Vamos.....

Tommorow we are departing Tena, and heading toward Banos. In Route eventually to Peru. In Banos there are a handful of incrediable rivers, including the Topo. Which is considered to be one of the best day trips in the country. So, conditions pending, we will have the opportunity to run the Topo Tommorow.
This last week in Tena has been nice. it still seems to rain most of the day. But there has been some very nice patchs of sunny weather. Two days ago, we had a good deal of luck with the weather. The Jondachi was above four feet, so we decided to try to run an upper tributary and paddle to the traditional Jondachi take-out. Paddling the entire section would require the water levels to remain relatively stable. The Jondachi has a good reputation for the water levels rising quickly. So, as we begain hiking in the rain our hopes of stable weather began desentigrating. And hiking out early seemed inevitable.
The upper Urikisiki drainage has just recently become accessiable, due to construction of a petroleum processing station, yeah!!!!So we were able to drive up to the station and hike from there. This particular section had never been run, so finding the river was half the mission. needless to say we strayed a bit off the trail. And combined with a less than early start. We decided to put on an unknown tributary of the Urikisiki and float into the main drainage. The unknow tributary was suprisingly good. having a series of small cascades and slides before entering the Urikisiki. Once on the Urikisiki we added about two kilometers to the run. and gauging from what is uptream of the confluence, it would be worth returning. The Urikisiki eventually flows into the Jondachi, offering a very continuous run. While on the Urikisiki the rain ceased and the sun showed its face for the rest of the day. The water was high and green the whole way through the Jondachi gorge. It was rob´s first time on the Jondachi. So, Rob, Andy, Gian Marco, and i had a great time cruising down the Jondach. Andy had the high water lines wired, so the whole day was pretty smoothe. That was definatly last weeks highlight day. But we were also able to run the upper mis, and the upper Tena which were both classic. Val and Andy took a topo-duo down the upper Tena, which was impressive to witness. So off to Banos.....