Roaming South America

Puyo, Ecuador: A Pleasant Amazon Town That Just Works

January 31, 2026

Puyo, Ecuador - on the Amazon side of the Andes Mountains in central Ecuador, has a population of around 34,000 in the town and maybe closer to 40,000 in the metropolitan area. I've been here for four days. This is my fourth visit. That brings me to ten days here. Puyo is an Amazon town, surrounded by the rain forest, with the Rio Pindo Grande running through the town on one side, and the Puyo River running along the other side. Across the Puyo River is all jungle. The town, while not historic or loaded with historic buildings, is a very pleasant place to stay if you're passing through this region.

The town is one of my favorites in Ecuador. Here, people don't blast their horns, traffic is generally respective of pedestrians, motorcycles do not flood the streets with their racket and 2-cycle pollution. There are none of those awful 'moto-taxis,' the 3-wheelers that are the worst of the worst offenders of both noise and air pollution. The town has some nice parks that are maintained and clean, and this surprised me - there are almost no futbol (soccer) fields. That is very unusual. Here, in Puyo, you will find many volleyball courts. They're in every neighborhood. Right across the street from my hotel are two, and they are crowded every evening, and people also BBQ during the games.

You'll also find lots of coffee shops here, though they all have only espresso machines. I mention that because, in my opinion, espresso machines do not make good coffee. I suppose they make great espresso, but since I don't drink that stuff, other than a rare cappuccino, I am only guessing on that. But for real, proper coffee, you'll be hard-pressed to find any. And that's unfortunate, but common throughout South America. And, along those same lines, you'll be hard-pressed to find top-quality packaged ground coffee in any store. So, that's my only complaint about Puyo.

Puyo does get some rain, though, which you have to expect being in the Amazon. Every day that I've been here, the mornings have been rainy, usually between 9 and 11 am. Then it stops and rarely rains again on the same day. I've seen some threats of rain, a few drops, in the afternoon, but you can pretty much count on rain in the morning.

If you happen to be visiting the Amazon side of Ecuador, maybe travelling from Loja north, visit Puyo, skip Macas. Then stop in Tena, as well. There are lots of "touristic communities" in the region. I tend to avoid tourist areas and prefer to visit the "real" towns and people. But, if you're interested in that "tourist" experience with the supposedly "native" dancing and food, go for it. For me, the real heart of a trip isn't found in the tourist locations, it's found in the towns and talking with the local people. And Puyo is a good place to do that.