Friday Photo – Loading the dug-out canoe – in Ecuador

As you may know I spent three weeks travelling with friends in Ecuador last October (I can’t believe it’s over a year ago). Part of the trip was a 10 day river journey we took down the Rio Bobonaza in southern Ecuador from Puyo to Kapawi near the Peruvian border where we flew back by light aircraft.

This article may contain affiliate links that provide commission on purchases you make at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

This is the photo of our canoe being loaded for the initial leg of the trip down to the village of Sarayaku. Our guide Luiz had hired the biggest dug-out canoe on the upper river, but we still couldn’t quite believe that all our rucksacks, food, tents, not to mention 5 of our party, plus 4 boatmen could fit in. Oh yes, then there was the lady with her toddler who also hitched a lift with us at the last minute.

As it had been raining heavily for the previous couple of days, the river was high and fast-flowing, and we were all feeling a little nervous. When we mentioned life jackets, our guide Luiz, who had clearly not expected the water to be so high, got a local to cut down some logs of balsa wood for us to cling on to if we capsized. Then he suggested we take off our Wellington boots when in the canoe, as if we capsized, they might drag us under.

If we went overboard, he advised, we should not fight the current, but just let it take us to the riverbank. We never quite knew when Luiz was joking and when he was serious! Luckily, we didn’t have to make use of his useful tips and made it safely, in record time down to Sarayaku.

Related posts

Defending the rainforest in Sarayaku Ecuador
Catfish and Anaconda on the Rio Bobonaza in Ecuador
A Wika tattoo – in Ecuador

See all my photos of Ecuador on Flickr

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

Click to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, news and reader offers