Weekend Rafting/Camping Trip in Ecuador’s Rainforest April 11th & 12th

Join Barefoot Expeditions on this special discounted adventure tour. Overnight rafting and camping trip to the Toachi  & Blanco rivers. We will depart from Quito on Saturday April 11th at 8:00 am.  After arriving at the Toachi Alto around 10:30 am we will start the adventure, we will raft for 5 hours.  Then we will stop at our camp area where we will set up our tents and enjoy a bonfire and food.  The next morning after breakfast we will continue te rafting  for 4 more hours until we get to the little riverside town called “Flor del Valle”.  Contact us for more information. Group of Adventurers Whitewater Rafting in Ecuador The price includes: private transportation, 2 meals on Saturday and 2 meals on Sunday, professional guided rafting, all the camping equipment necessary and unforgettable fun. Price $180 per person. Please contact us for more information and reservations.

Everybody has a goal or just wants to do something without an apparet reason. The last few days of our trip in the Patagonia, we met a Chilean friend, Mauro, who -as he told us- for a few months had the goal to hike from the Bader valley (in the base of “Los Cuernos, La Máscara, La Hoja y La Espada”)  towards the Torre Valley (in the base of South, Central and North towers) in Torres del Paine, Chile. As the good friends that we are, we joined our friend to accomplish his goal.  For us it sounded like a very interesting trek, far away from the crowd that you may find in the famous “W” hike in Torres del Paine.  We left Puerto Natales in a bus that goes directly to the Park entrance ($25 foreign fee), took a transfer towards one of the nice lodges in the area.  And here is where the adventure started.  The first day, the hike was nice and short (2 hours).  At night it rained a lot!, the next morning we were about to quit.  But an hour later, the sky openened, and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast under the nice and warm sunlight.  We decided to continue the hike, it was his lifertime dream, it wasn’t fair to quit! We had time to get our stuff dry and started a long hike.  We had to walk barefoot to cross streams that had become actual rivers that day because of the rain.  The water was cold, very cold.  9 hours later we arrived to the heart of Bader valley, an amazing place.  We were surrounded by huge granite walls and had to camp under very patagonian conditions (cold and wind).  The next was a hard day (again).  We spent almost 10 hours walking in a morraine with huge rocks, rapelling 200 m (with rocks falling) and walking in a glacier, towards the lagoon in the base of the towers, that was a great place to spend our third and last night in the Park.  The next day, we hiked 3 more hours, and back to Pueto Natales to enjoy a delicious “Lomo a lo pobre” that was one of our biggest motivations up there..

Aerial view of Torres del Paine. In red, our hike! I am very happy that we did this hike, we could enjoy a unique part of Torres del Paine.  I bet that the “W” hike is as great a what we did, but having the chance to enjoy the towers with a feeling of solitude is irrepleaceable.  Up there, I felt that we were alone in the world.  and that is  a wonderful feeling.  Is a great experience for those searching a little more adventure when visiting the Torres del Paine, althought it has to be done with the companion of an experienced mountaineer. Here a short slideshow of this trip..

If you like comfort: By car, you can get to any of the few nice and warm lodges, with great views and great food as well.  In this places, you can enjoy activities like horseback riding, one day hikes  or just enjoy the views sipping a cup of hot chocolate. Click here to see some of the lodging options in the area

El Chalten is a little town born in the early 1980s, located in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in Argentina. It is an isolated town where everything (food, services) is a little more expensive than in bigger cities in Patagonia such as El Calafate or Río Gallegos.  But fortunately you can find almost everything there. This town is where you start the hikes to the view points, camping sites of the Park  and of course where climbers from all over the world start their journeys to climb one of the dozens of routes in the Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy cords. Most of the people visit the “Laguna de los tres” which is the lagoon located in the base of the glacier below the Fitz Roy cord.  Some people make a full day hike which means that they leave El Chalten very early in the morning, hike for 4-6 hours to the lagoon and 4-6 hours back to the town.  Some others take their backpacks, tents and sleeping bags, and spend a few days,  to reach the “Poincenot” camping site (2 hours), spend the night there and the next day hike to the lagoon, back to the camp and they either continue hiking to the Cerro Torre camping site or back to El Chalten. All these are good options to see the amazing Fitz Roy.  But if you are a little more adventurous, you can try to reach the “paso superior” ice camping, where climbers, either in tents or snow caves, wait days or weeks for good weather conditions to climb the selected route. Hiking to Paso superior is is an experience itself, the view is amazing, the feeling is irreplaceable.  From this spot you see the magnitude of  the granite walls because you are only about a mile away from the actual base of the peaks.  If you are even more intrepid, you can go further and spend the night up there in a snow cave, hike towards the base of the peaks.  Highly recommended to experience a little bit what is a climber’s life like.   Snow cave for two in Paso Superior, Fitz Roy. To get to this place you need to be in an acceptable physical condition and you absolutely need professional assistance from a mountain guide or an experienced mountaineer, because you have to walk in a glacier (with crevasses, ice, snow, etc) for a few hours and a you have to climb a short small on rock that requires safety instructions, guidance  and appropriate gear.  Contact us if you need more info on how to get to “paso superior”

Snow hiking in the base of Fitz Roy

I spent almost one month traveling in Argentina and Chile, most of it by bus. Therefore, I learned that Argentina and Chile are huge countries, and that I was not used to those long bus rides (24 -28 hours in some cases). Both countries have many types of landscapes, from cosmopolitan cities such as Buenos Aires or Santiago to the isolated life of a “gaucho” in the Patagonia. Before visiting this area you should do some research depending on your interests, and plan the bus itineraries in such a way that you don´t have to stay extra days in certain cities you may not enjoy too much. Here I have some info about a couple of cities I visited in Argentina, I hope this helps for your next trip. For any follow up questions please feel free to post a comment and I will answer it as best as I can.

View when traveling in southern Argentina by bus

MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

On december 27th I left Quito, I flew to Santiago de Chile, then took a 6 hour bus ride to Mendoza (Argentina), a beautiful city (considered the cleanest in the country). In summer it can get very hot (too much for me, a person that lives in the mountains at 2800 meters of altitude), and so, I learnt why do the people from the city still do the “siesta” wich means that every single store or business is closed from 1pm to 3 pm, because it is too hot, you barely see people on the streets (those you find are mostly tourists). In summer, the city has a lot of cultural activities. “San Martin” park is a great area for jogging or just have a pic-nic. If you are a wine lover, Mendoza has many of the best Argentinian wineries that you can visit. Tourism industry is big in Mendoza, especially that one for adventure tourism (rafting, climbing, biking, and skiing(in winter July-August). Perhaps the biggest (literally) attraction is that from this city you can arrange visits to Aconcagua mount, the highest in the Americas.

Summer in Mendoza, San Martin Park

THE BUS RIDE FROM MENDOZA TO BARILOCHE

Buses are very comfortable in Argentina, there are usually two categories: “cama” (which is actually like laying on a bed) or “semicama” which is a very comfortable seat. If you buy your tickets in advance, you may have the option to buy the first row seats on the second floor, which have a wonderful view! Here you can see some of the routes and bus itineraries. From Mendoza, there are almost 60 hours of bus ride to El Chalten. A good option is to take a bus from Mendoza to Bariloche (24 hours), stay there one or two days enjoying the city, doing some hiking, swiming in the lake and enjoying the beaches. Then taking a bus to Rio Gallegos (28 hours), there is not too much to do in this city. It is better if you only have to spend one or two hours there and take as soon as possible a bus to El Calafate (5 hours), a very nice town where you can stay a couple of days enjoying specially the Perito Moreno Glacier. And finally, yoou should take one last bus to El Chalten (4 hours). A good idea is to make this itinerary on one way , and take a flight to Buenos Aires from El Calafate or Río Gallegos(3 hours flight)

Bariloche, a nice city in northern Patagonia.

EL CHALTEN, ARGENTINA

El Chalten is an isolated town in the heart of the Argentinian Patagonia . Even in summer (Dec, Jan, Feb), it is a cold, rainy and windy town. It is a hot-spot for tourism, because is in the closest town to the mytical Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre peaks (I was so happy only knowing that -even if it was cloudy- I was surrounded by these peaks). The town is actually part of “Los Glaciares” National Park -which has no entrance fee because of some historical background-. In this park, you can hike by your own to view points to see the mountains, lagoons, wildlife, etc (It is supposed to be the “national capital of trekking”). And if you like camping there are a few free camping sites in the park. I liked the town really much, their way of living, the nice and simple people, the views, the fact that you can walk the entire town in one hour, and the most wonderful feeling of isolation, that unfortunately this place is losing because tourism is growing too fast considering the size of the town.

The view...only 2 hours hiking from El Chalten, Argentina

Panoramic view from the Bader valley in Torres del Paine, Chile Being in Patagonia was one of my lifetime dreams.  I clearly remember once that I was watching in TV a documentary of Torres del Paine (Chile), and thought that I should visit that place.  Later, when I started climbing, I heard stories of climbers in Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, I was specially attracted by those stories about strong winds that can pull you out from the wall, or that the rope goes up instead of going down when you throw it for rappelling.  So many things I read and I heard, including of course those videos of Ermanno Salvaterra, an italian man that is in love with Patagonia and Cerro Torre.  All those things together made me think that I had to be there, someday. And so, that day arrived, on December 27th, 2008 I was flying to Santiago de Chile, took long bus rides for days and finally arrived to Patagonia, the house of some of the most beautiful mountains and landscapes of the world (at least for me).  I also had the chance to hike up there, to the base of some of these wonderful peaks.  Now, I am back in Ecuador, with the strong feeling that I will soon be back to Patagonia, and thinking that any person that likes outdoors and nature should go there, at least once.  If you are one of those, you will absolutely fall in love with Patagonia. During the next few weeks I will share with you some of my experiences in this part of the world, information about traveling and the highlights of a couple of cities.  Enjoy them.

Fitz Roy Cord

1 UPANO RIVER:

At a glance: Morona Santiago Province, Sucua is the nearest town. Class IV, IV+ The Upano is a dream come true. The River of the Sacred Waterfalls so deep in the Amazon jungle that its sheer solitude makes you be one with nature once again. Class IV and V rivers surrounded by waterfalls, deep green vegetation and jungle citizens that have inhabited the area for centuries. To read more detail about the Upano please read Upano River. Rafting the Canyon of The Sacred Waterfalls

2 QUIJOS RIVER

At a glance: Napo Province.  El Chaco, Class IV, IV+

3 MISAHUALLI RIVER

At a glance: 2 secciones   Prov. Napo.  Tena, Class IV, IV+

4 JONDACHI-HOLLIN

Prov. Napo. Tena, Class IV

5 INTAG

Prov. Imbabura. Intag, Class IV

6 BLANCO RIVER

Prov. Santo Domingo de los Ts’achilas. Los Bancos, Class IV

7 JATUNYACU RIVER

Prov. Napo. Tena, Class III

8 TOACHI RIVER

Prov Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas. Santo Domingo, Class III-IV

9 MIRA RIVER

Prov. Imbabura.  Ibarra Class III-IV

10 ANZU RIVER

Prov. Napo. Tena, Class II-III Considerations for this ranking:

We’ve mentioned the province to which they belong, the closes city and the river class. All of these rivers are commercial. Barefoot Expeditions operates trips in all the rivers mentioned above. We did not list any rivers in the Banos area because they are contaminated and we do not support the utilization of those rivers for water activities nor we endorse the blatant disregard by the authorities of the issues that these rivers face.