Kayaking Ecuador in January!

We heard that the people who weren't lucky enough to be paddling in Ecuador in January were suffering miserably in the cold back in the states. Negative digits in Colorado for weeks on end is pretty rare! But a few lucky paddlers were pulling out their shorty tops with us.

Here's Tarquino (personal raft guide of Ecuador's president Rafael Correra), demonstrating a boof on the Upper Misahualli.

Phil, Kayla, Tarquino on the Cosanga River

Future kayaker of Ecuador.

Edward cooling off after a lovely hike through the mud into the Lower Jondachi River. It was an exceptionally muddy day on the trail, but it was worth it for 2 hours of boofs and technical moves down the Jondachi, then 2 more hours of big water fun on the Hollin. I bet his buddies back in Pennsylvania weren't jumping into any rivers to cool off!

The gang on the Lower Jondachi

Kayla enjoying the crystal clear water of the Upper Mis.

Just a quick segment for all you kayakers who also love bird watching--here is the Andean Cock of the Rock (thanks Phil and Kayla for the great photo). This bird is quite a prize for bird watching groups who come to Ecuador, and we are lucky enough to have LOTS of them on the rivers of the Quijos Valley. It's always fun to excitedly shout "cock of the rock" to our guests and have them give a very odd look in return! The males are marked by having a bright red head (like this one) or a bright orange head and are the easiest to spot at they fly by--their colors being so intense. The females are more scarlet in color. These birds like to nest along rock walls (hence the "of the rock" part of their name). Ecuador has 1,600 registered species of birds, so you can look for lots more than just the Cock of the Rock while you are kayaking with us.

Ed is just showing the world that you can have your cake and eat it too--even while kayaking in Ecuador.

Here's Edward boofing "Bobsled" on the Upper Misahualli

And Phil and Kayla mainly on the Jondachi/Hollin with 1 short clip of the Upper Mis


And now, for the #4 reason we love Ecuador...


The River can go from looking like this photo above, to this photo below in just a matter of hours (well, in this case about 10 hours). This way, we are always kept on our toes, and never bored of our jobs:) We did get to paddle this day, just not on this particular river (Rio Qujios).

www.smallworldadventures.com