The Town and its outskirts
Sitting near the coiling Río Puyo's southern banks, Puyo's focal point is the manicured Parque Central , featuring a paved esplanade dotted with flowering trees, ornamental lampposts and a red-roofed bandstand from where you're treated to fine views onto the surrounding countryside. Towering over the east side of the square is the modern, angular cathedral , built in 1992, with flashing white walls trimmed in brown. There's little else to grab your attention in town, save the newly installed Museo Etno-Arqueológico (Mon-Fri noon-6pm; free), on the third floor of the Casa de la Juventud, at Atahualpa and 9 de Octubre, whose displays include traditional day-to-day objects used by indigenous communities of the region, such as blowpipes, cane spears, fishing nets and mucahuas used to drink chicha out of, along with a modest archeological collection of pre-Hispanic ceramics and tools. At the north end of 9 de Octubre, a ten-minute walk from the city centre, steps head down to the Río Puyo , snaking between dense foliage and crossed by a crickety suspension bridge leading to the Parque Pedagógico Etno-Botánico Omaere (daily 8am-6pm; $2). The park offers instant access to a bite-sized chunk of native forest laced with well-maintained paths, along with a nursery where medicinal plants are grown, and several examples of typical indigenous dwellings. A five-minute taxi ride ($1) southeast of the centre in the suburb of Intipungo, the Jardín Botánico Las Orquideas (daily 8am-6pm; advance reservations essential on tel 03/884855 or 884854; $5) is an outstanding, not-to-be-missed private botanical garden, with over two hundred species of native Amazonian orchids poking out of a lush tangle of vegetation spread over a couple of hills. Visitors are guided through the garden by its enthusiastic owner and creator, Omar Tello, who points out the tiniest and most exquisite flowers hiding under the foliage; at a brisk pace you could get round most of the paths in an hour, but allow at least two to get the most out it.

Slightly further afield, 6km south of Puyo branching off the road to Macas (about $2 by taxi), Sacha Huasi is a smallholding owned by Señor Nelson Santi, a practising shaman who offers healing rituals by night. Dressed in traditional regalia inherited from his father, including a feather headdress and strings of dried seeds, the shaman plays a fluete while making his diagnosis, and sends you away with herbal remedies to drink or bathe in; if you're interested, enquire at the Oficina de Turismo to make arrangements. Another attraction in the outskirts of town, 9km north of Puyo on the road to Tena, is the Centro El Fátima (daily 8am-6pm; $2), a fun-to-visit zoo with a mixture of walk-in enclosures where you can pet some of the smaller animals, and large, fenced-off areas mimicking the larger mammals' natural environment. All the wildlife is from the Oriente, and includes tapirs, caimans, guatusas and many colourful birds. You can get here on any bus to Tena, or else by taxi for about $2.50.