Today we headed for the thermal pools at Papallacta up in the mountains and on our way back to Quito, but before leaving the area we took a drive into the town of Tena to see another jungle park mentioned in our guide book. Tena is a sizable town that is becoming a significant tourist destination for those seeking a jungle experience or kayakers seeking access to the rivers and rapids of the area. It also looked like the town was trying to rebuild itself to cater to those tourists as roads were being dug up everywhere.

The park turned out to be quite a treat. Lots of interesting plants with placards in English so we could understand what the plants were used for, but mostly for the animals. Cats, pigs, monkeys, (not their actual names of course) and a few that I cannot give colloquial names to. Really a nice experience.

Then the climb back into the mountains and Papallacta. Another spectacular mountain road - this sure is an amazing country. They build roads over the most demanding terrain and then have to work non stop to keep nature from reclaiming them. From Tena at 3000ft we climbed to this little village of Papallacta at just short of 11,000 ft. In doing so we gradually left behind the humid hot jungle and entered into cloud forests, still humid but cool to cold.

Papallacta - means potato land

The village is very small, one street, perched on the side of a hill and composed of run down dwellings and a few suspect restaurants. But - at the top end of the village is Las Termes De Papallacta a hotel, spa and thermal pool complex that is really quite an up market establishment. We headed straight for the spa and ordered ourselves 2 1/2 hours of mud packs, massages and assorted pampering. Very enjoyable.

Some advice for other travelers. If we had it to do over again we would not drive from Cuenca to Limon and up the Orient Road. The road is mostly good but the scenery, while tropical, is mostly the same. We would invest the time we spent driving, in staying in and around Tena and going out to Coca and Largo Agrio. We would get to the area from Ambato, through Banos and then North to the Tena/Coca area and then back to Quito through Papalacta.

So what's with the statue? As other travelers have commented, many Ecuadorian towns have statues at the entrance to the towns or in the town squares. They are striking, but not necessarily attractive. This one reminded Nina of a horror movie - baby and machete!!