Just in case anyone is in the mood for an international paddling trip sometime soon:

I've been in S. America (Colombia and Peru) for the past few months, and though I wasn't able to bring boating gear to Colombia like I wanted (work trip), I did get to paddle the Rio Suarez back in late April (I think). 

I did the commercial/daily section of the Suarez, which is about an hour from San Gil, the adventure sports capitol of Colombia.  The trip was a good half day, I'd say 5 miles or so.  The river was at a moderate level, I think it was 3.4 meters, which seemed to be about 3000 CFS.  It was a really bitchin' run, starting out with some IIIs and building progressively to a big V-.  The rapids are big shoals, i.e. channels in unconsolidated gravel and boulders in the river bed, but not really 'boulder garden' rapids.  No bedrock and no gorges, but it's steep (80 fpm?) and the rapids are long, steep and often technical.  Sometimes the bigger ones are a boofy at the top, sometimes not, but they all basically end in 7-10 foot waves by the end.  The water is warm and so is the air, and there was always a floodplain on one side, so if you needed to bail you could walk the river out.  It was pool drop but the pools were short, and rapids were plentiful.  Even the IIIs were super fun--huge waves.  After the halfday I was ready to get out, but of course I was basically carried out of the salsa club the night before.

I went with Colombia Rafting in San Gil, and they were awesome and gave me no grief about wanting to kayak.  I've met one of their old guides on the White Salmon and did some name dropping, but they may have let me kayak anyway, I'm not sure.  My friends rafted, and the guide had an 8 load in a stern frame and made it look easy.  (Some guy who had never been rafting before that said at the takeout that he now thought rafting class V must be pretty safe).  The safety kayaker was also really good and professional.

Colombia is a phenomenal place to paddle, and I'm bummed I didn't have more time to kayak.  I did get to see a fair amount of the Eastern Cordillera, and the rivers are pretty astounding.  San Gil is where the paddling scene is most developed, with a handful of bigger water multidays (class III to V) and a lot of creeks around.  Chicamocha Canyon in particular is an amazing desert canyon, national park quality.  The rest of the country has a ton of whitewater as well but for various reasons it's not as well mapped out.  There is a guidebook by Mark Hentzee and someone else (forgot and didn't bring it to Peru), which is pretty informative and entertaining.  They are badass boaters and paddled around with Ben Stookesbury, Tyler Bradt, etc. and based on the Suarez I would give their ratings an extra plus or two relative to WA ratings, so cuidate.

The country is much safer than it used to be, and is a lot more developed than most realize, especially in the cities.  There are still some security issues, but I think dirtbag kayakers are not typically targets.  In general it's safer than Mexico and I think should be a comparable paddling destination.  The food isn't as good, but the mountains are bigger and the music is better...

In any case I'm looking forward to being home and once I get the requisite wife and dog time in, I'll be seeing yall out on the trickles again.