Ecuador = ama la vida!
Ecuador: what a beautiful, versatile country!
Chance brought us to Ecuador this year and to the explore-ecuador.be website. Our son got the opportunity to do an internship abroad in Ecuador, and we decided, with the whole family (parents and 3 young adults), to add a 14-day tour. The travel advice of the Belgian Foreign Office for Ecuador was unfortunately not very reassuring. As a family we have made many trips outside Europe, always organised ourselves from A to Z, but the situation in Ecuador made us decide it would be wiser to use a local tour operator this time.
The planned trip took us through a variety of landscapes, experiences and encounters, always with well-kept accommodation, each with its own character. Communication with Tom before and during the trip was perfect, transport and guides were always on time, and the trip offered a good balance between free time to do things on our own and organised excursions with a local guide that also support the local people.
At Quito airport Tom was waiting for us and took us to the first private minibus with driver, heading for Otavalo. A great place to acclimatise, visit the indigenous market, hike to the waterfalls and do a downhill mountain-bike ride in Cotacachi. Because we really wanted to include Mindo, it was a short visit to Quito, a beautiful city among the mountains where it felt like walking around Andalusia, and the Mitad del Mundo, mainly because we were there anyway… Mindo itself was breathtaking; the location of our lodging alone, surrounded by the beautiful colours and sounds of the cloud forest. We could easily have stayed longer among the hummingbirds, toucans and other colourful birds and animals! After Mindo we headed for Papallacta, known for its hot springs, which we visited in the rain, but well… we were wet anyway. The next morning we visited Cayambe-Coca National Park with a guide, the habitat of the Andean bear and the puma. The constant rain had caused some landslides, making the road to the Amazon more difficult, but the Ecuadorians cleared the road quickly and efficiently, so we still arrived at Hakuna Matata in the late afternoon. From this beautiful lodge a day trip by canoe was organised, giving us a look at local life and the lush nature along the Napo River. A unique experience! Via the waterfalls of Baños the trip took us to Chimborazo volcano. Since then we belong to the select 5000 club: a short but tough (because of the altitude) climb took us to the mountain hut at 5000 m; the youngsters apparently found that not enough and added another 100 m… The sportiest among us went down by mountain bike, a beautiful, intense experience! In Guamote we got to know a Belgian self-help project for the indigenous population, now mainly run by the community itself. Our stay at hotel Inti Sisa (sunflower in Kichwa) and exploring the area will stay with us! The drive to Cuenca took us past the beautiful landscape of the Nariz del Diablo, with lunch at a unique spot. In Cuenca we stayed in a unique colonial building with an inner patio in the centre, perfect for exploring this lovely town. The last days we stayed on the coast to relax and visit Isla de la Plata, a consolation prize because Galápagos no longer fitted in our programme, but really worth it: we were surrounded by blowing and breaching humpback whales, curious blue-footed and Nazca boobies, turtles, tropical fish… and more.
What will we remember from this special trip?
- The unique fauna and flora
- The mighty, varied landscape
- The volcanoes… and how high they are!
- Spring temperatures in the middle of our summer
- The small number of foreign tourists, although Ecuador has plenty of comfortable tourist facilities
- That we did not feel unsafe for a single second
- The hospitable indigenous peoples and their authentic traditions
- The excellent support of Tom and his team
- Ecuador = ama la vida!