November is a great month to take a paddling trip to Ecuador. I was fortunate to have a few weeks to sneak away from the Astral Sales and Service realm to explore some of Ecuador’s classic whitewater rivers. The trip was lead by Small World Adventures, a group of whitewater guides who were among the first to explore the Andean rivers of Ecuador. The lead guides for our trip were Don Beveridge, Larry Vermeeren, and Darcy G. Their world class lodge and guide service was super plush and took a lot of the guess work out of exploring Ecuador’s rivers. They have the biggest fleet of whitewater kayaks in Ecuador and believe me, they will make sure that you are fully entertained, regardless of your paddling experience.

This trip was considered an “industry trip” for folks who work in the Paddlesports business. We were joined by Chris from Colorado Kayak Supply, Roger from Immersion Research, and Kate from Canoe and Kayak Magazine. The trip stared out with mobilizing in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, followed by a 3 hour van ride to the magnificent Quijos Valley. Here we explored some great runs including the Casonga River, the Quijois, Borja, Piatua, Mishualli and the infamous “Cheese House” run of the Quijos that we considered to be a bit pushy, big, and fun. Without a doubt the Rio Jondachi was my favorite River of this trip. Its near the paddling mecca of Tena and is a classic boulder garden creek run. Its super clean with rounded boulder gardens and a multitude of boofs to be had by all. On top of all this goodness we were among one of the first groups to explore the Rio Piatua, a class IV run near Tena. The local government had only recently hacked a road through the jungle to supply a nearby village with all the modern day amenities. One of the bonuses of this early decent was the opportunity to name some rapids including “Discotec,” “Da me su Gasolina,” and “Gumshaker.” The Piatua’s super clean water and amazing jungle scenery made it one of the best paddling days that I have ever had. Enjoy some pics from Ecuador in the Astral Gallery and don’t hesitate to contact Small World Adventures for your own paddling adventure. Well, now its off to Quito to meet up with some good friends to continue the journey through this amazing country. Salud!

Bryan Owen

Astral Customer Service

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Inside Astral. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.