Ecuador is the shit! By far my favorite winter boating trip, it's sooo easy to get around and boat a ton on your own, which in my opinion is the only way to go. It is super easy to get around with a boat- compared to Central America where it's a pain because the people are shiesters, and try and take advantage of gringos, or Chile & Argetina where you need a truck because the boating is spread out, ecuador is super simple! Fly to Quito with a copy of Small World Adventures guide book, and $1000 and your set. The small World guide book is key, and their nice folks, they also have about 50 boats to rent, they have all the new and old boats. If your not planning on trying to sneak a boat on the airplane with the ol' "it's surf equipment" tactic you can researve on with them to make sure you get the boat you want. If you can't sneak one on, no worries you can get one of their older ones that isn't being used by there clients. I broke my boat and rented a wavesport Y, and my buddy rented a gus without reserving one. Rodrigo in Baeza also has a few boats. Any how, it's super easy hop busses to the three major boating areas- Baeza, Tena, Banos. From there hostels are cheap $5-$10 a night, and you can hire taxi drivers with quad cab trucks that know put-in and take-out's. Shuttling kayakers is nothing new for them. Also, you can hitch rides in equador by standing on the side of a road, and giving the driver $1 or so depending on the distance your going. Everyone has quad-cab trucks, so just boat down a run and pack a few straps to strap your boats on. Traveling is cheap, super easy, and everyone is friendly, you don't really have to worry to much about getting stuff stolen. The boating is amazing, practicly every creek or river is runnable around the boating towns. Your back will defanetly be sore from all the boofing!
