Loreto - Orellana - Ecuador

Loreto has an infinite variety of ecosystems, landscapes and climates. It is bathed by crystalline rivers that enjoy peace and tranquility, from the deep jungle to the high mountain. With great majesty, the great colossal Sumaco Volcano and the Galeras mountain range rise up from the strange jungle of the mother jungle, forming wonderful cascades, caverns, natural pools, fossils, petrifications, fast rivers for the practice of extreme sports such as rafting, kayak or tubing.

It is the home of human settlements from the Kichwa nationality. Loreto is located in the vicinity of the Napo Galeras National Park declared a Biosphere Reserve for the World by UNESCO, where the Sumaco volcano is located.

Climate of Loreto

Loreto has a tropical climate. The rainy season is between the months of March to July. The average annual temperature is 24 ° C.

Biodiversity of Loreto

In this place there are varieties of ornamental and wooden plants such as: hen's blood, tamburu, fine colorado, apple tree, laurel, cedar, mahogany, heliconias, bromeliads, mosses, ferns and others.

Wildlife of Loreto

Among the animals that exist in this area you can cite the following: tiger, puma, parrots, guantas, armadillos, sajino, titi, guatusa, among others.

Gastronomy of Loreto

Maito.- is made with Yaki-panga leaf, these cover food like fish (bocachico, sábalo, carachama, cachama and tilapia), yuyu (palmito), bush meat, which are roasted in firewood, also accompanied by This dish is typical yucca, plantain and chili (optional) and finally the delicious chicha rate of yucca or chonta.

Mazamorra.- The elaboration of this delicious dish is done first by scratching or grinding the green banana and it is deposited in a pot with boiling water-salt, and it is continuously mixed, then the food is introduced either meat or fish, to that has the texture of a true dish of porridge.

Loreto drinks

Chicha de Yucca - First, the yucca is cooked, then it is transferred to the pan where it is kneaded and mixed with mote to be deposited in a container, where it will ferment in one or two days. Once this process is finished, this drink is tasted.

More meals from Loreto
Carachama, chontacuro, chicha de chonta, ripe chicha, borojo, vinillo and guayusa.

Tourist attractions of Loreto

Carachupa Pakcha in Loreto

It is a Community Tourism Center, managed by the inhabitants of the Jumandi community. This place has a waterfall, which rises from the carachupa estuary, and allows the formation of a natural pool of 17m x 10m in diameter, and a depth of 3 m. The fall of water has a height of 6 m. On the site you can perform activities such as: hiking trails and canoeing. The community offers food services, sale of handicrafts, and presentation of Kichwa dances

Miracle of God Cavern in Loreto

This place is a system of caverns with a single entrance, which has a corridor of 140 m. long; here you can see inner slopes of pure and crystalline water that spring from the depths of the earth. Access to this attraction is 7.10 m wide by 2.80 m high. In addition visitors can see formations of stalactites and stalagmites, more information click here.

Karutambo in Loreto

It has a secondary forest, water springs and exit to the Suno River. You can enjoy sport fishing in the four pools installed for the activity. It has areas of crops of guayusa, trails through the forest, camping area, and a few kilometers away is a natural waterfall.

Sumaco National Park in Loreto

It offers visitors high mountain landscapes, misty forests, deep canyons and rivers of high and low jungle. The low zone protects part of the Pleistocene refuge of the Napo, a sector and a time where many of the species that until today remain intact in the place were generated.

Petroglyphs Cotona in Loreto

The marks are engraved on two stones that are located on the banks of the Cotona River. The first is the smallest and within the Kichwa worldview is a male stone. The second is the largest and represents the female reproductive organ, possibly a stone also used to attend the births of women belonging to the Kichwa community, because its shape is a perfect natural seat and its proximity to the Cotona River made it easy to clean the mother and the child.

Saladero Llumuchaurco in Loreto

The place has a height of 50 meters and 80 meters wide, the large amount of salts and minerals that have these soils attracts several species of parrots, parrots and macaws, especially in the mornings, from 06:00 to 08: 00, when the days are clear. They also go to the salting, to consume their salts and minerals, mammals such as squirrels, porcupines, nocturnal monkeys and guantas.

Cascada Refugio de las Loras in Loreto

On the upper side of the wall that forms the waterfall there are holes that are nests of parrots, camouflaged by mosses and lichens, converted into a strategic home that allows them to defend themselves from their predators. At the foot of the waterfall is a cavern that forms a corridor 5 m long by 2 m wide.

Crafts of the Association Women Kichwas Loreto

The Kichwa women of Huiruno elaborate handicrafts typical of the region, using materials from the area such as seeds, natural fibers and woods, which are then pigmented with dyes obtained from plant fibers that exist in nature, giving them color and a good finish to their work. The group makes bracelets, necklaces, crowns, handbags, anklets, earrings, fans, pillows, ornaments and typical costumes. His workshop is located in the center of the city of Loreto.

Shaman Pedro Alvarado in Loreto

As an active exhibitor of his ancestral knowledge, he is part of the Association of Shamans of the Loreto Canton, Pedro Alvarado, who knows the healing power of tropical plants. For its ritual ceremonies it uses the Ayahuasca, which prepares as a drink to be able to contact with the spirits of the jungle, which offer the knowledge to cure the patient or solve problems. So that the customs and traditions of the Kichwa people never die, Pedro Alvarado imparts his knowledge to his sons and sons-in-law who live next to him.

Suggested Route

Loreto, is the entrance to the province of Orellana. On the way you can stop in the sector of Pasohurco, which is in a high area, and is used as a viewpoint. This place offers stunning natural landscapes to take photographs. After this activity, visitors can visit the Milagro de Dios cave, and continue its journey through the different natural attractions that this destination has