Planning a Trip to Ecuador? Part 1

As many of you know, we love to travel. We've switched roles over the years, with Ron now doing most of the planning and me worrying about how to pay for, but there's something exciting about a new adventure.

The Cajas as seen from our guestroom window

So what do you need to know if you're planning a trip to Ecuador? Lots of things...more things that one little blog post can handle, but some general information might come in handy.

The Basics

Climactic Zones
I'll only gloss over the three climate zones: the coast (hot and humid, but with a breeze near the ocean), the Andes (Spring-like and high altitudes) and the Amazon (hot, humid and wet). The Galapagos is famous for its unusual and diverse fauna and is also mostly hot and humid, with refreshing oceans breezes.

Currency (monetary & electric...see what I did there?)
The currency used in Ecuador is the US dollar; US coins are also accepted, but Ecuador also has their own coins as well.

Voltage is the same as the US and Canada (110-115) and adapters aren't required for US and Canadian travelers. 

Taken in late November...there's always something blooming.

Major cities:
The largest is Guayaquil (a little over 2.5 million), the business centre of Ecuador. The city has little to offer tourists, outside of the Malecon, the Iguana park and Santa Ana. (Oh, and a pretty nifty cemetery that's HUGE, but hard to get in to.) It is HOT in Guayaquil, with no cooling breezes off the ocean as it is located up the river basin. You need to shell out a lot of money to get a hotel with a pool and there aren't many restaurants in El Centro that are opened at night, except in the hotels.

Quito is the capital and a beautiful, but busy, city with a population of around 2.5 million. There is lots to see and do in Quito, but as it's at 9,200 feet (-ish) be prepared for some adjustment time. Altitude sickness ranges from shortness of breath and headaches to embolisms and death in the most extreme cases. Most hotels are prepared for such possibilities and have bottles of oxygen ready and waiting, as well as doctors only a phone call away.

The best advice we ever got about adapting to altitude are these three simple things:
    1. Take it easy on the first day...no hikes, hill climbing or strenuous activity - LAY LOW
    2. Stick to clear liquids for the 12 hours, avoid heavy/rich food for the 1st 24 hours.
           (This may be hard there's a lot of food to tempt you but try to persevere.)
    3.  No alcohol for 24 hours. 

Side note: we used this strategy in Cusco and it worked like a darn!)

Cuenca is the smaller sibling of the two big cities. It has a population of about 600,000. It is at 8,400ft, so altitude can still be a problem. It is like Quito for architecture, but smaller and less frenetic.

A local parade...

...passing along our street...

Getting Around
In between these three major cities is a wealth of  smaller cities, towns and villages, broken up by soaring vistas of the Andes with the snow capped volcanoes, rolling tundra and cloud forest. The coast offers endless stretches of agriculture: bananas, rice, papaya, cacao, sugar cane plus the diverse and plentiful beaches. There are the lush humid jungles of the Amazon offering a cornucopia of wildlife and plants, and home of many indigenous tribes that live as they have for hundreds of years.

Important tip 1:
If you look at a map of Ecuador, it doesn't seem very big, but because the Andes run through the centre of the country, it takes a long time to drive most places. The average drive time between Guayaquil and Cuenca is 4 hours; Quito and Cuenca is 10 hours. Routes to get to the coast usually run from larger city to larger city, so you may need to take a circuitous route to get where you want to go. Flying from city to city is (fairly) affordable and saves a lot of time if you are trying to pack a lot of things in to a short visit. 

Flying is most efficient (between larger centres), but can have problems with luggage restrictions, delays due to volcanoes and other issues and, of course is a bit more expensive.

Bus travel is inexpensive, but  some travelers warn about pick pocketing. (We haven't experienced that yet, but know people who have.) It's a great way to see the countryside and can be entertaining with all the vendors that hop and off the buses.It is also a long journey, as previously mentioned, so if you're on a quick trip flying might be best.

Private driver/Group Tours both have their benefits, you usually see more, can stop at places of interest and many people fee safer than on the buses. There is a premium for private service (example it cost us $200 to drive 7 hours to the coast, one way, but there were four of us which made it less expensive than flying.) There are many different types of group tours: ones that focus on resettling in Ecuador, ones that do big city tours and others that give you a taste of the various regions, artistry etc. There's something for everyone.

Trains are available in parts of the country, but aren't relied upon as standard transport. You can take multi or single day trips to various locations and get a similar experience to taking the bus, in that you get a good taste of the countryside.

There are also trekking, biking and hiking companies that will show you around specific areas. 

Stay tuned for part two: Climate - what do I need to pack?

Rock the House! Seismically Speaking

Holy earthquakes, Batman! Yup, we're living in a seismic zone. Sure, we don't get as many tremblers as California and it doesn't seem like anyone here is waiting on the BIG ONE, like they are in Vancouver, but the ground does move.

We've experienced this on a number of occasions, but chalked it up to our imaginations, but there was no imagining the shaking that woke us up at 5:06am on Thursday, the 15th of October. A painting fell off one wall and our heavy wooden Buddha clattered against another. By the time I'd done what you're supposed to (stand in a doorway, preferably away from windows) the tremor had already stopped.

It's all good. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't really that big of a deal. No damage was done, no lives lost and no injuries - at least that we've heard of - and the wine glasses are all safe and upright. (Phew!)

Lataguna releasing ash in February 2014

It was a good reminder that every place has it's little inconveniences: earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, drought, forest fires, flooding etc. It's also a good reminder that we need to have an emergency preparedness kit. (Even in Vancouver we were never really very good at that.)

Cotopaxi spewing early this month. Courtesy of MSN Photo of the day

If you're thinking about coming to Ecuador, you should know that there are also volcanoes - active volcanoes. Cotopaxi is actually one of the world's largest volcanoes and it's rumbling and spewing threateningly. (This might also account for the earthquake we had.) Closer by there's also Latacunga that has been spewing ash and generally being disruptive (excuse the slight pun) to the people who live nearby.  

PS We're up over 30,000 hits and 65 countries. So hello out there world, glad to meet you!

The Mighty Salkantay - Machu Picchu Part 1

Seeing Machu Picchu is on a lot of people's wish list when it comes to travelling. Many of you know that we've been trying to get there for the last 10 years, but for one reason or another it didn't happen until now. And why not now? What better way to celebrate Ron's 60th birthday? At least that was his thinking.

Looks like an ad, but we took this picture!

You can get to Machu Picchu a few different ways; there's a lovely train that leaves from a town outside Cusco, that will take you to Aguas Calientes where you load yourself on to a bus (or walk) to MP, you can take the traditional Inca Trail, a four day three night hike over the original Incan roads, past ruins and through the Sun Gate to the mother of all ruins, or you can do as we did, hike the Salkantay trail, through the amazing countryside of Peru. There are less ruins on this trail, but more climate zones and nature. The Salkantay trek is five day, four night trek, including the day at Machu Picchu. It's a more difficult hike, technically, and you go through at least three different climate zones. (There are some longer hikes that take you to other Incan ruins, which might just be your cup of tea, but as this was our first trek, we decided not to overdo it.)

The Salkantay is what Ron chose to do and I, being the loving wife that I am, agreed to go along. You've seen our preparation; we did everything we could to get ready for the challenge, but even that fact didn't make me feel any better when we arrived at our preparatory meeting the night before the trek started. We were the first there and then two young men showed up, perhaps 20 years old at the most, then two young women arrived, both in their 20's. I tried to keep my cool, but really how was I going to keep up with 20 somethings? One of the girls looked like she was suffering from the altitude and ultimately decided to wait to take her trek later. We also discovered that a couple was missing, but would be at the meeting point the next morning.

The new "selfie" fad...of kilter photos

Our guide went over the trek plan...showing us the elevations we'd be tackling, the distances we'd be walking and our stopping points, both for lunch and for camping. Then he gave us the good news, we weren't going to have to meet at 4am, but at 5! A whole extra hour of sleep. (As if!) We were issued duffle bags for our personal items and instructed on what else to bring - cold weather gear (gloves, knit hats, scarves), rain gear, walking poles, water bottles and, of course, our camera.

We slept fitfully that night and awoke at 3:40am in order to grab some breakfast (and more importantly, coffee), brush our teeth and walk down to the meeting point by 5am. It was there that we met the other couple, a bit closer to our ages, thankfully. With little delay we headed off towards our starting point, with the sun still sleeping in the east.

I guess this is were I should introduce our trekking buddies. We were led by the intrepid Elvis, who was mildly under the weather, but still good to go. The two lads, Joe and Andrew, from England, Jess from Australia and Derek and Ana from Poland...very international, no? Ron and I were the oldest in the group...not a usual experience for me, but I sucked it up anyway. It didn't take us long to mesh and we were laughing and having a grand time by early the second day. (Never underestimate the amusement factor of two young British lads...I highly recommend that you get your own pair, if you venture out on a trek.)

Elvis is taking the picture...

You might ask how we came to select Llama Path Tours. We did a lot of research on the top trekking companies in Peru and their name kept coming up. They have an excellent reputation for treating their porters well and fairly. We were impressed to see the porters well equipped with hiking boots and all-weather wear, nicely branded in the Llama Path's signature red colour and logos. The men seemed happy to be working there. Along the trail we saw porters in flip flops, rubber boots, Croc knock offs and clothes not fit for the weather. Llama Path also sets up load limits for the porters (which is especially important on the Inca Trail, where everything needs to be carried by people - no horses or cars allowed) and makes sure that they have a good run of days off after a trek so they can go see their families. (At least that's what the porters told us when we spoke with them.)


Now that the laundry is done and the fridge restocked, with no further ado...our big adventure:

How we conquered the majestic Salkantay mountain in the Veronica mountain range.

Looks pretty easy - on paper

The trek took us through the Peruvian Andes, up the back side of Machu Picchu and through the pass near one of Peru's highest peaks. The scenery was incredible and so was the experience. While we aren't the best campers, we survived three nights in a tent, only by the grace of Sebastian, our chef on the trek, but that's another post, I'm afraid.


We  took a private van to a place called Mollepata, where we had a nice little breakfast. We then loaded ourselves and our gear in to the back of an open truck and drove for another hour or so, to reach our starting point. This was our first taste of real Peruvian transportation (or more to the point South American). Honestly, I've seen so many people getting around this way, but this was my first chance to experience. I know, I know...you're wondering when the actually physical activity starts...

It was mid-morning when we started the official hiking portion of our trek. We trekked up to a canal that feeds the fields along our route and then had an easy walk to the camp for lunch.
After lunch, we tackled a fairly decent incline, getting our first teasing glimpses of the Salkantay, as it flirted with us from behind the clouds.

Arriving at the Humantay glacier lake, a two hour hike from camp, we were pleased when the wind came up and blew the cloud away, revealing these fantastic views.

Cloud rolled in and out with mind boggling speed, but we got to enjoy the beauty of the landscape and were rewarded by indescribable views of our goal for the next day; the impressive and stunning Salkantay mountain. Apu Salkantay was kind. (He's the God of the Mountain.)

 
After dinner, we bunked down in the cold of the mountain and prepared for an early start the next day. Day two would be our longest and most challenging day; scaling more than 800 metres (2,624 feet) on steep, rocky inclines and variable weather, not to mention 24kms and 10 hours of hiking, not including our lunch break. Before we went to bed, we had a look at the Salkantay, rising out of the darkness and glistening in the moonlight, before yet another bank of clouds rolled in, tucking in the mountain for the night.


We woke before sunrise and had a breakfast by headlamp light. Our tour group woke us with hot coca tea and a carb rich breakfast. We packed up our sleeping bags, geared up and headed out, just as light became bright enough to see through mist of morning. Our offerings were rejected by Apu and we only caught glimpses of the glacier as we stumbled over loose rock and followed switchbacks up the steep mountain path.

Switchbacks up the mountain

I'll be honest (aren't I always???), it wasn't that bad...despite the altitude, inclines and terrain, we made it in fairly good time. Just before we turned the final curve to the summit, we could hear people cheering, so knew we were close. It spurred us on and we sped up to the pass. It was amazing to have achieved something that seemed so overwhelming when we first started. The cooking crew passed us on the way and waited for us for half an hour at the top with a thermos of hot coca tea and some cheese sandwiches. The British Lads (as we've come to call them) were particularly happy for the extra nourishment, but aren't all teenaged boys???

(L to R) Derek, Andrew, Ana, me, Ron, Elvis, Joe and Jess

 

After leaving the traditional 3 coca leaves in a fan under a rock for Apu, we still had another two hours down the mountain until we reached our lunch camp and the rain started to kick up a little, but the scenery was (once again) amazing. The landscape felt a bit like the Scottish Highlands or the Irish countryside. After lunch we hiked another four hours to Collpopampa to bunk down for the night

I'll leave you with photos from our lunch and dinner spread. Up next...our easy day and the hot springs of Santa Teresa.

Lunch

Quiche, yes, real men DO eat it.

Warm veggie salad

Chicken in mushroom sauce

Obligatory rice, can't have a meal without it!

Beef and cheese in tortillas

 Dinner:

Choclos (corn) and fresh cheese

Chicken ceviche

Pumpkin soup

Trout, fried with chimichuri sauce

Down a Slippery Slope - Three Days of Volcanoes

SEVERE BLOG WARNING!  Before you start reading the main content, go to the bathroom, get yourself something to drink (complimentary to the weather you are experiencing) and perhaps make up a bowl of popcorn or other preferred snack.

It was a banner weekend last week...Ron and I went on our first multiday excursion. Now you might think that we were temporarily insane (the thought did cross my mind) because we opted for a three day mountain biking tour of three "active" volcanoes. (FYI-active is a relative term, these things haven't fired up for a few hundred years.)

I had my reservations, most of my bike riding has been "civilized", meaning paved or groomed paths and roads. Sure I'd negotiated traffic, but I've never pointed myself down the slope of a mountain and thought "Hey, let's see how fast I can get down!". Okay, that wasn't really the point of the trip, but I could fee the lure of a certain sense of competitiveness, but I digress. We were invited on this little odyssey by some friends and our little group grew to 19 brave souls. 

Our bus ride buddies, but not the whole group.

The actual tour started in the town of Latacunga, where we were picked up by a tour bus (and two Jeeps crested with racks of bicycles). We drove to a National Park on Mount Cotopaxi, where we were introduced to our faithful steeds (on wheels), our safety equipment and a bracing pep talk by our guide Fernando. (Yes, like the Abba song...he requests that you don't sing it.) Our drivers were Angel (he drove the big bus), Patricio and Cesar. These fine gentlemen work for a company out of Quito called the Biking Dutchman. The following photos are from our ride up to Latacunga, our starting place.

First view of Chimburazo (the 3rd volcano)

Very old church combined style of Inca and Spanish

Main Plaza in Latacunga

Sunset in Latacunga

One of the many churches at night

The parking lot is the highest point you can drive to on the volcano. It's at 4,600 meters or 15,091 feet. We were blessed with astoundingly good weather. It's unusual to be able to see the top of Cotopaxi, but as you can see, there it is in all its glory.

The whole gang - finally in one shot

We intrepidly headed down the mountain slope and were introduced to terrifying new concepts of switchbacks (lassettes/hairpin turns - not really new, but a completely different experience on a mountain bike) and wretched things called "washboards".  I know it doesn't sound all that appealing, but honestly, we had the time of our lives.  There's something so amazing about conquering a new skill and overcoming a daunting task that makes the adrenalin just flow and give you a sense of accomplishment. Once we arrived in the "foothills", we took a trail through an old lava flow and over hills and dales through some breathtaking countryside. (This description lacks impact, I know, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves.)

Lava flow field at the foot of Cotopaxi.

Traditional thatched hut nestled in the foothills.

In a strange turn of events, one of the volcanoes that we weren't traversing decided to erupt. We could see the ash plume from the roof of our hotel on the first night and it continued to be visible during the rest of our trip. The ash didn't affect us, but apparently some fell in Cuenca while we were gone.  There's no evidence now, but we did hear that there was a bit of a clean up.

The weird thing was that the plume never really seemed to be moving. I always expected something like a loud BOOM and a rush of ash and cloud, but not so, at least from where we were. We completed an awesome paved road run, loaded ourselves onto the bus and headed for Quilotoa, a town on the edge of a likewise named volcano and crater lake.

Hoodoos or arroyos carved by water over time

Sunset in Quilotoa the speck just above the middle is the moon.

 We stayed in a "hostal" just a short walk away from the lip of the crater on Quilotoa. The volcano isn't quite as high up as Cotopaxi, but is an impressive 3,914 meters (12,841 feet). The lake surface is another 300 or so meters down.

Sunrise over the crater

The trail (lower right) is the easy part.

 We ate a fairly early breakfast (7 am) and headed down the steep trail on foot. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes to hike down to the lake.

The lake is green because of minerals

Looking up to the lip of the crater

The pictures don't quite capture the emerald green colour of the lake, it is truly stunning. The lake has a couple of warm areas where the water is heated by the heat of the volcano in spots, you can see the bubbles rising to the surface. This is not a dormant volcano.

The wind was completely absent in the crater and, as you can see it was another beautiful day. The hike up takes considerably longer (1.5 to 2 hours) so we opted to hire a mule to get back up to the top.

Ron didn't ask what his mules name was.

I'm sitting on Enrique - slightly gassy, a bit lazy, but he got the job done.

Our friend Carl, on Ismael, a mule unto himself.

 Once back on top, we refilled our water, loaded up the bus and found our bikes.  (It's funny how attached to an inanimate object you can get.) We had a beautiful paved ride down from Quilotoa and then branched off once more into the country side.

We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch and then grabbed the bus to take us to our next down hill stretch. (There was just enough time for some of our happy band of cyclists to grab a nap.) Our next leg was a 20km stretch of road that was mostly gravel. We were back on the washboards and switchbacks.  This was the hardest stretch for me and my braking hand was so weak I had to take a break and ride in one of the Jeeps for a few kilometers. As always the views were stunning.

Our end of day destination is in the back ground.

We stopped a ways outside the town of Urbina, loaded up the bikes and drove to Riobamba, a town with little to recommend, but it did provide a fairly decent nights sleep. We got a bit of a later start, having breakfast at 7:30.  

Yes, we're the yellow hat club, a gift from one of our fellow cyclists.

It was our final day and our longest ride (70km). I confess I was worried, because of the day before, but I was determined to enjoy as much of the trip on the back of my bike as I possibly could.

It took almost an hour and a half to drive to the first refuge station on Mount Chimburazo and we took a few photo ops along the way.

I know, it looks fake, but it isn't - I swear!

Alpacas!

Is it just me, or does he look a bit stoned?

The noble Alpaca - dignified in his fluffiness.

Chimburazo is a noted mountain climbing destination and the highest point in Ecuador, or so I believe. The elevation at the first refuge (vehicle accessible) is at 4,800 meters or 15,744 feet and our highest point in the tour. If you've never been at higher elevations it's hard to describe the effect that it can have on you. Our whole group was very lucky, as no one suffered severe altitude sickness, but I had trouble breathing if I had to exert energy, like say...pedal uphill or hike up a steep incline (thank you Enrique!) You can sometimes suffer headaches and dizziness as the air is quite thin. Being at altitude is also very dehydrating, so we had to be careful to drink plenty of water and suffer the consequences - remember we were in the middle of absolute nowhere at times. We finally got to see the very high altitude cousins of Llamas and Alpacas - the diminutive Vicuna. For some reason they reminded me of miniature Giraffes.

Above the clouds again!

Strapped in and ready to ride - Teddy had the time of his life!

For the first time, I found that the ride ended much faster than I thought it would. (At least the first leg, as we headed down the mountain, once again enjoying switchbacks, washboards and loose rocks.) There's nothing like having a seat weary butt going rapidly over a deeply rutted road...and I mean that, you get a certain amount of pride from withstanding the jarring and it becomes almost pleasurable. I spent half the time doing the classic "ahhhhhhhh", just to hear my voice warble.

At the base of the hill we loaded up the bikes and headed to a quieter road, off the main highway. This was the longest leg of our trip, but happily (at least for me) it was a paved road. The trip started almost at the mouth of the Ambato river and would follow it all the way down to the town named after it. (Or vice versa.) 

Start of the Ambato River

Rolling hills of Central Ecuador

Stopping to see if the road is clear ahead due to construction.

Heart of the valley

The final leg curled through the mountains, alongside the river and we could see the river slowly widen as we made our descent.  The views were absolutely stunning - I know - I've overused that word, but how else can I describe it? At one point, we thought our trip might be cut short, as they are doing waterway improvements, but happily the road was opened and we got to enjoy the full ride. 

When we arrived in Ambato, it was a jubilant and yet, strangely sad, moment. Our trip was over, we had made friends with our group and bonded with our guides and it was all coming to an end.

Cesar, one of our intrepid Jeep drivers

Hiding his face is Angel, our bus driver

Patricio, our other Jeep driver

In all the rush, I never got a photo of Fernando...I'm mad at myself, because he made the trip what it was. Here are some photos of Ambato, if you can handle a few more:

The weather finally turned on the day we were returning to Cuenca, but we were blessed with mainly sunshine for the majority of our journey.  On our way home, we stopped in a quaint little town called Alousi (Allow-sie) for lunch and this are the final pictures I'm going to inflict on you.

Train that runs over the "Devil's Nose" or Nariz del Diablo

More incredible country side, just outside Alousi

Thank you to all of our group, you made the trip extra special! That's it kids, thanks for sticking it through to the end.  Hope to have more adventures from the centre of the earth soon!