Blog

After the all-night affair that was last night, I took it nice and easy today. Got up waaay too early (like, 9:30am) so I could catch the Secret Garden laundry service, as well as their rooftop breakfast. Hey, let's face it, everything that happens at that place, happens on the roof. Considering my physical and mental state today, it made a perfect day for staggering around the streets of Quito, getting acquainted with a city that seemed to be just as tired and hung-over from a big Friday night as I was. That's right: nice place, but absolutely dead on a Saturday.

Tonight was one hell of a welcome and an introduction to Quito for me. After a sensational dinner of Thai curry chicken — on the rooftop terrace of the Secret Garden — I went out with some of the staff and fellow guests of the hostel, for a very big night on the town. The Mariscal Sucre area in the new town (otherwise known as "gringoland") is the place to go at night: and this being Friday night, it was absolutely packed with people. Can't remember what time I got home tonight, but it couldn't have been too long before the sun rose. Quite a few drinks, quite a few venues, and quite a lot of dancing. The parties never seem to end, here in Ecuador.

Although it's located in Quito's Old Town — away from the party scene and the gringo restaurants of the New Town and the Mariscal area — the Secret Garden is undoubtedly the place for backpackers to stay in this city. Owned (and largely run) by Aussies, it's very friendly and always full of people. Hang out on the rooftop terrace for breakfast each morning, and for dinner and some beers each evening, and you'll be sure to meet plenty of people, and to have a great time exchanging laughs and stories.

It's been a fun few days of rafting and — err, and not much else — here in Tena, but I'm afraid the time has come to depart. The weather is nice and warm here (if a bit rainy and humid), and the town is small and laid-back (if a bit of a dump), but I have to return to big-city life once again. I'm sad to leave Tena, as it was probably the last river rafting spot on my trip. Anyway, I'm sure I'll find more rafting to do, somewhere, sometime. Hopefully not too far off in the future, 'cause it's really daym fun.

Yesterday's Class III rafting on the Jatanyacu was a good warm-up, but today's Class IV rafting on the Jondachi was the real deal. Not quite as much pure, blood-pumping excitement and splashdowns; but lots of good technical challenges, lots of fun waves and turbulent spots, and lottts of breathtaking scenery. And all with the very friendly and experienced company, The River People. Rafting in Tena has definitely been worthwhile: possibly the best that I've done so far on my trip.

For my first full day here in Tena, I decided to go rafting on the Upper Napo River (otherwise known as the "Río Jatunyacu"), with the fine folks at Ríos Ecuador. This was an all-day trip, with breakfast and lunch included, and with about four hours of river time, battling the straightforward but intense Class III rapids on offer. This is one of the best rafting trips that I've been on so far: professionally organised; most satisfying adventure-wise; and a big and a very interesting group of people on the tour.

Welcome Break is a great little guesthouse, near the centre of Tena, in a quiet street off the main road. It has a charming atmosphere, with its leafy garden environs, its tranquil rooms, and its very inviting hammock area. It's also the first place listed in my LP: for once, they actually got it right. Quite reasonably priced, and generally not full. Gets a tick in my book.

Despite Patrick's decision to return straight to Baños yesterday, I've decided to stick to my original plan, and to go to Tena today. Patrick reckons that they're currently not offering the good stuff in Tena (i.e. Class IV rapids), due to weather conditions: but I'm prepared to take whatever they've got, which is hopefully something reasonably good — because yesterday's rafting in Baños has left me unsatisfied. Patrick also reported the road from Tena to Quito being closed at the moment, due to flooding and landslides: hopefully that will be cleared up, by the time that I'm ready to leave Tena.

Yesterday morning, my friend Patrick left Baños for the town of Tena, which is about 5 hours east. You can imagine my surprise, therefore, when I walked into a bar in Baños this evening, to find him sitting down and waving at me! "Patrick?" I said, puzzled. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought you went to Tena!" Well, he said that he came back: they're only offering easy rafting trips in Tena (due to the weather, same as here in Baños), and the road from Tena to Quito is currently flooded — meaning that there was nowhere else for him to come, except back here to Baños. Anyway, I think that when I saw him, I looked like I'd just seen a ghost. Big shock!

For my final full day in Baños, I decided to try out what the town has to offer, in terms of river rafting. Sadly, due to the excessive amount of recent rain, the water levels are currently too high to do the full-day, Class IV-V rafting that I'd like to do. However, half-day Class III-IV rafting is still being offered. So I signed up for this package (with one of the many rafting agencies in town), and this morning I headed off to the Río Pastaza for two hours of rafting fun. Not the greatest of my three rafting trips to date (the ones that I did in Cusco were better), but better than nothing.