The
jungle town
of Coca is
no place for
sightseeing,
nor the destination
of choice
for most travellers.
The river
port's raison
d'etre is
a transport
hub where
you hop off
a plane and
jump into
a boat going
down-river,
or as a base
from where
to arrange
an expedition
into the heart
of the jungle.
Like Lago
Agrio,
Coca is a
field base
for oil workers.
The town has
no aesthetic
merits unless
unpaved streets
and dilapidated,
shanty-style
buildings
are your idea
of civic beauty.
One unimpressed
writer described
Coca as a
“gritty, dirty
riverside
pit.”
The town owes
its importance
to its strategic
location at
the confluence
of Rio
Coca
with Rio
Napo.
If you were
able to continue
on far enough
down-river
and cross
the border
into Peru
[which
isn't legal],
you would
come to where
the Napo
joins Rio
Maranon and
turns into
the Amazon.
From there,
the world's
mightiest
river flows
for some 3,200 km
[2,000 miles]
across South
America to
the Atlantic
Ocean. Such
was the incredible
journey of
Francisco
de Orellana,
who in 1542
made the first
documented
voyage down
the Amazon.
For this reason
Coca's official,
but seldom-used
name is Puerto
Francisco
de Orellana,
capital of
the Orellana
Province.
Last
updated 19th
June 2006
| |Article contributed by Dominic Hamilton||| |
