Impressions of ECUADOR

____________________________________________

'  The highlight of our travel here, has been the Ecuadorian people 
... sincere, proud, kind, generous, caring, friendly, helpful.  '

-------------------------------------------------------------

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.

_______________________________________________________________

' 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. '
___________________________________________

Staying At ... Casa Hotel Las Plazas, QUITO 

Mario and Lucia

All staff were exceptional; unfortunately we didn't learn everyones name or get to take their photos.

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. 

Puerto Lopez

The 43 km, coastal drive from Olon to Puerto Lopez was through one small fishing village after another with a few lodge styled resorts scattered between.

Olon

' We Survived a 5.9 Earthquake ... The Good News ? ... A Tsunami Is Not Predicted!'

We'll spend our final two weeks in Ecuador, equally divided between the Pacific Coast beach towns 
... of Olon and Puerto Lopez. 

_____
OLON

Most townsfolk here, speak limited English, but are friendly and helpful.

The village appeals to the young surfing crowd and is quickly becoming a popular international destination, for that reason. The flat, dark sand, 3 km beach here is also good for walking. 

Quito to Banos (plus Puyo and Rio Verde) to Cuenca to Olon

We'll base ourselves out of Banos for a few days and do some 'touristy' stuff. 

From Banos (south and then westerly) it's mostly just a scenic drive, with a private driver / guide. 

We'll cross over the Andes Mountains and end this drive at the beach town of  Olon ... we will explore here for a week.  Our last move will be, further north along the coast to Puerto Lopez and our final week in Ecuador.

We were very satisfied with the professional driving service provided by Fredy, (owner of Servi Taxi Banos). 

Many tourist drivers like Fredy,  stop at the frequent San Cristobal shrines to donate a small sum and ask for safe travel.

It's much less expensive to make this drive by bus ... however, that travel mode has multiple stops to pick up passengers, the commercial bus drivers really don't want to stop for viewpoints or photographs and don't share the amount of cultural and historical information that our driver Fredy did. 

This is a 910 km drive over some of the highest passes in the Ecuadorian Andes;  it's a twisty road with many hairpin curves, mud-slides, wash-outs and on-going road repair.

Galapagos Islands: The Wildlife

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors is now widely accepted, and considered a foundational concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. (Source: Wikipedia) 

The data compiled from time spent in the Galapagos Islands were critical to his analysis and research.

Galapagos Islands: Sailing and Hiking

' For Us ... A Bucket List Trip '

Located over 1000 km from the South American continent, the Galapagos Islands (officially named the Archipelago of Colon) are a dynamic region constantly changing with volcanic eruptions, new lava fields forming and islands eroding and expanding.

Maquipucuna

The taxi shuttle from Quito to the Maquipucuna Cloud Forest Reserve & Ecolodge is a little more than 2 hours, but as the crow flies it's only a 35 km distance. Very slow traffic at times to escape the central part of the city, followed by several long, slow ascents and finally multiple drives and switchbacks around the base of mountains and through a couple of small villages. All the while our driver dealt with passenger buses, slow-moving trucks hauling an assortment of aggregates and aggressive drivers passing on blind, steep curves ... but visibility was mostly clear and it was all very exciting! 

                  ___________________________________________________

Maquipucuna is a 6,000 hectare (14,820 acre) cloud forest reserve in Ecuador. Located in the Pichincha Province, it is the closest pristine rainforest to Quito, Ecuador's capital. The reserve consists of primary and secondary montane rain forest and cloud forest.

Quito

We moved into a 'mostly' finished new home in late March of this year. We only had enough time to unpack some boxes, settle in somewhat and then prepare for a 3 month road trip that would take us as far north as Tuktoyaktuk on Canada's Arctic coast. When we returned in late September, much of the home's unfinished exterior work, (that was the developer's responsibility), had been completed. We spent most of the following 3 months finishing some landscaping and decking, in addition to minor improvements and detailing of the home's interior. 

So now, we're eager for a new adventure!  

Let's begin this one at ... 

_____________________________________

' The Second Highest Capital City in the World '

Neighbours shuttled us 30 kilometres to our nearest bus station. From there, we travelled to Toronto, spent the night and the next morning boarded a flight to Panama City, PANAMA then to Quito, ECUADOR.

The aircraft approach, (close to an hour of descent) through the Andes Mountains and the landing at Aeropuerto Internacional de Quito is quite spectacular. We were fortunate to fly on a day with quite clear visibility. If you look closely you can see a portion of the landing strip in the upper left section of the photo. (The following 3 stock photos are much better than any I took from the plane's window)

Drug Smugglers

  We had no problem getting here, but this was sure a difficult country to get out of. 

We drove the highway along the island’s Atlantic Coast and got to the airport just as the ZOOM Airlines plane was landing. Flying empty from Canada, allowed the pilot to gain time and arrive an hour and fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. Our GO Travel representatives, Stephanie and Juan were traveling home with us and warned everyone that the ‘line-up’ system that was employed in the Venezuelan airport could be confusing at times … little did we know. 

Pedro

 Comme la Jeep de Pedro

   
Carlos informed us that all Jeeps and Landcruisers were full and that he had made arrangements for another driver (Pedro on left)  and Jeep to meet us at the first stop. Unfortunately, we’d be ‘crammed in’ somewhere until we were able to get into a vehicle of our own …

… the ensuing brief drive with 6 other people, in the open rear, sans ‘safety equipment’, of a small Toyota Landcruiser, that bounced, ricocheted and bruised it’s way along a narrow, pot-holed highway ... 

... turned out to be the calmest and safest segment of the 200 plus kms we would drive that day!!!

Isla de Margarita, Neuva Esparata State, VENEZUELA

Wikipedia: VENEZUELA

This trip marks our first time in South America, although barely. This was a typical resort based vacation. We were quite idle, didn't move around much and to be fair we never got more than a brief tasted of the culture of Margarita Island, let alone any exposure at all to the mainland of Venezuela. Only the Dominican Republic was explored earlier than this island (Simon Bolivar landed here 2nd) and yet there is hardly any evidence of 500 year old Spanish history.