' The highlight of our travel here, has been the Ecuadorian people
... sincere, proud, kind, generous, caring, friendly, helpful. '
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Our main reason for travelling to Ecuador, had been to sail the Galapagos Islands ... it's always been a 'bucket list' trip for us. Fortunately, we were also able to include an additional 4.5 weeks into our schedule to 'get just a small taste' of Ecuador's mainland culture in a few select, geographic and demographic regions.
We stayed in Quito, the countries historic and cultural capital; moved to the cloud forest at Maquipucuna for some hiking and birding, then onto Banos and Cuenca, both smaller cities that are building on their ecotourism potential with available access to the adjacent Amazon jungle and also ... the Pacific Coast beach towns of Olon and Puerto Lopez; a small village and a medium sized city, both with well established commercial fishing fleets that are now beginning to offer sport fishing charters.
This post features some of the wonderful folks we met on this adventure.
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' Journeymakers are those people who elevate your travel experience with the passion and enthusiasm for the place they call home and for the interest and kindness they give you, the traveller. '
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Mario and Lucia |
Mario is a professional musician who once played pan flute in a group that travelled internationally. He made a copy of some of his groups music for us ... Muchas gracias Mario! He retired home to Ecuador after has first child was born.
Lucia 'owned' the kitchen; our breakfasts were always well-prepared, too bountiful and beautifully presented, often with explanations of the different foods we were eating. She would bring us hielo (ice) for our wine. She would caution us about where we might be heading on our daily walks ... ' wear your packs on the front ' and 'don't stay out too late'.
Luis, who manned the front desk, learned of our interest in ethnic music and made us a sample copy of Ecuador's 'pasillo' music ... a wonderful addition to our music library.
We had an early departure on our last day and awoke to sounds of Lucia and Mario in the kitchen (an hour early), ensuring we had another wonderful Ecuadorian breakfast before leaving ... they sent us on our way with mucho hugs.