Back in Tena

So last week I headed back to baeza for the Quijos river festival, and to attempt to descend the upper-upper Oyacachi. The upper reaches of the Oyacachi flow from 10,000 feet for 2 days toward the Quijos through the Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve, which is an incrediable area to say the least. The plan was that after the festival, water levels pending, the crew from Tena would gather in Baeza and prepare to get into the Oyacachi. It seemed like a great plan, we had a good group, and everyone was fired up. Also, one of Gynner´s old friends from Peru, GianMarco, was heading from Quito and was really excited to attempt the Oyacachi. So it was set....
But before i took off to Baeza i was introduced to a friend, and i turned out that we both traveled together to Baeza. It got a bit weird, but as the days passed the releationship heated up. and afer a few days it was tough to even drag me out of my bedroom. it was a crazy few days, that even now, is difficult to articulate the emotions that existed that week in Baeza. It was so bad that i didn´t kayak one day that week. It was one of those relationships that you can just feel in you´re stomach all the time. I´m still not even sure where i encountered my new friend, But when the relationship ended i have never been so happy. Intestinal parisites, are not cool! and don´t let anyone tell you different.
So my med´s has my IP under control. Which was good because i was sick of feeding that f#¡€ing monkey. but the day before our trip into the Oyacahi, the heavens opened up sending the rivers to epic levels. We debated, waiting it out but decided that would require more paitence than we had. So, we rode back to Tena and noticed that the Jondachi was at a good level. So we turned around and headed back to the put-in. After making our way in knee deep mud to the river, we discovered it had flashed and was estimated to be about 11-12 feet. As opposed to the two feet reading we had seen at the bottom. So being the mature paddlers that we decided we were, we turned our attention back to the muddy hill that we had cussed sliding DOWN. going back up was much easier.
So, we arrived to Tena that evening and the rain continued. After being shut out the past two days we were eager to make something happen. with a fresh rain, Gynner thought we should try to repeat a descent he had made several years ago. The Puysuno lies east of Puerto Misahualli and flows into the Napo. The river has a unique character, which consits of metamorphic upper gorge that winds through a series boxed in rapids, and eventually exits into the lower gorge via a 12 meter cascade. The second gorge is long steep series of boulder gardens which proved to be more demanding than the upper reaches. So, Tena´s number one cab driver, Luis, picked us up early and we began the journey to the Puysuno. As we got closer to the put-in we discovered the road was under repair. so, we piled out of the truck and began tossing some rocks to fill the area that had been washed out. After a little bit of labor, we were able to pass. And the locals were excited to have some over eager gringos help fix their road. As we continued, we discovered that a bulldozer was blocking the road. And after a short investigation we found the operator. So we were able to check the river level. And it turned out the the level was perfect. but it seemed that as we were checking the level. Luis, and the bulldozer operator had passed a few foul words. And subsequently, the operator had to decided to take his lunch early, in the dozer, in the middle of the road. he explained that he eventually would finish, but we would have to wait. He eventually moved after a series of delegations pleaded. and only, when we were back on the road did Luis disclose, ¨how that stupid motherf€~@er had been acting.¨ it all made sense in hind sight. So we had a great day on the river. easily my best day in Ecuador.
As the sun began setting we hit the flooded cofluence of the Napo and headed to the next jungle town down stream. We had already missed the last bus by several hours, but it had been a great day. so, what are you going to do? We paddled up to the beach, and before we could even get out a friend of Gynner´s walks up and they began laughing. and speaking spanish so quickly that it was tough to pull a word out. And as life often goes, Gynner´s friend was a cab driver who happend to be heading back to Tena. He told us to keep our mouths shut, so as not to let on to how deperate we really were. So the saga continues......