After a week of climbing mountains with my mom, it was time to move onto a sport that I have a little more experience with. So after returning to Quito from our Cotopoxi attempt, I headed to the airport to meet the most famous kayaking dentist in Kentucky, Clay Warren, for our week of kayaking and showing him around one of my favorite places in the world . My mom flew out the following morning and Clay and I headed to the Quijos River Valley and the town of Baeza to begin our trip.
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| Walking through the bus terminal on our way to Baeza (Photo by Clay Warren) |
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| Clay and I on the Quijos (Photo by Doug) |
In Baeza we met up with a bunch of my good friends and kayaking characters, including Big Drew, Kesha and Mr. Joe Ravenna. It did not take long for our first meal at Ginga's (where we pretty much eat three meals a day when staying in Baeza) and a "welcome to Baeza" Ecuadorian moonshine shot with Vicinte (Ginga's husband). That one shot turned into ten, and it became a challenge to try and turn down shots, which none of us needed anymore of.
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| The homemade Ecuadorian Tequila (the scale in the picture isn't the best, but that bottle is actually about ten times the size of a normal liquor bottle) |
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| Joe having a hard time saying no |
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| Big Drew and Kesha |
While in Baeza we got on a number of my favorite sections of whitewater in the Quijos Valley and Ecuador in general, including the Bridge to Bridge, Bridge to Borja, and El Chaco Canyon sections of the Quijos as well as the lower Cosanga. Because the water is more high volume in this area, its a bit harder to get pictures, so I have very few. Sorry.
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| Drew and Joe floating through Chaco Canyon |
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| Doug the "Pac Rafter" |
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| A typical scene at Rodrigo's Place |
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We had hoped to get on the Cheese House section of the Quijos before moving on from Baeza, but the morning we woke up to run it we found that the rain overnight had more or less flooded the Quijos and made that no longer an option. So we quickly changed plans and decided to move on to Tena that morning, stopping at the Lodo (mud) section of the Misahualli along the way. I had not run that section in over six years and I had forgotten how fun it was.
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| A Volcano view on the way to Tena |
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| The reason they call it the mud section |
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| Me doing what I love best (Photo by Joe Ravenna) |
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| Mr. Ravenna hitting his boof |
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| Dr. Love takin it to the wall |
Clay, being the philanthropist Dentist that he has, brought down a bunch of toothbrushes to give away to locals that my need one. We had been waiting for the right moment to give them all away, and the take out of the Misahualli proved the perfect opportunity when we were bombarded by a village of small children. Instead of just giving them away, Rodrigo helped us quiz the kids and make it more of an educational competition, which proved fun for all of us.
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| Clay and his happily toothbrush equipped children |
The next day we planned on heading to the Jondachi (considered one of the most classic Ecuadorian runs and my personal favorite), but as we drove to the put in we noticed a bad storm in that direction with rain already beginning to fall. With many stories of people being flashed off that river, we decided to tell the taxi driver to turn around and headed off in the opposite direction to the Piatua River. I had never been to the Piatua before so I was excited to see a new river. It turned out to be beautiful continuous class 4 creeking.
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| Clay in a boulder jumble rapid on the Piatua |
The following morning the sun was shining and we decided it was a much better day for the Jondachi so off we went. The hike in was just as muddy as I remembered it, making for a fun experience trying not to fall and laughing at those who did. Forty-five minutes later we made it to
the put in and started our way down this ultra-classic run.
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| The Put-in |
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| Clay seal launching in (Photo by Joe Ravenna) |
We had a decent sized group, with a few newbies and only a couple of us that had been on the run before, years ago, so we made our way down carefully, fully enjoying the many great class 4-5 rapids on this creek.
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| Enjoying the scenery while waiting patiently for the group |
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| Oh, the Money Boof |
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| Me at Typhoid (Photo by Doug) |
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| Clay coming through Tres Huevos |
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| Joe at Tres Huevos |
We all made it down safely and were stoked to have run the Jondachi. After seven days of kayaking and a lot of staying up late, we were getting a bit tired. So we decided to finish off the week by spending the weekend in Banos. Banos is a tourist town located at the base of the Tungurahua Volcano and a very special place to me as it is where I spent a large portion of time during my first trip to Ecuador and I still have many local friends that live there.
Joe, Clay and I arrived in Banos early in the afternoon and decided to hop on some motorcycles for a short ride. Clay and I were determined to do a full ride the following day (renting bikes in Banos is cheap and ridiculously easy, so I try and do it every time I'm in town), but Joe was on the fence since he had never ridden a motorcycle before. The afternoon ride was supposed to hook Joe and convince him to join us the next day. It worked.
So after a night hanging out at the club enjoying the banos atmposphere, we rented some more motorcycles and took off up the mountain. We did a four hour ride that took us up into the hillside, offering awesome views of the Tungurahua Volcano along the way.
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| Clay taking a moment to enjoy the view of Tungurahua |
There was only one small mishap on the ride, and I was lucky enough to have a front row seat. As I was riding behind Joe, he accidently tapped the front break with a little too much enthusiasm and did a superman off the front of his bike. At first I was extremely concerned, rushing up to make sure he was ok. After it was determined that a bruised foot and some road rash were his only injuries, Clay started laughing and I had to join in. It was a funny moment, but one that could have been way worse. We're glad Joe was not hurt more, and it was a good story to reflect about over beers later that afternoon.
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| Joe showing off his road rash |
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| A view of the Banos Valley from the road |
After riding back to Banos we returned the bikes and headed off for some food and beer. It was the end of our trip together and that evening we would all be heading off to different things. Joe was back to Baeza to start guiding kayaking trips for Endless River Adventures, Clay had to get home to his dentist practice and I had to start my trip with Adventures by Disney.
The kayaking lifestyle in Ecuador is hard to beat. With really easy
logistics, tons of great rivers close together, warm weather and $1.25
grande beers, what more could you ask for? Add in a bunch of old friends
and new ones as well and theres no place Id rather be. That is exactly
what this trip was for me. It was an awesome week filled
with good kayaking, great friends and some awesome adventures. I can't
wait to do it again next year!It was an awesome week filled with good kayaking, great friends and some awesome adventures. I can't wait to do it again next year!
