The Amazon in a day from Baños: rainforest, waterfall, Kichwa community and canoe

We leave Baños by private transport along the Waterfalls Route, where the Andes open onto the Amazon basin. First stop is a market in Puyo to taste seasonal fruit or the traditional roasted chontacuro grub, then a guided hike in the Hola Vida reserve, with medicinal plants, local wildlife and a jungle waterfall for a swim, before a local lunch. In the afternoon we visit an Indigenous Kichwa community to learn about their daily life, pottery and blowgun hunting, take a 30-minute wooden canoe ride and climb to the Indichuris viewpoint over the confluence of the Pastaza and Puyo rivers, with hammocks and a swing. We finish at a cacao farm, from pod to hot chocolate, and are back in Baños around 8 pm. Community-based tourism, in small groups with certified local guides.