.
Pete and Darcy using our lodge-front put in for Day 1's Pica Piedra run.

Here we are at the put in for the Upper Cosanga. I'm quite certain that Trey does not speak Spanish, and that these kids do not speak much English, but Trey somehow entertained them for a full 1/2 hour here...I wonder what they were talking about?

Don and Peter relaxing on the porch one morning before breakfast. I'd also like to take this time to point out to everyone that Peter E. is a model SWA kayaker, and you all should aspire to be like him. Peter lives in AZ where paddling in the winter can sometimes be hard to come by. But, he spent the month before his trip to Ecuador training, both in the pool in his kayak, but also on dry land just getting in shape for his week of paddling. We wish everyone would follow your model Peter! People often regret being in bad shape when they come to Ecuador, but as Peter showed us, there are things you can do to fix that:) Thanks Peter.

Rio Malo Falls.

Unfortunately, all 3 of our Small World cameras had some water issues this week (moisture and fog in the camera) so were weren't able to get those wonderful whitewater shots like we normally do. So, I thought I would dedicate the rest of this week's blog to some of Ecuador's other attributes--namely its wildlife.

This is a Scarlet Macaw, and these birds are HUGE. They always fly in pairs, and are quite a sight to see soaring high above the canopy. We are working on a new trip for next year--we are calling it the "RIOS ESCONDIDOS" trip. On our 3 scouting missions to this new region we saw tons of these Scarlet Macaws. On our first trip there, we got to the bottom of a rapid to find Don frantically pointing skyward and we looked up to see at least 12 of these birds flying out of a tree.

How can the world's largest rodent (Capybara) be so damn cute?

This guy (Caymen) is slightly less cute, but pretty neat nonetheless. Don't worry, we don't encounter these on the river (Capybaras yes, Caymens no). They live in slower moving water than where we typically paddle.

And, of course, the obligitory monkey...

PARTING SHOT

Hello, I'm 10 and I'll be your guide.

SURFING THE THING

2008-02-23T05:44:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on the post for last week's trip, but here is something to tide you over until then. All the forces of nature conspired to make the Quijos River and the Oyacachi River just high enough (but not too high) to render the "Thing" at their confluence surfable.

ECUADOR--WEEK OF CREEKING

2008-02-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

February 2nd-10th a group of paddlers from all across the US converged on Ecuador to tackle some of the country's most classic creeks. Water levels and energy levels cooperated and made for an outstanding week of paddling.We ran 2 sections of the Quijos River, the Oyacachi River, Piatua, Upper Jondachi, and 2 sections of the Cosanga, for a total of 7 wonderful days of paddling. The big news of this trip was massive flooding that hit both the Jondachi and the Mishualli Rivers. See below in the "Jondachi Section" for some of the changes we discovered.

The Piatua served up some crystal clear water (as it usually does) and a full day of boof, after boof, after boof....

Crossing the Anzu River on the way to the Piatua put in. What do you think? Will they fit? In case the suspense it killing you, they did fit, but only by about 3 inches.Larry V. leads the crew down through "Discotec."

Gerald DeLong grinding the rock slide in "Dame su Gasolina." Tim heading into one of the Piatua's many boofs.

And now...for the big news--the new and improved JONDACHI. Over the summer of 2007 some big floods had changed the Jondachi somewhat for the worse. A few pieces of wood and some new seives created more portages that one normally likes to do on the Upper J. But the flood of Feb. 4th, 2008, changed things back for the better. Don was very happy to report this to us after his scouting mission! (see next week's blog for Mishualli update).See that big pile of logs up on the old bridge support on river left? The river was REALLY high!

Matt DeLong nails his boof in a rapid that previously had wood in it.
And, perhaps the best news of all, Tres Huevos is back baby! The 2 sieves that had opened up between the big boulders have now been plugged back up. What had been a long and somewhat sketchy portage, is now back to the same ol' fun rapid it was a few years back. Everything from the entrance to the exit are good, good, good. Here is Peter Z. boofing the exit.

Gerald seems to be attracting the butterflies. At one point, there were over 20 circling him. Not sure if it was his pretty yellow boat or his sweet personality!

Kristin lining up on a classic ledge on the Upper Jondachi.

Jason, at the rapid above the put in. This is the only thing that truly changed for the worse. The classic boof along the river left wall is now only about 1.5 feet tall, and there are a bunch of logs blocking the river left exit. As you can see, most of the water is diverted to the river right channel. It is still a fun and picturesque drop, just not the ol' guidebook cover classic.

Chris Korbulic., our free trip winner from this summer's contest, taking full advantage of his winnings.

Here is his again. Chris was super psyched that he had won the trip with us, and after busing his way through South America for the last month, a week of paddling was a more than welcome change of pace. While contemplating the clear water, granite boulders, and amazing ferns hanging off the wall behind him, Chris came up with these thoughts about his week with us: "Everything from the guiding to the eating was first class, and really, I was blown away with the quality classic whitewater. After taking some unexpected time away from kayaking, my week with SWA really made me feel like a kayaker again."
We are glad we could help Chris! It was great paddling with you.

Jason S., representing Outdoorplay http://www.outdoorplay.com/ Man he looks good!

A few other Jondachi changes of note:

The seive/siphon in the middle of Typhoid Falls is plugged up again, so that rapid is back to normal BUT it is still a bit risky to run as one of the exit channels after the actual Typhoid Falls (the channel where most of the water is going) has a nasty log in it. Scout for sure!

There is also a pretty nasty log in a rapid that we call the "Vortex of Doom." It is the rapid, just AFTER the rapid that Chris is standing above in the photo with the foot bridge and the pretty ferns. Easy to sneak right of it. Other than those major changes, there were lots of little subtle and fun changes.

We were greeted back at our lodge with a beautiful sunny afternoon. After 3 nights away, the sunshine, the beautiful lodge, and Lili's wonderful cooking were all welcomed.

Larry leading Gerald and Matt (father and son) down the Lower Cosanga.

Besides being full of world class whitewater, Ecuador is also pretty full of world class scenery. Matt taking it all in.

PARTING SHOT

I don't know what to say, besides that this is one crazy flower! And yes, it is real.

Jan. 26th Class IV Raft Trip

2008-02-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Small World Adventures just finished our first and best rafting trip of 2008. We had a good crew of folks from TX, IL, CT, and CO here for the week (or part of the week in Chris and Christy's case), and we got to see some amazing parts of Ecuador from the comfort of our blue inflatable.
Day 1: Everyone met for breakfast in our hotel in Quito. Then, we headed out across the Andes to Ecuador's Amazonian watershed. After settling in to Small World's deluxe riverside lodge (www.cabanastresrios.blogspot.com) we ate a gourment lunch prepared by our chef Lili. Then we all donned our river digs, had a river briefing and paddled the Quijos River. We did a section that begins about 4 miles upstream of our lodge, and convieniently, ends right at our lodge. Nothing better than stepping out of the raft right into a hot shower!

My Mom was in Ecuador this week as well, and we dicided to try out the ol' Shredder. Here we are doing the first mother/daughter shredder descent of the Quijos River. Hopefully Paddler Magazine will pick up this story! www.paddlermagazine.com

Here is the whole gang enjoying the Quijos.

These are the guest cabins at our lodge. Everyone gets their own room with a private bathroom, hammock, gear drying area, and spectacular view of the Quijos and Borja River Valleys.

Team Raft enjoying breakfast at the lodge.

Day 2: Lower Quijos. Not a bad spot to stop for lunch.

Larry and crew navigating one of the many rapids on this run. Everyone enjoying views of the deep canyon of the Lower Quijos. Many people call this run the "Grand Canyon" of the south (it's just a little bit shorter, and you can do it in a day:))

And Memo is the best damn shuttle driver in Ecuador. Yes, those are ice cold Pilseners that he brought to the take out for us. Day 3: Lower Jondachi/Hollin. A nice technical run to start, big water fun to finish. Good scenery throughout!

Big waves = big fun on the Hollin.

Day 4: Jatunyacu, or Upper Napo. More big water fun. Ann and Kerry led the charge at the front of the raft on this run. They had plenty of huge waves to crash their way through.

Kerry and Bill enjoying a side hike up a slot canyon on the Jatunyacu. We took a little monkey excurion afterwards. You can't leave Ecuador without seeing monkeys!

For days 5 and 6 we were back on the Quijos River. Day 5 we paddled from the Bypass Bridge down to our lodge, and day 6 we paddled the mighty El Chaco Canyon. Everyone made it through El Torro in one piece!

Day 7: after a trip to the Papallacta Hot Springs, we all went back to Quito. Larry took the crew out to dinner then out for a nighttime tour of Old Town.

Great rafting with you all!

THE REST OF OUR WEEK OFF--EXPLORING A NEW REGION OF ECUADOR

2008-02-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

We love going exploring Ecuador´s whitewater whenever we get the chance, and we are continually amazed at how many hundreds of rivers there still are to be explored in this small country. After taking the Pueblo rafting and a spending a few days in Quito taking care of business, we only had 3 days left to get out there and see some country. We headed off to a region that was entirely new to us. We managed 3 new runs in 3 days, and saw some amazing whitewater, scenery, and wildlife. Besides the excitement of exploring new rivers, it was fun to just take a road trip with good friends.

The departure.

Some of the rivers in this region have great access, while others leave a little to be desired. BUT, the challenging put in on day 1 added to the sense of adventure!Here is our brand new Jefe Chico taking the plunge.

But it was well worth it. We arrived at the put in to find a perfect water level, a few toucans, and a beautiful canyon to paddle.

Steiner, Ricky, Larry and Don navigating one of the many boulder garden rapids in the canyon.

And there were a few Oro Pendula nests in the area...

Day 2, for a change of pace, we opted for a little big water fun.

Steiner relaxing after another great day of paddling. Nothing better than a cold Pilsiner after surfing big waves all day long.

Ah, some of the wildlife we encountered. Don´t worry, in Don, Larry, and my combined 32 years experience in Ecuador, this was the first time we ever saw one of these guys. THEY ARE NOT COMMON and the locals assure us they are friendly:)

Day 3: Now this is a river canyon! I love this country.

Check back in with us over the summer for a full report on this epically-whitewater-endowed area. We are all super psyched about it and can´t wait to post more about it. I plan on putting up a full report in June or July. We hope we can show some of you around this area in the near future...it´s absolutely amazing.

PARTING SHOT (PARTING VIDEO)

It´s always good to start your day with a hearty breakfast!

DAY 1 OF OUR WEEK OFF--RAFTING WITH THE PUEBLO

2008-01-26T14:23:00.001-08:00

We normally prefer it when we have trips since we really like eating Lili´s food, and getting shuttled around in the Sprinter, not to mention how much we enjoy showing other kayakers Ecuador´s amazing whitewater. But, every now and again we have a free week and we always try to fit in everything on our long list of ¨to do´s.¨ It´s all too much to pack into one blog, so I´m just starting off with Day 1. Our Ecuadorian staff love the rivers in the Quijos Valley almost as much as we do and so we try to take them rafting as often as possible--and that´s just what we did on Sunday--day 1 of our week off.

Saturday Afternoon:

As soon as Memo and Hector finished washing the van, Memo drove the group back to Quito where he spent the night, picked up a couple of whitewater-loving family members and was back out at the cabins by 11am on Sunday morning to hit the river. (Don´t worry, we are NOT engaging in child labor, Hector just likes to help out his old dad every once and a while).

We rounded up the crew, had a quick brunch and put in right at our lodge for a nice afternoon run of El Chaco Canyon. Some people dream of having world class whitewater runs right in their backyard, and we feel lucky that we literally do!

The first big rapid of the day--Pica Piedra. Another big wave. This, I believe, is the rapid right before the true entrance into the canyon. The crew was paddling great together and we punched some big stuff!

You shouldn´t do that Darcy, you might bite it off someday! Nice photography work Larry.

This is at the bottom of El Torro, the biggest rapid of the day. The holes at the bottom of this rapid are enormous this year, and we ran right through the middle of a monster! It was definitely my biggest hit in a raft in a long time--everyone stayed in and loved it.

Besides showing them the whitewater, it´s fun to show them the beautiful scenery as well. We love showing Memo (our driver) new sections of river. We feel like it´s nice for him to know where we are going, what we are getting into, access points, etc...And, the best part is that he really loves rafting, and the smile on his face after every rapid is priceless.

Most of the crew had to get back to Quito and so had to take out at the Oyacachi confluence. Memo didn´t want the week off (I think he wanted to buy more toys for Hector) so we offered him work for the week at our lodge. Since he was so close to ¨home¨for the week, and did not have to go back to Quito, he wondered about continuing on down through the Bom Bon section. He didn´t have to work very hard to convince Edwin (who lives in El Chaco). It was Edwin´s first time rafting, but he loved it and he was in for sure. Curvas Peligrosas gave my heart a bit of a flutter, but there was lots of cheering once we realized we had nailed the line.In the end there is nothing better than pretty scenery after a big rapid, friends in the raft, and the satisfaction of an excellent day for everyone involved.

PARTING SHOT

The rest of the week...