Ecuador By Bus: Christmas at Las Cascadas

On Christmas Day, it was back on the bus. We hiked from our hotel to Centro and caught a bus back toward Misahuallí, but we told the driver to let us off at el camino a las cascadas (the trail to the waterfalls). Cascada Las Latas is series of waterfall we'd been told would be worth a one-hour hike to see, and we could swim when we got there.

Quick directions send us up the river.

The entrance to the trail was well marked at the highway, but after several yards, we questioned if we were at the right place. It looked like we were walking onto private property as we approached a little shed. However, soon a soft-voiced gentleman appeared who gave us a crudely drawn map and some directions and pointed us in the direction of the falls, upstream along the Río Lata.

After that, we hiked. It was a great hike, but not unlike any other hike through a forest alongside a river. Once we got to the falls, we opened our backpack and feasted on fruit, cheese and bread, rested a bit and then had a swim in the cold, cold, cold water in the pool under the falls.

As we were packing up for the hike back, another group of people arrived. They were a woman about my age, her son and the son's friend, all Ecuadorean but well traveled. The woman knew something about ayahuasca.

Just as we were leaving, the afternoon rain set in. Our hair was already wet from swimming, but the rain also soaked our clothing and shoes. It made for a long trek out. When we finally made it back to the highway, the wait for the bus was not over long, but it seemed like forever. Eventually, a bus headed toward Tena came barreling around a curve and we were able to flag it down. It was nearly empty, but when we started to take seats, the driver forbade us to sit. Our wet clothes condemned us to stand in the aisle for the entire drive back to Tena.