Tena Hotels - Reviews and Rates

For two weeks, we volunteered at the Arajuno Jungle Lodge, owned by Tom who made his way to Ecuador back his days as a Peace Corps volunteer. To get there, we hopped on a bus from Quito to Tena where we ran into the cab driver we had met with my mom. We figured he would give us an honest rate to the Arajuno River, and Tom laughingly told us ...

My first day of teaching (with Tom) today, at the Carlos Tomas Ribadeneira primary school, also in the San Jorge area of Tena; it's only a five minute walk from Bilma's house. The teaching is not quite what I expected. I was told that the pupils would only have basic English knowledge, which indeed is the case - they only have basic vocabulary a...

A six hour bus ride from Quito in the mountains to Tena in the lower Amazon Basin this morning. Some parts of the journey could have got 'interesting' where the road, cut into the sides of the mountains, is being re-done and is only a single lane, but fortunately the bus didn't meet much other traffic!

I was expecting Tena to be a small r...

After breakfast once we were fitted into wellie boots, we were joined by Pedro our local guide. He lead us through the jungle on a small path. Of course the start was mostly uphill and I quickly discovered I´m the slowest in the group. Pedro and Fernando pointed out the native apples and non native lime trees. Which we got to have a taste of. Al...

The Amazon stretches out before us wild and vast beckoning us into the jungle. We look ridiculous clad head to foot in drab safari shirts, big hats and long trousers tucked into our socks. Sven is the only one who can pull off a stylish outfit...Tushi has a more interesting drapey look. Our guide Fausto steps off the dug out canoe in bright colo...

This entry is a month and a half late in coming, but it's important to get some of this down anyway, even if its abbreviated. The rainforest was AMAZING. To summarize briefly, i saw 8 species of monkeys, 3 species of poison darts frogs, a bajillion birds, 4 snakes, tarantulas, ants that sting bad enough to keep you in bed for a day, moths the si...

Crossing over a suspension bridge, we accessed La Isla, an "amazonian park" on an island in the middle of town, on the river. A circuit took us around the island, past many species of plants and trees. A first contact with Ecuadorian forest, the variety of vegetation was amazing. There was also a kind of small zoo, where some animals were kept i...

Getting out of Otavalo was a bit of a problem due to the locals protesting about a lack of water. They decided to blockade the main roads which meant a long journey over rough single track roads high up in the mountains. We ended up camping overnight by some hot springs which were really nice for relaxing in. It gets quite cold at 3000m so I was...

The Oriente with thunderous rivers and lots of mosquitos.

I don't have the time to do a full account of my jungle adventure at the moment but there is one story I need to share. The story starts the previous day when we get back to the lodge. As the canoe pulls in I notice on one of the posts on the dock a rather large spider, about as big as your hand. I take a picture of it and forget about it. The ...