Don't just visit
the Amazon.
Live in it.
Three days with a Kichwa family at Pimpilala: rainforest trails, waterfalls, medicinal plants, cacao and one very big river.
The lodge isn't
the experience.
The family is.
A few hours from Quito, the Andes begin dropping toward Ecuador's Amazon basin. Roads narrow. The air gets warmer. Forest starts taking over.
Near Tena, the journey changes again.
Pimpilala isn't about checking into a jungle hotel and watching the Amazon from the balcony. For three days, a local Kichwa family becomes your host, your connection to the forest and your introduction to a way of life shaped by this landscape.
You walk. You listen. You get muddy. You learn why certain plants matter. You follow trails toward waterfalls. You turn cacao into chocolate.
And on the final day, the river gets the last word.
Delfín Pauchi Uhigua
Before Pimpilala was an experience for travellers, it was home.
Delfín is the founder behind the Pimpilala experience and part of the family opening this corner of the Amazon to visitors.
The forest here isn't scenery added to a tour. It's part of the family's everyday landscape — a place connected to food, plants, water, stories and generations of accumulated knowledge.
You aren't arriving to observe someone's Amazon. You're being invited into it.
The forest has
its own staircase.
It leads to waterfalls.
Meet the family.
Meet the forest.
Leave the Andes behind and travel toward Tena and the Ecuadorian Amazon, where your hosts welcome you into their community and home.
Your first afternoon is deliberately personal: walk through the surrounding forest toward a viewpoint, learn about medicinal plants and their traditional uses, and discover the natural materials that have long been part of life here.
The natural mud face treatment may not come with fluffy slippers, but your rainforest credentials improve dramatically.
Waterfalls first.
Chocolate later.
After breakfast, head into the forest for a full-day exploration toward the Pimpilala waterfalls.
Along the way, the jungle becomes the classroom. Learn about trees, plants and the smaller details that disappear when you move through the rainforest too quickly.
Then return home for one of the tastier lessons of the trip.
Follow cacao from its beginnings through the traditional preparation process and eventually to the part nobody needs convincing to participate in: tasting it.
Some lessons are
better eaten.
Cacao has been part of Amazonian life for thousands of years. Here, you don't just taste the finished product. You help make it.
No lobby.
No buffet line.
Good.
Accommodation is simple, local and surrounded by the sounds of the Amazon.
Meals are part of the experience too, another chance to sit down, slow down and spend time with the people who actually live here.
Meet Rolando.
The knowledge doesn't stop with one generation.
Delfín's son Rolando is part of the family continuing the experience, sharing the forest, traditions and everyday life of Pimpilala with the people who make the journey here.
That's one of the things we value most about community tourism: travel can help make local knowledge economically valuable at home, instead of requiring the next generation to leave it behind.
The Amazon
turns up the volume.
After breakfast, swap jungle trails for paddles.
The Upper Napo is known locally as the Jatunyacu “big water” in Kichwa and today you'll understand why the name fits.
With professional rafting guides and safety equipment, take on waves and rapids through one of the great river landscapes of Ecuador's Amazon basin.
Somewhere along the river, pause for lunch. Then continue toward the end of the journey and the return toward Quito.
Three days.
Three very different Amazons.
“The three days went by so fast and the mix between cultural experience and adventure was quite unique.”
Nadine also praised Delfín, Rolando and their family as wonderful hosts, and described the rafting finale and overall organization as highlights of the journey.
NADINE · SWITZERLAND SEE PIMPILALA ON GOOGLE →What's included.
Included
- Accommodation at Pimpilala
- Meals according to the itinerary
- Bilingual naturalist guide
- Excursions according to the program
- Jungle and waterfall experience
- Cacao experience
- Rafting experience
- Quito transport when private transport option is selected
Not Included
- Quito transport when choosing the public transport option
- Drinks
- Tips
- Personal expenses
- Anything not specified in the program
Choose how
you get there.
The experience is the same. The difference is how independently you want to travel between Quito and Tena.
Private transport can be added for a door-to-door journey. Travellers comfortable using Ecuador's public transport can start the program from Tena instead.
Private transport charges shown above are added to the tour price. Contact us if you'd like help choosing the best transport option for your group.
BOOK YOUR EXPERIENCEThis one is personal.
Traditional
Medicinal plants, cacao, local knowledge and time spent with the family who calls this forest home.
Participatory
You're not watching Amazon life through a window. Walk it, taste it, ask questions and get involved.
Adventure
Waterfalls, rainforest trails and a final day on the Jatunyacu make sure this never turns into a three-day lecture.
Leave knowing
someone's name.
That's the difference between seeing a place and actually meeting it.
BOOK YOUR EXPERIENCE