Getting to Playa de Oro
BEST WAY: Travel to Otavalo (2-3 hours north of Quito) by bus, which costs $3 and runs every half hour or so, or by taxi. In Otavalo, contact Ramiro Bortiou, owner of Hostel Valle del Amanecer, at the corner of Quiroga and Roca, Tel. 6-292-0990, or Cel. 099-606-6918. Ramiro, who speaks excellent English, has a mini-bus which carries up to ten. His price for the 4-hour trip to Selva Alegre is very reasonable. If you can find others to share the mini-bus (as well as the Playa de Oro boat), it can cut your travel costs way down.
GOOD WAY FOR GROUPS, FROM QUITO: English-speaking Quito resident Roberto Davalos has a well-maintained mini-bus which carries from four to ten passengers. He charges $95/person for the round trip--that is, taking you to Selva Alegre and returning for you on the day you wish to return to Quito. Note: He will not make the trip with fewer than four passengers. To travel with Roberto. You must arrange your trip directly with him, by e-mailing Roberto Davalos
COMBINATION OPTION: It is possible to travel to Selva Alegre by mini-bus and then, to save money, return via public bus. To return by public bus, you would leave the lodge at 6 AM, so the boat could have you in Selva Alegre in time for the 8 AM public bus. Taking the 8 AM bus, you can, with changes, return to Quito either via the coastal route or via Ibarra and Otavalo. Either way it takes about 12 hours, and either way, we recommend that rather than trying to do it all in one day, you stop off and overnight somewhere. Traveling via the coast you could spend a day or two at the beach in Rio Verde or Atacamas. Traveling the other way, you could overnight in Ibarra or Otavalo.
To get to the Playa de Oro Reserva de Tigrillos, one must travel overland to the village of Selva Alegre (Happy Jungle), and there catch a boat taxi upriver to the reserve. Those wishing to go to Playa de Oro with a tour group can contact Tracy Wilson. Independent travelers can get there on their own in one of the following ways:
CHEAPEST WAY: From Quito's main bus terminal, take the 9 PM TransEsmeraldas bus to Borbon. There, after a 2-hour wait, take a local bus to Selva Alegre (the village on Rio Santiago where the reserve's boat would be waiting for you). You will arrive in Selva Alegre a little after 9 AM. Bus fare is about $15 each way, plus $5 each way for hostel-to-bus-station transfers when departing from and arriving back in Quito. Then there is the cost for the boat from Selva Alegre to the reserve. (See below).
Roberto will pick you up at your hotel or hostel around 5:30 am. The early morning departure ensures that you're out of the city before morning traffic and high in the Andes north of Quito by daylight. The route follows the Pan American highway to just past Ibarra, then west on E-10 as it drops from the mountains down into the Chocó rainforest. You'll arrive in Selva Alegre around 11:30 am. The reserve's boat will be waiting.
On the day you leave Playa de Oro, if you plan to return to Quito by bus, you will have to be up at 5 am for a quick breakfast, and on the boat by 6 am, in order to reach Selva Alegre in time to catch the 8 am bus. If you're travelling with Roberto or Ramiro, you would have a leisurely breakfast and board the boat at 8:30 am in order to be in Selva Alegre by 10:30 am. Again the cost of the boat trip will be divided among however many visitors there are aboard. (This will be figured the night before your departure and added to your bill – which as noted earlier, must be paid in US cash, with small bills, none larger than a fifty. This because it's difficult for local folks to cash large bills. Traveller checks and credit cards are impossible.) If you have questions or want to make reservations, contact Rosa Jordan Remember that last minute reservations are difficult, and often impossible.
All of the 10,000 hectares to which Playa de Oro holds title is a reserve, and it is accessible only by boat. Only a few local men can navigate Rio Santiago as far up as Playa de Oro and the Reserva de Tigrillos, so it is not possible to hire just any old boat in Selva Alegre. And because Playa de Oro has no e-mail, phone, radio, or mail service, it is impossible to contact the reserve's boatmen at the last minute. To have the reserve's boat waiting when you arrive in Selva Alegre, you must contact
Rosa Jordan with the date of your arrival, so that she can get word to Playa de Oro and confirmation that the boat will be waiting when you get there. The boat taxi costs US $50 each way, divided by however many visitors there are aboard. (There may also be local people on the boat, but they don't pay; after all, it's their boat.)
The boat trip from Selva Alegre to the lodge at the reserve takes about two hours. One hour along, you'll pass into Playa de Oro territory (both sides of the river). Half an hour after that, you'll come to the village, where the boat will put in to allow you time to wander around a bit, visit the school, daycare centre or church, and maybe watch the children dance. Whenever you're ready, the boat will continue the remaining half hour upriver to the lodge.
