We made our way to Papallacta, via an overnight bus from the sea level city of Guayaquil to 2,850 m high Quito on Thursday night (just after listening to the wild ending of Marsh Madness and the Als on CJAD's internet feed ... technology really has changed developing world travel, but I digress) and then an early morning bus ride east up to this tiny pueblo which stands at 3,300 m on the way to the Amazon.
Papallacta is famous around here for its hot spring pools in which we were looking forward to soaking for a couple of days prior to spending the next 5 days camping in the Amazon
. The hot springs benefit from Volcan Cayambe nearby and did not disappoint. In addition, we discovered the beautiful Reserva Ecologica Cayambe-Coca, a national park located in the hills behind Termas de Papallacta to which no literature referred. We hiked UP to the entrance of the park at 3,800 m, maybe 6 km via a nice little trail along the river that starts at the Interpretation Center followed by a gravel road. Then we hiked up another 2.5 km through the park past a small laguna ... all very beautiful and we had the place virtually to ourselves. Light rains and then fine mist set in as we were making our way back, but it was all very refreshing. Half way down, a policeman in his pick up truck offered us a lift which we gladly accepted. We were dropped at Restaurante Don Wilson where we enjoyed an amazing late trucha a la plancha lunch, then we hiked back up to our hostal and soaked in the pools there for a few hours.
We'll be heading to the Amazon first thing in the morning for the next 5 days, staying at a river lodge on the Rio Napo.
Soaking it up
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Papallacta, Ecuador
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2025-02-06