Experience the best of Puyo

Puyo is the capital of Pastaza Province, in the eastern foothills of the Andes in Ecuador, at about 950 metres on the Puyo River, a tributary of the Pastaza. The name comes from a Kichwa word meaning cloudy, and the area is wet and often overcast. The city was founded in 1899 by a Dominican missionary, and a monument honours the peoples of Pastaza.

Pastaza is the largest province in Ecuador, a country of rivers, rainforest and indigenous communities, among them Kichwa, Shuar, Achuar and Waorani. The road from Baños runs down the Pastaza valley past waterfalls and gorges to Puyo, and roads continue north to Tena and south to Macas. A riverside viewpoint, a cathedral and an ethno-archaeological museum stand in town.

Fish and chicken wrapped in leaves and cooked over embers are staples of the Amazon table, served with yuca and green plantain, with chicha, the fermented cassava drink, alongside. A pre-Lent carnival and a festival of the chonta palm mark the year. More than four metres of rain falls on Puyo in a year.