Tena

And so it was time to leave… A boxed lunch is handed to us as we board the canoe for the last time. We really have been well looked after here and my what an experience. We are heading off to Tena where we will stay overnight before heading off to Banos in the Andes mountains.

Tena was really a pretty rough place, the river had flooded two weeks previously displacing the cobblestones on the street. Our main purpose was to have a quick laundry stop as well as exploring a “jungle” town.

It really was quite small and poor. A young boy of about 10 competently organized our laundry and I was really pleased to find it all beautifully clean and ready the next morning……..problem was to avoid pickpockets I had put $40 in a safety pocket …. Of course the pocket was empty when we got back.

One thing we enjoyed was a restaurant overlooking the river which swirled and raged. Various vessels tumbled down through the roaring eddies. It must have been an incredible sight when the storm had raged leaving behind twisted balustrades, bridges and a thriving ferry service across the river. A tribute to human enterprise.

There was a rather sad looking “zoo” full of animals from the jungle…. But we felt that we had enough close encounters of the jungle kind!

So it is the bus to Banos... who knows what is in store there!