Bus drivers in South America are pretty crazy at the best of times, but the driver taking us from Coca to Tena was on a suicide mission and he didn't care if he took all his passengers with him! The road climbed into the mountains with steep drops at every bend, however this driver was keen to take every corner at break neck speed! After 3 hours on this white knuckle ride, we arrived in Tena grateful to be still alive.

The following day we planned to visit Parque Amazónico - a park on an island in Rio Tena with a small zoo and pleasant walks. However, the small bridge had been washed away in a resent storm! Not wanting to give up, we found a man with a boat who took us across the river for $4. On the island we meet the zoo keeper who explained that the tapir had run off into the jungle. We went off in search of the beast but had no luck, the closest we got was a rustle in the bushes (but that might have just been a bird!). But there were plenty of other animals to see including a boa & anaconda, a hairy jungle pig, tortoises, a porcupine, an anteater and three types of monkey.

Later that day we caught a bus to Baños hoping we wouldn't be in for another near death experience!

Check out ‘Ecuador - Coca to Baños’ at http://gallery.me.com/peterjprice/101712