THE ORIENTE

“El Oriente,” muses Henri Michaux in Ecuador: A Travel Journal, “an Ecuadorian says this word as if it were Paris: both dangerous, hard to reach, and presumably awe-inspiring.” Though Ecuador’s eastern half isn’t as dangerous as it once was—the Shuar indígenas no longer perform their famous head-shrinking ritual, at least not on humans—it remains the wildest part of the country, with thousands of square kilometers accessible only by motorized canoe or airplane. And it still has the ability, in its fiery sunsets, endless coiling rivers, and sheer explosion of life, to leave you speechless in wonder that a place like this still exists on earth—especially one you can visit so easily and inexpensively.

  The Oriente (literally, “the East”) comprises everything east of the Ecuadorian Andes, which by most definitions approaches half the country, but only 5 percent of the country’s people live there. Although the Pacific defines the coast and the mountains comprise the Sierra, the Oriente finds its heart in the rivers that tie it to the Amazon basin and, eventually, the Atlantic Ocean. The inexorable waters can undercut a huge clay bank or snip a bend overnight, stranding an oxbow kilometers long. The muddy Río Napo, more than one kilometer wide in spots, drains the Ríos Coca and Aguarico and heads off into Peru. Colombia’s Amazon lies across the Río Putumayo to the north. Farther south, the Río Pastaza flows from Sangay National Park.

  The Quijos region east of Coca was well known to the Incas, who ventured downhill to meet lowland tribes in peace and battle. It was also the first area east of the Andes to be penetrated by the Spanish. The anniversary of the European discovery of the Amazon River (February 12) is still celebrated in jungle cities with markets and fairs. Within a few centuries after European contact most of the region’s tens of thousands of inhabitants had fallen victim to smallpox and cholera. The remaining cultures, splintered and scattered, were safe—for the moment.

  The discovery of oil in the 1960s brought this once-stagnant backwater into the national consciousness. In the north, the oil pipeline serves as a constant reminder of the vast reserves that make Ecuador the third-largest oil exporter in Latin America, while simultaneously wielding the power to obliterate entire cultures and ecosystems within decades.

  Throughout the region, Quechua words on maps show the influence of the Lowland Quechua, who inhabit the foothills and forests in western Napo and northern Pastaza provinces. Also in the north are pockets of Siona/Secoya and Cofán. The Huaorani have a huge reserve in central Napo province and spill over into Yasuní National Park. To the south, the Shuar and Achuar saw their ancestral lands divided and torn by the decades-old border dispute with Peru, which ended in 1998.

Papallacta Hot Springs: Start your visit to the Oriente with a soak at these hot springs on the road from Quito—perhaps after a hike through the Piñan Lakes nearby. (read more)

Napo Wildlife Center: One of the newest lodges in the Ecuadorian Amazon is run by an indigenous community down the Río Napo that is happy to show you the wonders of their unspoiled home. (read more)

Tena: A white-water and jungle-tour hotspot, Tena is easier to reach than most other cities in the Oriente and a pleasant place to spend a few days exploring. (read more)

Yachana Lodge: A visit to this lodge down the Napo River from Tena is a fascinating educational experience—go on a rainforest hike and then enjoy a cup of coffee made from beans you picked yourself and roasted over an open fire. (read more)

Kapawi Ecolodge: Reachable only by float plane, Kapawi is Ecuador’s most remote (and luxurious) Amazon experience. (read more)