We had a four day weekend for Carnival two weeks ago
( which was especially wonderful for me considering most of my
weekends are one day), and my friends, Carmen and Katie, and I
decided to make the most of it and visit somewhere we couldn't
normally go. We decided to go to the jungle, usually called simply
"el oriente" here, since I hadn't been in three years, and Carmen
had never been. Since time was still limited, and the oriente is
far away, we chose the closest of our many options, Tena.
Tena is a small city and one of the most important and pleasant in the oriente. It's only about 5 hours from Quito on the bus (go to Terminal Quitumbe in the south of Quito and ask for a bus that goes to Tena; Transporte Pelileo and Expreso Baños are two companies among many) but we were lucky going there because a student of Katie's was also going to Tena Saturday morning and offered to take us in her car with her husband. It was so sweet of them; she even gave us sandwiches, which actually resulted in some clandestine activities in the back seat. Carmen is a vegetarian, and, like almost all sandwiches in Ecuador, these sandwiches were ham and cheese. So Carmen had to sneak her ham out of her sandwich and into mine in order to avoid seeming ungrateful. She was a good sport though and she ate the cheese and bread sandwich even though it had once housed ham.
Our trip took about 4 hours in the car, crossing over the mountains and through the paramo near Papallacta (my auntie and I are going to Papallacta when she visits soon), and down into increasingly wetter, more humid, tropical forest. On the way we listened to a mix of hipster music and Mana, which was perfect in my opinion, and we chatted about the family home in the Galapagos. As we got lost elevation and got closer to Tena, we saw several people bathing in a waterfall by the road wearing underwear and decorative head wear. Katie's student told us that they were performing a cleansing ritual in the water, sort of like the rituals that include cleansing with smoke, eggs or cuyes.
Tena differs from Coca, an oil town in the north, in that it has a much more home-town, family sort of feel. Coca, on the other hand, caters mostly to oil workers or oil executives which, as you might imagine, doesn't provide the sort of dining and entertainment options a young woman would be interested in.
Tena is very much geared towards the local families and to the tourists stopping by on their way to the jungle. We saw millions of adorable children, but you will not see pictures here because I still don't know how to approach strangers to ask to take their picture. We had two odd encounters with aggressive children also. The first was a pair of children playing Carnival, which involved throwing water on or spraying foam on random passersby. Most people outside of the Carnival hot spots (including Ambato, Baños, and the beach) are decent enough to only play with other people who are playing. These children apparently hadn't heard that guideline though because they ran up and around us, managing to squirt Carmen and Katie with their little water guns. Then, the next day we were walking to breakfast down a sort of side street, just minding our own business, and as we approached a store, a small child, maybe four years old, hopped up, ran over, and hit me in the hip! It was completely unexpected, and I sort of pushed him away as he turned back to the store. He sort of stumbled and fell over the curb, but I don't feel as bad as I should because I figure I taught him a little lesson about hitting random strangers. The strangest part, as Carmen pointed out as we walked away, was how completely silent the entire transaction was: the little boy gave no war cry, I didn't yell in surprise, and the boy's grandfather was completely devoid of admonitions to his erstwhile grandson. Altogether, a very odd situation. So, be careful of adorable, violent children in Tena.
We stayed at Hostel Acurios, which was hosting several Ecuadorian families at the same time. It was pretty decent for the price ($12 per person, no breakfast), and had clean comfortable beds and a very effective fan. It also had a hot shower but I don't think any of us used the hot water because the humidity was killing us. The shower itself looked like it could use a good scrub, but otherwise the hostel was quite pleasant.
 |
| Leaf bug at Liana Lodge |
Tena is a small city and one of the most important and pleasant in the oriente. It's only about 5 hours from Quito on the bus (go to Terminal Quitumbe in the south of Quito and ask for a bus that goes to Tena; Transporte Pelileo and Expreso Baños are two companies among many) but we were lucky going there because a student of Katie's was also going to Tena Saturday morning and offered to take us in her car with her husband. It was so sweet of them; she even gave us sandwiches, which actually resulted in some clandestine activities in the back seat. Carmen is a vegetarian, and, like almost all sandwiches in Ecuador, these sandwiches were ham and cheese. So Carmen had to sneak her ham out of her sandwich and into mine in order to avoid seeming ungrateful. She was a good sport though and she ate the cheese and bread sandwich even though it had once housed ham.
Our trip took about 4 hours in the car, crossing over the mountains and through the paramo near Papallacta (my auntie and I are going to Papallacta when she visits soon), and down into increasingly wetter, more humid, tropical forest. On the way we listened to a mix of hipster music and Mana, which was perfect in my opinion, and we chatted about the family home in the Galapagos. As we got lost elevation and got closer to Tena, we saw several people bathing in a waterfall by the road wearing underwear and decorative head wear. Katie's student told us that they were performing a cleansing ritual in the water, sort of like the rituals that include cleansing with smoke, eggs or cuyes.
Tena differs from Coca, an oil town in the north, in that it has a much more home-town, family sort of feel. Coca, on the other hand, caters mostly to oil workers or oil executives which, as you might imagine, doesn't provide the sort of dining and entertainment options a young woman would be interested in.
 |
| Outside of Coca. photo from HECUA |
Tena is very much geared towards the local families and to the tourists stopping by on their way to the jungle. We saw millions of adorable children, but you will not see pictures here because I still don't know how to approach strangers to ask to take their picture. We had two odd encounters with aggressive children also. The first was a pair of children playing Carnival, which involved throwing water on or spraying foam on random passersby. Most people outside of the Carnival hot spots (including Ambato, Baños, and the beach) are decent enough to only play with other people who are playing. These children apparently hadn't heard that guideline though because they ran up and around us, managing to squirt Carmen and Katie with their little water guns. Then, the next day we were walking to breakfast down a sort of side street, just minding our own business, and as we approached a store, a small child, maybe four years old, hopped up, ran over, and hit me in the hip! It was completely unexpected, and I sort of pushed him away as he turned back to the store. He sort of stumbled and fell over the curb, but I don't feel as bad as I should because I figure I taught him a little lesson about hitting random strangers. The strangest part, as Carmen pointed out as we walked away, was how completely silent the entire transaction was: the little boy gave no war cry, I didn't yell in surprise, and the boy's grandfather was completely devoid of admonitions to his erstwhile grandson. Altogether, a very odd situation. So, be careful of adorable, violent children in Tena.
We stayed at Hostel Acurios, which was hosting several Ecuadorian families at the same time. It was pretty decent for the price ($12 per person, no breakfast), and had clean comfortable beds and a very effective fan. It also had a hot shower but I don't think any of us used the hot water because the humidity was killing us. The shower itself looked like it could use a good scrub, but otherwise the hostel was quite pleasant.
 |
| View from Chuquitos of Bella Vista Pizza and Cafe Tortuga, partially hidden by the tree. |
As far as food
went, we mostly followed the recommendation of my guidebook, The Rough
Guide to Ecuador. We ate at three places in Tena: Cafe Tortuga, Bella Vista Pizza, and Chuquitos. The pizzeria was not my favorite. The pizza was perfectly fine, but Carmen and I ordered iced mochas,
and they were very disappointing, almost no coffee at all. Also, I felt
a little funky after eating there, but that could easily be from
traveling in general. At night we ate at the place with the view of the
river. There was a gentle breeze off the river and the fried fish was
great; it tasted just like fish and chips and came with a little salad.
Carmen and I each got beers to reward our hard work in the Cavernas de Jumandy
(more on that next week), and the meal wasn't too expensive. I think
including drinks we each paid $10-12 which is expensive for Ecuador, but
I'm happy to pay that for a yummy meal that doesn't make me sick (I
have discovered through living in Ecuador that I have a very weak
stomach). On Sunday we went to Cafe de la Tortuga, which is
a cute little cafe by the river, attached to a hostel, and completely
geared towards tourists. There was a silly group of older Americans (at
least one Texan who looked like Willy Nelson) at a table near us talking
with their guide about their tours/trip. They tried to order some
things in Spanish including an egg "over easy" which, if memory serves,
they translated to "sobre facil." I frankly don't think that over-easy eggs exist in Ecuador. You usually have three options: frito, revuelto, or duro.
the breakfast was very good, with fresh coffee and everything. Carmen
and I ordered the crepes with fruit and yogurt which was delicious,
especially with a little marmalade dapped on too. The crepe
was thick and spongy and about the size of the bowl and the fruit
consisted of grapes (with seeds), pineapple, banana, and strawberries.
Overall, I would definitely recommend it for breakfast, but we were
underwhelmed with the lunch options when we returned later that day.
I tried to find a decent map of Tena online to post here but there really weren't any great options, so I will just recommend that you take a guidebook with a map because it'll make it a lot easier to find your way around. The bus terminal is at the southern end of the main street, 15 de noviembre, and has a lot of bus company options. We bought our tickets back to Quito when we arrived on Saturday so that we wouldn't be left without a seat, and we got the Expreso Baños leaving at 3:15. It got back to Quitumbe at 8:15, so it was exactly 5 hours.
Next week I'll fill you in on our trip to las Cavernas de Jumandy, the big park in Tena, and our bus trip to the canoe stop on the side of the road to Liana Lodge.
I tried to find a decent map of Tena online to post here but there really weren't any great options, so I will just recommend that you take a guidebook with a map because it'll make it a lot easier to find your way around. The bus terminal is at the southern end of the main street, 15 de noviembre, and has a lot of bus company options. We bought our tickets back to Quito when we arrived on Saturday so that we wouldn't be left without a seat, and we got the Expreso Baños leaving at 3:15. It got back to Quitumbe at 8:15, so it was exactly 5 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment