(I’m over a week behind after 5 days riding and the internet here, way south of my last post, is super slow for image uploading, so the next four posts will be brief)
The third and final leg of my little out-and-back Amazon adventure is the road to Banos.
But first, for riders, we found a terrfic lodge in Misahualli, the Banana Lodge, on a river to hang out at. $18 a night and the best place at that price in a few countries
It’s right on this great swimming river. Don’t pee in the water or a tiny candiru fish may swim up your urinary tract and require surgical removal. Really.
Tons of butterflies on the banks. To the right of the boat
Butterflies are the thing in Ecuador
Catch a red one in flight
Swarm! Well, almost
It’s a ten minute walk into town for meals. Misahualli is a very small village and has monkeys in the main square
We get a bus into the nearest largish town, Tena. Tena is a dump. It’s the objective of riders to identify dumps in advance and not get caught overnighting in the palces like Tena, although it often happens. Often there’s no choice, like Coca a couple of days ago. Anyway, here are some flattering shots
Central Park
If they had a tourist attraction this bridge would be it
On the flip side, Tena is big enough to have maybe 100 taxis and they all cruise up and down the main street. As soon as we get in the cab the driver honks at another cab. I ask why, he says mi amigo. Then he honks again at another, and another, and they’re all honking at him and each other. So we cruise down the mainstreet listening to all this and for some reason I think this is the best thing in the world and crack up, happily thinking what a great thing the Latin American community, again, is.
The next day we ride to Banos. We’re headed there to end my trip idea and start Ben’s route the next day. It’s his turn and he has a cool plan
The day’s track
It rains heavily most of the way. Some shots of when it wasn’t. Dense jungle
Another beautiful rio
A tropical canyon. Fantastic riding through this for maybe 100 miles
And into Banos, a town famous for hotsprings
A typical street
My front tire pressure is low (again) and I can’t find my pencil guage which used to live in my tank bag so I drive around looking for a parts store and find Auto Fantastico. Awesome name, typical
And run into this guy, who left Vancouver 35 years ago. I think, wow, one of the very few who left. The only reasonable explanation is maybe another Canuck’s playoff disaster affected him deeply
