Day 1 · Coca to Arajuno bridge (80 km, tarmac to mud)
Fly or night-bus to Coca, stock up at the market (rice, tuna, plantain chips, 100% DEET). First 50 km smooth asphalt along Río Napo, then the Via Auca turns to deep red mud. Trucks spray you with oil sludge, fun times. Camp at the bridge, locals sell cold beer from coolers, felt like VIP.
Day 2 · Arajuno to Shiripuno river community (65 km, first real jungle)
Road narrows to single track, clay so sticky your tires grow 5 kg in 10 minutes. Cross three small rivers on wooden barges pushed by kids (tip them 1 USD each). Arrive Shiripuno Waorani village around 4 pm, sleep in the community lodge, they cook you fish in banana leaf, shower under a waterfall.
Day 3 · Shiripuno to Yasuní clay licks (45 km, slow and sweaty)
Short day because the heat is brutal, 38 °C and 95% humidity. Trail goes through primary forest, kapok trees taller than anything you’ve seen. Stop at the parrot clay lick, hundreds of macaws and parrots screaming, unreal colors. Camp on a sand bank, pink dolphins came to say hi at sunset.
Day 4 · Deep Yasuní loop day (60 km, no road, just trail)
This is the day you’ll either love or hate cycling forever)
Leave the bike sometimes and walk with machete guys, cross waist-deep blackwater rivers, spot caimans at night. Saw fresh jaguar tracks 10 m from the tent, didn’t sleep much. Support boat brings cold drinks in the afternoon, felt like Christmas.
Day 5 · Back toward civilization, Yasuní to Pompeya (70 km, tailwind!)
River wind finally from behind, flying on the muddy road. Stop at Limoncocha lagoon for lunch, black caimans sunbathing, anaconda skin someone found the day before (3 m long, nope). Night in Pompeya indigenous market, buy fresh yucca and grilled piranha.
Day 6 · Pompeya to Coca side trip (55 km + boat)
Morning ride along the Napo, then ditch the bikes and take a motorized canoe 2 hours downstream to a hidden lagoon full of giant water lilies and hoatzin birds that smell like cow poop (true story). Back on bikes for the last 20 km to Coca, legs dead but smiling.
Day 7 · Coca chill & fly out (or bus to Quito)
Sleep in, eat ceviche, wash the red mud off everything (it never really comes off). Afternoon flight back to Quito or 10-hour night bus if you’re cheap.
Survival notes from someone who barely survived
Bugs: headnet + 100% DEET + permethrin-treated clothes or you’ll be eaten alive
Water: filter everything, giardia is real
Tires: 2.2–2.4” with thick sidewalls, thorns everywhere
Money: cash only, small bills, communities don’t take cards
Spanish: learn “despacio por favor” because the truck drivers don’t care
Guide: pay the extra, worth every dollar when the road disappears
Bonus wildlife I saw: 7 monkey species, pink & grey dolphins, tapir crossing the road at 5 am, giant otters, more birds than I can name
This trip is messy, hot, buggy, sometimes scary, and 1000% the wildest week I’ve ever spent on a bike. The jungle doesn’t care about your Strava KOMs, it just swallows you whole and spits you out different.
If you want real adventure, not the Instagram kind, come here. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you about the tábanos ;)
