Ecuador - Coca to Tena to Banos

Sept 4 Coca to Tena

We really enjoyed staying at La Selvia Jungle Lodge. It’s right up there with diving and swimming with whale sharks in terms of our best travel experiences. Many thanks to Luis and Boliviar, who are the best guides we ever had. Also, many thank to the staffs; next time we hope to have the energy for afternoon soccer!

After four days of early mornings, and three activities per day, a long bus ride is starts to look like serious R&R. We speed canoe back to Coca, and then catch a bus heading south to Tena. Tena makes a perfect stay-over point as we start a week long loop to get back to the Pan-American Highway.


Sept 5 Tena

Tena is located at the intersection of two rivers in the foothills of the Amazon jungle, giving it a cooler tropical climate. With many Amazon tributaries nearby, Tena is Ecuador’s white water rafting capital.

We sign up with River People for a 30 km rafting day trip down the Jatunyacu River. After an hour drive and 45 minute hike down a canyon, we gear up and launch the raft. Joining us is a couple from London, our rafting guide, and a safety guide who follows by river kayak.

Our boat, ready for loading

It’s a beautiful river flowing through a Jungle canyon. For 30 km we don’t see any people, until we reach the take out beach. The rapids are mostly class III with a few class IV sections. We paddle underneath waterfalls, and enjoy butterflies and birds they fly by. In one moment, the safety guide spots a leak in the boat. Our rafting guide comes to the front of the boat to check it, and then throws us all overboard.

The guides in Ecuador are excellent; probably better than anywhere we’ve visited. Most guides have bachelor’s degrees in tourism from universities in Ecuador where they learn English and Ecology. Aside from being rafting experts, our guides know every bird and insect in the jungle. During lunch, our guides even make fresh guacamole, and ice a cake!

Our group below a waterfall

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Sept 6 Tena to Banos, by Bus


We catch a bus heading west, and climb back into the Andes, getting off in Banos. Banos is a tourist town, popular with Ecuadorians for weekends and holidays. The city is famous for its thermal mineral baths, created by the locally active volcano, which erupted in 1999. We are hoping that the baths provide magic elixir for the no-see-em bites we got while rafting in Tena.

We check into the Hostela Plantas and Blanco. The hotel is like a college dorm, packed with young western student studying Spanish.

Mineral Baths (cold, 90 deg warm, and 120 deg hot), with mountain views

Sept 7 Banos

In the morning, we visit the baths and look around town. Banos is also famous for their taffy makers, who pull the taffy by hand street-side, using a stick mounted to a wall.

Pulling Taffy street-side

We catch up on the internet, relax and read in the hotel.

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Sept 8 Banos to Riobambo by bus

After another morning trip to the baths, we catch a one hour bus to Riobamba and check into the Hotel Tren Dorado.