Ecuador – What a beautiful and diverse country!

By coincidence, this year brought us to Ecuador — and to the website explore-ecuador.be. Our son had the opportunity to do an overseas internship in Ecuador, and we decided to turn it into a family trip (parents and three young adults) by adding a 14-day round tour. Unfortunately, the official travel advice for Ecuador was not particularly reassuring. As a family, we’ve taken quite a few trips outside Europe, always self-organized from A to Z, but the situation in Ecuador made us decide it would be wiser this time to rely on a local travel organizer.

The planned itinerary took us through a variety of landscapes, experiences, and encounters, with well-chosen accommodations, each with its own charm. Communication with Tom — before and during the trip — went perfectly. Transport and guides were always punctual, and the journey offered a good balance between free time to explore on our own and organized excursions with local guides that also supported the local communities.

At Quito airport, Tom was there to greet us and take us to our first private van with driver, heading toward Otavalo. A perfect place to acclimatize — to visit the indigenous market, hike to the waterfalls, and go on a downhill mountain bike ride in Cotacachi. Since we really wanted to include Mindo in our trip, our visit to Quito was brief — a beautiful city nestled among the mountains, where it almost feels like walking through Andalusia — and we also visited La Mitad del Mundo, mainly because, well… we were there anyway.

Mindo itself was breathtakingly beautiful — the setting of our lodge alone, surrounded by the stunning colors and sounds of the cloud forest. We could easily have stayed longer, lingering among the hummingbirds, toucans, and other colorful birds and animals! After Mindo, we continued to Papallacta, known for its thermal baths — which we enjoyed in the rain, but well… we were wet anyway. The next morning, with a guide, we visited Cayambe-Coca National Park, home to the Andean bear and the puma. Persistent rain had caused some landslides, making the road toward the Amazon region more difficult, but the Ecuadorians quickly and efficiently cleared the way so we still arrived at *Hakuna Matata* by late afternoon.

From this beautiful lodge, we took a canoe day trip that offered a glimpse into local life and the exuberant nature along the Napo River — a truly unique experience! Passing by the waterfalls of Baños, our journey took us to the Chimborazo volcano. Since then, we can proudly call ourselves members of the “Club 5000”: a short but tough (because of the altitude) climb brought us to the mountain refuge at 5,000 meters. The young ones in our group decided that wasn’t high enough and went another 100 meters up! The most athletic among us took the descent by mountain bike — a spectacular, challenging adventure!

In Guamote, we were introduced to a Belgian project promoting self-sufficiency among the indigenous population — now largely run by the community itself. Our stay at *Inti Sisa* (meaning “sunflower” in Kichwa) and our explorations in the region will remain unforgettable!

The trip to Cuenca took us through the stunning landscape of the *Nariz del Diablo* (“Devil’s Nose”) with a unique lunch stop along the way. In Cuenca, we stayed in a beautiful colonial building with an inner patio, right in the center — perfect for exploring this charming city.

We spent the last days on the coast to relax and visit *Isla de la Plata* — a kind of consolation prize since we couldn’t fit the Galápagos into our program, but absolutely worth it! We were surrounded by breaching and spouting humpback whales, curious blue-footed and masked boobies, turtles, tropical fish, and more.

What will we remember most from this special journey?

• The unique flora and fauna

• The magnificent and varied landscapes

• The volcanoes… and how tall they are!

• The springlike temperatures in the middle of our summer

• The relatively few foreign tourists, despite Ecuador’s excellent tourist infrastructure

• That we never once felt unsafe

• The welcoming indigenous communities and their authentic traditions

• The excellent organization and support from Tom and his team

• Ecuador = ama la vida!