Nine of us paddlers are on are way to Tena, the whitewater mecca of Ecuador. We found a driver whose vehicle used to be an old ambulance. Getting out with all our gear and avoiding the pick pocketing bus- station of Quito was a big relief. About an hour out of Quito, our driver had a perplexed look on his face when the van started losing power up a steep hill. The air conditioning was on but it felt like the heater. Then Alastair noticed fire under his feet in the engine! The smoke was getting thicker so we stopped and rushed out of the van. Bob, Andy and the driver grabbed water to douse the fire, others got the gear out. The whole van was in flames, which got worse when the hood was opened. Bob yelled to get the kayaks, so they cut the ropes and Andrew jumped on top of the van. He went to shove the kayaks off and lost his balance falling on to the road. Good thing he only got scrapes and bruises. The fire eventually died off as the radiator hose burned and the water leaked out. The driver was feeling pretty down because he had no insurance. After an hour wait in the dark we found a ride on a very crowded bus and five hours later we were in Tena.
Time to go Paddling!
The Upper Jondachi is a challenging river, draped in jungle with very steep technical drops. Micro got pinned on a log around the first bend and Andy and Andrew managed to lift him over the log. Bob went on ahead, often perched up high on a rock to show us the line of the next drop. Bob would say something like “paddle hard right, two boofs, cut left and you’ll see at the bottom.” Alastair and Micro had never done this kind of paddling before and were very impressed by the difficulty of the river. It was getting late and we didn’t think we could finish the river before dark, so we stashed our boats in the jungle and walked out on a trail. When we got back to the river the next day we rinsed our boats well, to make sure all the creepy crawlies were out. But as I was about to get into the kayak I noticed a scorpion walking on my seat! I was freaked and made sure I watched it exit my kayak. We spent another full day of paddling to complete the Upper Jondachi.
After raining hard all night the Upper Misuahali was in flood and Bob, Andy and Micro ran the river. It was a totally different river from a couple of days before, because now it was booming. Places where many rocks were showing were now covered. At one drop, Bob used hand signals and told Andy and Micro “first boof straight, second boof go left”. They did this and ended up in a place they dubbed the “white room” where there was no obvious place to paddle but they landed on a tongue of water that shot them around a 90 degree corner and safely through. Micro and Andy both swam that day and each lost a paddle, they got one paddle back from a local kid for $10US.
One morning Bob went to buy some orange juice, so he grabbed a bottle of OJ and the store clerk said- “You really don’t want that”. It was what they call “allahuasca”; shamans use it for hallucinations and to create visions—just what we needed above a Class 5 rapid.
Loco Locals
Going back to Tena on the local bus was a wild ride. Bus drivers are always competing, so they continually pass each other on narrow roads to be the first to pick up the passengers. Our bus driver looked just like a Columbian drug lord with his black, slicked back hair and shades. We had seen a bus deep down in a ravine, apparently two buses met and swerved to avoid a head on. One bus went over the edge and their bus driver jumped out. He was the only one killed but there were many injured passengers.
Back in Tena we joined in on the 2-week long festival, lots of people were in to spraying water and carnival soap at whoever was into it. When we were heading to the river, a little girl was hiding in the bush and threw a bucket of water at us. She was happy because all the gringos had their windows rolled down.
February 12th is Discovery of the Amazon River holiday and this is the finale of the festival. The streets are crowded; musical bands playing and lots of cheap rum for a dollar a bottle. The next morning when Bob went to buy our lunch, there were a lot of passed out bodies on the streets. These people usually had everything stolen including their shoes. Fabian, our taxi driver, was one of them; he lost $180 US, his watch and the keys to his truck. The next day, a friend of his took us to the river.
Fabian was going to take us to another friends’ place who had a boa constrictor and a 4.5-meter long anaconda. His friend usually lets the snakes out in the house on Fridays to eat mice and bugs, but this time both snakes escaped from the house and he hadn’t found them back yet!
We went to see the bullfight and after the fight, the locals had a soccer game with the bull. They set up nets and waved their shirts to entice the bull through the goal. The players would often get run over, it was very entertaining.
After the game some locals would go in the ring to challenge the bull. Micro decided to bring his large Bolivian red poncho into the ring. He was careful and decided to stay close to the gate until a local girl convinced him to go in the center of the ring with her. With everyone waving their little shirts, guess what the bull went for? The bull came charging and the local girl let go of the poncho, so the bull went straight for Micro. He got his butt shoved forward by the bull’s head but managed to stay afoot and escape out of the ring. The crowd went crazy for Micro and when we were walking downtown people would call out “hey torrero” (bullfighter). Our buddy Micro was now a celebrity!
After our trip Micro and Bob became sick. Bob got dengue fever, which gave him a serious fever, chills and bone aches. He became quite dehydrated and had to be hospitalized in Montreal. Micro had similar symptoms and was hospitalized in Australia but they never did find out what caused it.
