RTW North to South: Banos to Tena

MS – Monday, January 1^st – Happy New Year for real now! This morning we met up at our hostel at 10AM. We took off in the rain and headed out for Tena, our destination for the day. We rode through the Banos area passing all the zip line tours and giant swings that are offered for tourist pleasures. Not a lot of action on the morning after the big party and the cold rain was a deterrent as well. The streets seemed extremely clean and picked up considering what we had experienced the day before. Neatly placed bags of trash lined the sidewalks. There were some smoldering fires here and there with remnants of doll arms and legs sticking out that were disturbing. Then a small parade of 6 or so vehicles came towards us. Each filled with people still in drag or costumes. Some sitting on top of the car roof, others in the back of trucks. The final one had a creepy clown on top and that was all I needed to see. Glad that NYE is officially over!

We continued in the rain and we started descending in altitude out of the volcano mountain region and into the Amazon valley. We passed tons of waterfalls and crossed many bridges over rivers. All of the rivers were flowing fast and looked like chocolate milk. We pulled over once for a look but the rain had all the camera lenses fogged up so we kept riding. The trees and foliage are thick and there is a true jungle feel. We stopped for lunch on the side of the road around 1PM. Today’s lunch was superior. We actually had some options. Ken and I had fried tilapia and Chip ordered chicken. We were served a pitcher of juice to start. Then we were all served a bowl of soup filled with hominy and one potato each as well as a large slice of stew bone. The section still had skin on it. I’m going to guess it was pork leg. It came with a quarter of a lime to squeeze over it all. It was delicious, especially on a cold rainy damp afternoon. Our lunch plates arrived and Chip had a HUGE piece of chicken (boneless) that made up for yesterday where the luck of the hatchet wasn’t kind to him and he drew the short straw with a back piece. He also had French fries, rice with ham and vegetables mixed in, and stewed beans. Ken and I received whole fried fish, plain rice, and tostones (smashed and twice fried plantains). The table also received two bowls of purple onion and tomato pieces marinated in a vinegar based sauce. We were in no hurry so we enjoyed it all to the tune of a bill of $10 total.

We rode the remaining 40k or so into Tena and pulled over to get a “pin” on the map of our hostel. It was advertised as “one mile from town with a view of the city”. That would be one mile straight up the side of a mountain. At one point, following Ken, we got to the top of a very steep road and turned left, only to discover it was a divided road with a median and we were headed into oncoming traffic. Details, details…I had to back down a little on the steep road to get turned around and headed in the right direction. We arrived just fine and the view is amazing. Lots of birds, big and small, that you can see and hear from the back patio area and from our rooms. We saw a cool hummingbird in the garden.

We went out tonight into the town. We took a taxi down for $1.25. Well worth it. We walked around and saw a plethora of Christmas lights on a foot bridge that they have over the river. There was plenty of street food available. “Meat” on a stick of several varieties and grilled corn seemed to be the most prevalent. My personal favorite is a hot dog on a stick cut into a curly fry shape to make it appear fancier. Then you can hold it off to the side and drizzle it with whatever your favorite condiment is letting the excess fall to the ground. We ended up at a pizza place that took forever but the pizza was good once it arrived. We walked around the corner for ice cream while waiting to hail a taxi. It was ok but seriously nothing beats the choco-banana pre-packaged we have been enjoying all over the country.

Headed back to Quito tomorrow. Hoping for a great last day of riding. The end of the trip for me and the boys need to keep heading south.