Ecuador 2011

 
Ecuador November 2011

At the start of November the flight company Ibera brought me and my Mystic Blisstic kayak back to South America. And it feels absolutely to be back in Latin America, Im excited when my passport got stamped whilst entering Equador. Whilst waiting for my bags and kayak I was asking a guy if he wanted to share a taxi to Quito centre with me. His response: ´Yes no problem, I just have to wait for a big piece of sports equipment, a kayak´. Was this a coincedence?

Rio Jondachi- Hollin

Tom is a kayaker from France, and within a few hours his French mates are arriving as well. Let the French invastion start.....
So the trip started  funny, we loaded the kayaks on top and in the taxi, squeezed in between our gear and went straight to a cheap hostel to dump the stuff and go for a Pilsener beer. There is only one way to start a good kayak trip in South America, this is beer in the Karaoke bar.

Rio Upper Jondachi

After a horrible night in a cheap backpacker hostel I went straight to Baeza, a small village in one of the best kayaking areas in Equador: Quichos Valley. That same night I met some kayakers and the next day we paddle a section called Bridge1 to Borga. Awesome to be back on the Equadorian rivers again. Waterlevels have been great this year, its almost raining every night, which realy tops up the rivers. We have been doing some awesome trips on the Quichos and its side creeks. The quichos valley has it all, steep creeks like the Papayacta to big water paddling near San Rafael falls.

Watefall on Rio Hollin

After a week of paddling with the Frenchies, Swiss, Australian and Equadorian paddlers in the Quichos valley its time to meet some friends in Tena, a bit more salsa and paddle more warm water jungley rivers. One of our runs on the Rio Piatua didnt go totally as expected and we were forced to spend the night sleeping in the middle of the run at the riverbanks. This forced overnighter eventually ended in a very simple but enjoyable overnighter trip. There's worst places to sleep with your paddling buddies, than next to an awesome river in the jungle. It was fantastic.

Life is pretty good, the next 10 days I will be working for a German company who runs guided kayaking trips in Equador. Ama la vida. 

Overnighter on rio Piatua

Rio Quichos, Cheesehouse