I have spent 9 of the last 10 days on the water and it has been so rad. River folks are the best, definitely my kind of people. We have ended up joining forces with a few Canadians, a pseudo-Canadian and some Ecuadorian paddlers. These guys all throw down hard and I am by far the weakest link (luckily Becca and I come as a package deal so if they were to get rid of me she would have to go too, and if you know Becca, she is simply the best so I am safe).
Before this trip I had only rowed boats, duckied or been a passenger in a paddle boat. In the last week I have kayaked, river boarded, rowed and paddled an OPC and captained a paddle boat. My waterfall number has tripled and I have discovered something I never learned about rowing boats in the Grand Canyon...sometimes rocks show up in rivers. It truly is a novelty, having to manuever between rocks and often times scoot over them. Luckily I am with experienced low water boaters and they have all helped me understand this phenomenon.
The rivers here are so different, I have been learning something new each time I go out on the water. Two days ago I tagged along on a commercial trip on the Lower Misahualli. This beautiful canyon is a day trip, and five different drainages open into the river. The canyon narrows and turns into big water class IV and class IV+ when the water is high. If it is raining trips will often not go, because if any of the drainages flash the rising water levels make it a dangerous canyon to be in. It was raining when we put on, but not enough to worry the company. There is a scary waterfall near the end of the canyon that they portage, so the idea was to make it there before the water rose.
The trip was going well, besides some language barriers in the boats everyone was paddling well, and we had five safety kayakers in our midst (Abby, the aforementioned Canadians and pseudo-Canadian, and Adam). The water was big and the waves were the biggest I had seen in Ecuador. It started raining harder so we paddled harder. At the portage the guests and kayakers hiked around, I asked if I could hang back to help line the boats and see their system.
The boat lining was done by one of the guides, a guide in training, a safety kayaker and me. The kayaks were strapped on top of the rafts, the rafts were tied bow to stern, and we slowly lined the boats through. It was raining really hard and this point and the walk we had to take to line the boats was extremely slippery. I feel very comfortable scrambling around on rocks but I felt very out of my element. One slip and it would have been a long fall into a giant class V+ rapid. The water started getting muddy and the level was rising quickly. Working fast we were able to get the boats down the first drop. Then Tim and I had a sketchy downclimb, and had to jump into the river at the bottom of one of the waterfalls and snag an eddy on river right. The river was rising and currents were strong, so we had to work fast.
Then Tim and I had to pull the boats down. At the big drop (the waterfall) the boats caught and both flipped. The five kayaks were strapped to the top and filling up with water. The two boats were in the strong current and really heavy with the filling kayaks underneath. Tim and my hands were burning as meter after meter of line slid out of our hands. On the other side of the rocks the guest were hiking down and saw two upside down boats flying downstream. The owner was on the trip and he scrambled to our side and helped us with the rope. We were able to catch the boats in an eddy and the kayakers turned the boats over. All the kayaks were there but half the paddles were gone as was the lunch table. At this point the water was really high and still rising, and we had a class IV drop to run right below. Everyone scrambled in the boats, we made do with the paddles we had, and we ran the rest of the drops. After the next few rapids the river widened up a bit and flash floods were no longer a major concern. Kayakers were able to retrieve all but two paddles and the table (although not in time for lunch) and we made it out and hour and a half earlier than was expected due to the high water, with no more carnage.
As I said, every day I am learning a lot more. New rivers offer a totally new way of looking at the water, of discovering your weaknesses and your fears. We may be leaving Tena today, but I hope that I will find myself back here. The people and the water have given me a lot and offer