KAYAKING ECUADOR FEB. 9TH-17TH

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.