I joined Peter-Paul, Ben and Nicki, Manuel and Elia in the comedor for breakfast. I stuffed down a dry bulk of bread, cheese, bananas and hard-boiled eggs. Peter-Paul supplied some great all milk coffee to wash it down.
The young boy who worked as a cleaner cum receptionist mopped the floor and stared curiously at the funny gringos. Next it was up to my room to pack, cramming everything into my rucksack once again. I then joined Ben and Nicki waiting in the sunny courtyard outside of the hotel reception.
Eventually, Manuel and Elia appeared and finally Peter-Paul (and Marie!) sauntered across with his baggy straw hat with the hotel parrot perched on top. I paid my bill, which was 1,500 Sucres for five nights, and we walked down to the Bus Station where a bus for Tena was just loading up.
We set off at 12:15 hrs. bumping along and extremely rough dirt road along a deep river valley. Numerous waterfalls poured down the steep sides of the gorge. The journey took five hours, passing through Puyo, the capital of the Oriente Region, which had an impressive new Bus Terminal and a number of new concrete buildings going up between the rambling old wooden houses.
The Oriente (Spanish: Región amazónica) is a region of eastern Ecuador, comprising the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes and the lowland areas of rainforest in the Amazon basin. It is bordered on the north by San Miguel and Putumayo rivers and on the east and south by Peru.
En route to Puyo we had to register at the military checkpoint at Shell-Mera where our passports were stamped. Shell (also Shell Mera) is a city located on the western edge of the Ecuadorian Amazon and in the eastern foothills of the Andes. It is located about 94 miles (151 km) southeast of Quito, and roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the provincial capital, Puyo. Its name comes from the Royal Dutch Shell corporation.
Each village that we passed through, no matter how humble, had its volleyball court with an appropriate number of spectator benches, a church and the usual mass of political graffiti on every blank space of wall.
We jumped off the bus at Puerto Napo on the Napo River and shared a litre of Coca Cola while waiting at the concrete bus shelter. A local sports team was also accumulated here, and some kids played marbles in the dust.
Large birds soared above us. We got the lorry/bus for fifty Sucres to Misahuallí, a charming village considered the oldest port in the Ecuadorian Amazon. It is located 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) southeast of Tena at the junction of the Napo and Misahuallí rivers. We arrived here and got off the bus into the scruffy plaza.
Most of the buildings appear to be hotels or jungle tour offices. We did a survey of the hotels and finally decided on the bamboo edifice “Sacha” just off the beach on the river. Here a room cost 300 Sucres per night.
The others leapt straight into the river, but I was a bit more cautious and stayed on the bank guarding their valuables. There was a mean current coming down from the rapids.
Night fell quickly and a chorus of insect song began. There was no light or water in the bathroom where the light switch, as it was in our room, consisted of two exposed wires that you hooked together to make up the circuit.
We went out to dine in El Paisano, a restaurant that served good churrasco (a South American dish of steak barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire) and great banana pancakes. Peter-Paul kept us amused with a string of anecdotes and stories while we ate.
Back in our humid hotel room we encountered a wealth of insect life. Squeals and exclamations signalled similar discoveries in the other bedrooms. We evicted the largest of the bug life and Peter-Paul, a diabetic, injected himself with insulin.
The hotel manager began a conversation with Peter-Paul through the thin bamboo walls. He explained that “here there are many insects, but they are all friendly; in Holland you have many cows”. “Yes”, replied Peter-Paul, “but they are not in our bedrooms”!
We dropped off to sleep quickly despite the dank humidity and the thrum of insect noise. Cocks and hens settled down for the night in the communal bathroom.
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