Río El Pueblo-Los Amates-Las Cañas, El Salvador (click here for the El Salvador table of rivers)

river photo

Class: III- ; Flow: 75-500 cfs; Average Gradient: 5 m/km; Portages: short ones; Length: up to 17 km; Time: up to 3 hours

Season: June to October ; rafts? no; Highlights: nice section of rapids in the lower part; Crux move: making it to the lower part

Put-In: Río El Pueblo tributary near Guatajiagua (187 m); Take-Out: Mayucaquín (110 m)

Description: (click here for general notes about my descriptions)

The Río Los Amates is a small hard-to-catch tributary of the Río San Miguel meandering through farmland. The scenery is average though it gets better as you go down, and you may see cormorants, kingfishers, ducks, and river bats (along with unsightly trash). The water is usually too low at the start for decent kayaking and it abuses your boat, though again, it gets better as you go down.

A full description is in the Mayan Whitewater El Salvador, Honduras, & Nicaragua guidebook.

Descent History: I ran this in September 2017, with 75 cfs at the PI and 350 cfs at the TO.