At the beginning of 2015, CJ and I sat down in a coffee shop and mapped out our school schedules for the year. Turns out we had one full week where neither of us had in-person class obligations (CJ still had online classes but you can't win 'em all, right?).
We wanted to go somewhere exotic, new, and most importantly cheap. After a few minutes of Googling Ecuador seemed to fit the bill. We took the jump, bought the plane tickets (the most expensive part of our trip), and started brushing up on our Spanish.
With the hassle of school and work (and some fun summer weekends), we didn't have a ton of time to plan. Which ended up being a blessing in disguise - we spent more time wandering and exploring instead of following a jam-packed itinerary. Here are some highlights:
Quito: We spent a quick 24 hours in Quito at the beginning of our trip, and then returned for two days before heading home. Quito is an incredibly charming city, and I fell in love with the colonial architecture. We spent our time in Ecuador’s capital:
Wandering around admiring the architecture and visiting over-the-top Spanish colonial churches.
Hanging out on the rooftop deck of our hostel, The Secret Garden Quito drinking cheap Pilsner beer, eating leisurely breakfasts, and just generally enjoying the view.
Riding the Teleferiqio to the top of Volcano Pinchincha, gasping for breath while hiking around the top, and chatting with the horse back riding guide for 30 minutes.
Taking a Biking Dutchman mountain biking tour around the outskirts of Quito and to Papallacta hot springs. We were supposed to bike down Cotopaxi but an erupting volcano changed that...
Banos: Banos, a 3-ish hour bus ride from Quito, is touristy yet charming, and the perfect jumping off point for a few days in the Amazon. It's small enough that you can easily cover most of the city on foot, and our hostel was incredibly affordable.
We spent a day getting cheap massages and visiting the waterfalls in town - and a little girl asked her dad if she could take pictures with us!
No trip to Banos is complete without a visit to the "Swing at the End of the World" that has taken over Pinterest lately. It's definitely a tourist trap but the views and pictures were well worth it ;)
We spent a day getting cheap massages and visiting the waterfalls in town - and a little girl asked her dad if she could take pictures with us!
No trip to Banos is complete without a visit to the "Swing at the End of the World" that has taken over Pinterest lately. It's definitely a tourist trap but the views and pictures were well worth it ;)
The Amazon: Our two days and one night tour in the upper Amazon basin with Imagine Ecuador were probably the most out of our comfort zone but also by far the most exciting. Our guide, Paul, packed more activities into 48 hours than we could ever imagine.
It started with a drive through waterfalls, on the way to Puyo. We even went across one on a cable car run by an old bus generator....
We attempted to make friends with some monkeys at the Puyo Animal Rescue Center. That didn't go so well but we did get to see jaguars, panthers, tapirs, and capybaras up close and personal.
We canoed down the river (and saw an otter!).
We got down and dirty mucking through river banks, eating ants that taste like lemon, using termites to make natural bug repellent, and testing out Novocain leaves on the way to a waterfall.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset from the top of a hill overlooking the Amazon.
Our accommodations were raised huts set on a tributary river to the Amazon, complete with hammocks to relax in. The setting was beautiful, but the inside was "rustic". It got the job done, but CJ was too busy staging World War III with resident cockroaches to get much sleep.
Day 2 was spent visiting a tourist-trap village where we had our faces painted and practiced our blow dart skills, and on a long hike to another waterfall - complete with a tarantula sighting!.
It started with a drive through waterfalls, on the way to Puyo. We even went across one on a cable car run by an old bus generator....
We attempted to make friends with some monkeys at the Puyo Animal Rescue Center. That didn't go so well but we did get to see jaguars, panthers, tapirs, and capybaras up close and personal.
We canoed down the river (and saw an otter!).
We got down and dirty mucking through river banks, eating ants that taste like lemon, using termites to make natural bug repellent, and testing out Novocain leaves on the way to a waterfall.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset from the top of a hill overlooking the Amazon.
Our accommodations were raised huts set on a tributary river to the Amazon, complete with hammocks to relax in. The setting was beautiful, but the inside was "rustic". It got the job done, but CJ was too busy staging World War III with resident cockroaches to get much sleep.
Day 2 was spent visiting a tourist-trap village where we had our faces painted and practiced our blow dart skills, and on a long hike to another waterfall - complete with a tarantula sighting!.
Food: We did splurge on some Lonely-Planet-recommended meals over the course of the week, but some of our favorites were more basic meals we stumbled upon while walking by:
$2 USD for rice, chicken, and plantains at the Quito bus station.
Fresh tilapia and fried plantain along the river in the upper Amazon.
Ceviche in a cold beer in Banos.
Fresh tilapia and fried plantain along the river in the upper Amazon.
Ceviche in a cold beer in Banos.
Ecuador is a breathtaking country, and although we only got to see a small part of it during our week there CJ and I had the time of our lives.
:)
:)
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