Ten days in Ecuador

I asked a friend a while ago when a holiday becomes an expedition – his answer was that if you come back weighing less than when you left, it’s an expedition. Whilst I like this definition, it was a moot point on this trip. There was no way it could have risked turning into an expedition even if I’d tried. A group of four of us headed out to Ecuador for a few weeks before Christmas, the idea was ten days of paddling, followed by ten days of more generic touristing.

In November (and to be fair, for most of the rest of the year too) the main boating scene in Ecuador is Tena, a bustling town on the eastern slopes of the Andes. It’s an easy place to base yourself for a week, or two, or three. Warm weather, over a dozen runs within a 30-minute taxi ride (and still more if you head north and base yourself out of Baeza), cheap beer and the taxi drivers in town know the put-ins and takeouts making logistics incredibly simple.

Our little group was fairly mixed ability, so we did a number of fun grade 3/4 runs, but I also managed to sneak off for a couple of days on some harder runs, getting in the classic Upper Jondachi in good water with some locals, and an interesting 30km solo mission down the lower Misahualli gorge.

If you‘re looking to head a little further afield for your next boating trip, whether you’re looking for the easier grade stuff, the gnarr, or even no paddling at all (see below!), Ecuador should certainly be high on your list.