Travel Guide Baeza

After Papallacta, the road deteriorates rapidly, often damaged by landslides and rains. Coming from the capital, the road to Baeza is wild and beautiful. This route is known to have been taken by Francisco de Orellana during his quest for El Dorado which led him to the Amazon. Baeza was founded in 1548. Today it is a serene town where the population is mainly dedicated to cattle breeding. A small traditional church adorns the central park. After Baeza, the road continues north to Lago Agrio, offering beautiful postcard landscapes on the Coca River. Until 2020, you could admire the highest waterfall in the country, the San Rafael waterfall, which unfortunately disappeared with the construction of a dam upstream. To the south, the road continues towards Tena. The mountain landscapes become less and less desolate, and give way little by little to green valleys where the vegetation gains in exuberance. The air warms up as the altitude decreases, and a more and more humid and suffocating heat invades the atmosphere. From Archidona onwards, the stony track, which is not very kind to travellers' backs and vehicles' shock absorbers, becomes a more civilised asphalt road.