We wrote off the idea of rafting in Banos as too chilly so Tena was the place to do it. We chose River People as we had already stayed at Abbey’s (younger sister) place in Banos and knew they had a good reputation for safety on the water as well as good English – they originally come from Ireland. As with all things water related there is always too much or too little. The original plan was to do the Hollin River as it runs 38km through a gorge with little human impact. However 2 nights of heavy rain had turned it into a raging torrent so we had to do the more open and commercialised Jatunyacu river. Normally the rapids are class II but the rains had turned them into class IV so plenty of entertainment. We did about 3 times the usual distance as the river was running so fast. Huge waves and so much fun. No photos as no camera but the lovely couple (more about them later) Alex and Frances from New York have promised to send Go Pro footage which I will add in later.
Highlights of the trip were:- great company, a lovely guide who managed to up end Geoff out of the raft, lunch, especially the home made chocolate cake and surviving being swept out of the raft in a big rapid with most of my dignity, if not my hairstyle, intact. Big thumbs up to Cara who is scared of rapids but managed to paste a smile on for most of the trip.
We were all a bit wiped out by the end of the day so we had a meal in town and then went for a wander with the locals in the park. Highlight here was Geoff and Cara hiring a tandem and attempting to cycle round the park.
Sadly I don’t have any pics of them in action but let me try and describe the scene as they set off with Geoff on the front on a much too low saddle and Cara on the back waving her long legs in the air, shrieking as the bike weaved dangerously from side to side. At least 5 Ecuadorean families found themselves temporarily disabled with convulsive laughter whilst Drew and I alternated between hysterics and embarassment.
Pirate Travels 