Puyo is where the Andes finally give up and the Amazon takes over. The town is the capital of Pastaza province, at about 950 metres on the edge of the rainforest, and when you arrive after the long descent from Baños, the air feels like a warm, wet towel. The town grew from a mission and a base for oil exploration in the twentieth century, and it still serves as the commercial centre for a huge area of forest, rivers and indigenous communities of the Kichwa, Shuar and Achuar peoples.
For a rider, the destination is really the road, and Puyo is where the Route of the Waterfalls ends. After the gorge, the road flattens, runs beside the Pastaza and its tributaries through banana plantations and green slopes, with the occasional lorry carrying timber or cattle. Rain can arrive within minutes, so keep waterproofs handy and expect the surface to shine and the visor to fog. In the dry months, the heat is thick and damp, and it is better to be moving than waiting.
In town, the Omaere ethnobotanical park shows the medicinal plants and traditional houses of the local peoples, while the riverside and malecón offer a gentler walk. The jungle is close, and tour operators arrange trips to communities along the rivers, with canoe rides and guided walks in the forest. The food is different too, with fish cooked in leaves, called maito, yuca, plantain and a fermented drink made from cassava called chicha, which you will usually be offered in a village.
Puyo is a town of about twenty-five thousand, so fuel, hotels and workshops are all easy to find, and Palora, a smaller town further south, is the next place of any size in that direction. Take mosquito repellent, as evenings bring insects, and a change of clothes, as everything feels damp. The road back up toward the highlands is a memorable one in the late afternoon, when mist forms in the valleys and the climb feels like leaving another world behind.