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Things to do in
Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja)
Located in the province of Sucumbíos, Lago Agrio’s main tourist draw is its proximity to Cuyabeno Reserve and Limoncocha Biological Reserve.
Top Activities and Attractions in Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja)
Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja)
Introduction
Located in the province of Sucumbíos, Lago Agrio’s main tourist draw is its proximity to Cuyabeno Reserve and Limoncocha Biological Reserve. Most visitors only spend a few hours in Lago Agrio on their way from Quito to jungle excursions they have booked in advance. In most cases, tour agencies and operators will arrange bus transportation to Lago Agrio and then meet guests at a specific place in Lago Agrio within an hour or two. Your trip organizer will arrange your stopover so that it is as efficient as possible. While in Lago Agrio, it is recommended to avoid wandering outside of designated drop-off and pick-up areas.
History
Nueva Loja (new Loja) was sparsely settled by colonizers who came directly from the southern Ecuadorian province of Loja. When they arrived in the Amazon, they named the site after the colony they had just established. In the 1960s, Nueva Loja mushroomed in size and importance, as a base camp for the US oil company Texaco. According to some sources, the city was then called Source Lake, but was later changed to Lago Agrio (sour lake) because foreign oil workers suffered from long work days and strenuous working conditions. Others claim the name Lago Agrio comes from Sour Lake, Texas, which is the US headquarters of Texaco. The city is now known as both Nueva Loja and Lago Agrio. The area has experienced dramatic environmental degradation in the following decades. Despite – or perhaps because of – Lago Agrio’s industrial importance today, its ecology has been terribly mismanaged, mostly at the hands of foreign oil companies.
Climate
Like most of Ecuador’s Amazon basin, Lago Agrio has a warm, rainy climate. The heaviest rainfall comes during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer (June through August). Temperatures range from about 23º C to 35 º C. See our packing list for advice about preparing adequately for your trip to Ecuador
Transportation
Buses leave Quito’s Terminal Terrestre Cumandá for Lago Agrio about every 20 minutes. The trip from Quito is about 7 hours and the cost should be about $8. Buses also go between Lago Agrio and Tena, Coca, and Baeza several times a day. You can also fly to Lago Agrio from Quito on TAME or Aerogal.
What to Do
There are few sites of interest in Lago Agrio itself. As mentioned above, most visitors just stop through here for as short a time as possible, before continuing on to organized jungle tours in Cuyabeno Reserve and Limoncocha Biological Reserve.
Explore the most popular things to do in Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja)
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