Ecuador Adventures

El curso tendrá una duración de dos fines de semana, en los que se estima los alumnos llegarán a ganar un nivel de principiantes, aptos para continuar avanzado el nivel por medio de entrenamientos.

Objetivo: Contactanos hoy para reservar tu puesto.

Llama a Jorge Moreano de Barefoot Expeditions al numero de telefono 099242346 (mobi) o al 096042929 (alegro). La oficina es 26006869

• Desarrollar un curso el cual ayude a capacitar a las personas interesadas en la actividad de kayaking, con un enfoque turístico deportivo.
• Conformar el primer club de Kayaking en Quito con la finalidad de hacer crecer esta actividad y difundirla mucho más en el Ecuador.
  

Marco Conceptual:

El kayaking en el Ecuador es una actividad la cual se la viene desarrollando hace algunos años atrás al igual que la actividad del Rafting, este deporte originado en los Estados Unidos ha ido ganando adeptos a nivel mundial, creciendo cada vez más no sólo como una actividad deportiva de aventura, sino también como una actividad turística ya que poco a poco ha ayudado q que muchas empresas las cuales tienen como actividad económica el turismo y en especial el turismo de aventura, hayan encontrado en el kayaking y rafting un concepto nuevo que ofrecer a sus clientes.

En el Ecuador, un país privilegiado por su riqueza natural,  entre ellas sus hermosos ríos, ha permitido que el kayaking se desarrolle favorablemente, tal es así que en el Ecuador existe la ventaja de poder descender por ríos de distintos niveles de dificultad, permitiendo así que este deporte lo practiquen no solo gente con limitada experiencia, sino que también personas profesionales de alto nivel.

Es por este motivo que nuestra empresa BAREFOOT EXPEDiTIONS la cual tiene una vasta experiencia en esta actividad, ha decidido tomar la posta y desarrollar un curso de capacitación para todas aquellas personas que se quieran involucrar en el mundo del kayaking, bien sea de una manera recreativa o con un fin turístico.

Para el desarrollo de este curso se ha tomado en cuenta a profesionales de alto nivel los cuales son miembros de la empresa, quienes aparte del conocimiento y experiencia que los califica, tienen los medios y equipos necesarios para realizar este curso y presentar los mejores resultados, cubriendo con los objetivos y necesidades de las personas que decidan involucrarse en el kayaking.

Equipo a utilizar:

• Kayaks de río de distintos modelos.
• Remos utilizados en la actividad.
• Faldones.
• Chalecos salvavidas.
• Cascos
• Cuerdas de rescate.
• Botiquín de primeros auxilios

Itinerario:

Primer fin de semana (Sábado 23 y Domingo 24 de Mayo)

DIA 1:

08:00.-Salida desde Quito rumbo al río Caoní ubicado en Puerto Quito al noroccidente de la provincia de Pichincha.

10:00.-Llegada al punto de práctica
10:30.-Inicio del curso, presentación formal y la charla técnica.
13:30.- Almuerzo
14:30.- Continuación del curso, desarrollo ya en el río.
17:30.- Fin de la práctica, levantamiento del campamento.
19:00.- Merienda.

DIA 2:

07:30.- Desayuno
08:15.- Levantamiento del campamento
08:45.- Inicio del curso. Prácticas y detalles a aplicar en el río
13:30.- Almuerzo
14:30.-Continuación el curso, juegos de entrenamiento
16:30.- Fin del día y retorno hacia Quito

Segundo fin de semana (Sábado 30 y Domingo 31 de Mayo)

DIA 1:

08:00.-Salida desde Quito rumbo al río Baba ubicado en la Provincia de Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas
10:00.-Llegada al punto de inicio
10:30.-Inicio del curso, explicación de las actividades del fin de semana, técnicas de rescate
13:30.- Almuerzo
14:30.- Continuación del curso, prácticas aplicadas toma eddies, ferries, técnicas de rescate, descenso de tramos  del río.
17:30.- Fin de la práctica, levantamiento del campamento
19:00.- Merienda.

DIA 2:

07:30.- Desayuno
08:15.- Levantamiento del campamento
08:45.- Inicio del curso. Descenso del río, aplicación de los conocimientos adquiridos. Lecturas del río, peligros existentes en el río, prevenciones.
13:30.- Almuerzo.
14:30.-Continuación del curso, descenso del río, evaluación, cierre del curso, felicitaciones y despedida.
17:00.- Retorno hacia Quito

PRECIO DEL CURSO:

PRECIO NORMAL                229 USD.
PRECIO ESTUDIANTE 187 USD.

Estos precios ya incluyen todos los servicios de transporte, alimentación uso de equipos y membrecía del club.

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

Quijos river is our #2  in the Top Ten most Exciting and Beautiful Rivers in Ecuador.  A couple of weeks ago we took a group of eight “quiteños”, an hungarian and three american girls, to enjoy this unique experience rafting the Quijos river.

Quijos River, Ecuador

Once we arrived to the river shore, the guides provide the gear (neoprene wetsuit, spray jacket, helmet and paddle), then gave a safety talk, and just before starting the trip, everybody had to jump in the water to swim a smooth rapid to get wet and get used to the water´s temperature, just to be prepared in case the raft flips.

The first few rapids, we had the chance to practice paddling instructions.  Then the river starts to get interesting with tougher rapids such as ”Picapiedra” where everybody was having fun, and the ”casi me morí” where one of the rafts flipped.  Inmediately, the guide re-flipped the raft and pull everybody back to the raft.  Sometimes flips are great opportunities to realize that even you are having fun, you are actually doing an extreme sport, and still have to focus on what you are doing, in this case, working together and paddling better.

In the bigger rapids (in this case the “Toro” rapid), after scouting, the tourists (and guides) have the chance to choose either they feel like run it or not.  This time, one out of 12 decided not to do it, and we respect that a lot!.  The guides also have to make decisions, such as who would lead the rafts, who would be the safety kayaker, all these, to minimize the risk in this kind of rapids.  One of the rafts flipped at the end of the rapid, but again, the guides managed the situation an kept going.  The third and last flip ocurred when we were half way in the river.

At the end of the trip, everybody was happy and relaxed, enjoying a grear riverside buffet lunch. All of them with a new story to tell their friends.

Enjoying the canyon in Quijos river, Ecuador

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