Ecuador

1213 miles, 30 days.

Otavalo

On the bus from border our first taste of Ecuador was bowls of cheese covered in sweet honey...for 30p. We knew this was a good sign. Arriving in the small, quaint town of Otavalo, we instantly fell in love with Ecuador. Our hostal provided us with our own balcony overlooking the town and volcanos beyond. The streets were quiet and filled with locals in ponchos and bowler hats, ladies also wore blouses with slim, flattering skirts. During weekdays, the place seemed fairly untouched by tourism, but boasted a large artesan market in plaza de los ponchos.

View from our room and balcony.

When the weekend came around the town evolved into something entirely different. The saturday market, the largest craft market in south america, covered the streets and closed off all roads in the centre. Gone were the peaceful walkways and slow strolling locals. Saturday meant bustling and bartering for the best deals from wellies to colourful alpaca jumpers.

Before we made our purchases, we walked up to the animal market which proved to be highly entertaining. Before we arrived we saw people carrying away bags of guinea pigs, chickens, geese, rabbits etc. The market had herds of cows, sheep, llamas and pigs. All of which were being carried away on people's backs and pushed onto buses!

Happy locals doing business.

At the main market we invested in some warmer, colourful items of clothing to prepare us for the cooler temperatures to come.

Colourful handicrafts.

Around Otavalo were numerous attractions to make for day trips out and about. One was to the nearby waterfall cascada del peguche, an hour walk from our hostel. Another was a bus and truck up to Cuicocha lake to then hike 5 hours around the stunning crater lake. Perfect day!

Web photo since we lost ours... which looked the same!

For the rest of our free time we enjoyed the great value food, everything here being much cheaper than Colombia (especially buses). Almuerzo lunches included a soup, popcorn, fish/meat, rice, beans, plantain and a fruit juice for £1.50. Plus ice creams were only 10p. A great start to Ecuador.

Quito

We arrived in the capital impressed by the local metro system, and happy to basically have our own house to stay in. However, overall, we weren't greatly impressed by Quito. The city lacked any form of atmosphere or culture and the architecture was pretty drab besides the area of old town. The place was simply a busy city and not somewhere we were inclined to linger.

However, we did stroll around the pretty, colonial building of old town and enter the church "La Compana". During our travels we have seen more than our fair share of religious buildings, but this was something else. Almost every square inch of this church was covered in gold and intricate decoration. Truly incredible!

Sit and marvel.

Before another tasty almuerzo we visited Basilica del Voto Nacional where we climbed up rickety stairwells to the cathedral towers. Here we got the best views of Quito below.

Towering above old town.


Banos

Banos as a town is not particularly intriguing. The reason it is so frequently visited is due to it's beautiful scenery surrounding the valley in which the town is situated. With the fast flowing rivers, vast mountainous backdrops and Tungurahua volcano, it is definitely worth the trip to see. What made our first afternoon even more eventful was the eruption of Tungurahua!  Apparently it does this every 3 months or so.

Volcan Tungurahua eruption a few miles from town.

Finally, after hearing so much about the Ecuadorian delicacy...we got to eat Guinea Pig. We admit that we hadn't got our hopes up for something to tantalise our tastebuds, but nonetheless, we wanted to see what the fuss was about. After breaking past the crunchy outer layer and rubbery skin, the meat was somewhat nice tasting. By no means was it a satisfying amount of meat and it had slight hints of an oily fish taste. However, we enjoyed trying it all the same.

Cuy... Guinea Pig.

Banos offers a bundle of action packed activities to experience in the extreme landscape. We chose to try our hand at white water rafting, something that had been on our wishlist. The rapids were rough and definitely got the adrenaline pumping. In addition to this, it was in the most perfect of surroundings as we tumbled down the river. We thoroughly enjoyed whipping through whirlpools and splashing our way down the rapids, almost falling out on various occasions.

A bumpy ride!

For our final day we decided to complete a 6 hour hike up and down a mountain, via two viewpoints and stopping for lunch at the "Casa del Arbol" (Tree House). At the highest point there was a swing which sent you flying off what felt like the edge of the world, hanging over a deep valley and giving you a great view of the surrounding countryside. We could have kept swinging all day!

Flying over the valley far below.

Quilotoa Loop

We started our trip around the loop with a night in Latacunga. It was in this large town that we got our first glimpe of the culture in the highland region. Latacunga was a pleasant place, simply enrertaining us with the every day comings and goings of the locals.

From here we got a bus up to chillier altitudes through the most beautiful scenery. We settled in a tiny town called Chugchilan, a mere few old houses tucked in the hills. We were blown away by the setting with the dramatic valleys and vast mountains in limitless shades of green.

Around Chugchilan. 

We went on some lovely walks around the countryside, enjoying the tranquility of the area. To move on from Chugchilan required some planning. There is the ootion to trek the entire loop, however, with our bags and Zara's persistently severe illness, this was not feasible. There is also the issue that there is only one bus a day....leaving at 3am. Fortunately we managed to share a ride on a pick up to Zumbahua at a more suitable hour, passing through more stunning countryside as seen below.

On the way to Laguna Quilotoa.

En route to Zumbahua we stopped to see lake Quilotoa, just in time to see it luminesce bright blue in the sunlight. It was rather cold and windy up there at just below 4000m though!

Volcano crater.

The culture within the villages of the Quilotoa loop were particularly fascinating to us. The women wore heels, long stockings, pleated skirts and brightly coloured shawls. Both men and women would wear a bowler hat, often with a feather in it. Frequently families would hop off buses to what seemed like the middle of nowhere, their houses nestled in the hills with various llamas.  They also speak Kwicha, which is a harsher sounding language.

Much pride in their appearance.

We made it to Zumbahua, another small town, for the Saturday market. This was a vibrant array of colours, selling everything one would need due to the lack of any other shops there. People roll in from all over to sell their goods for the week.

Dinner was an easy decision...there were 2 restaurants or a grill on the street offering nothing other than a pile of chicken feet. The night was very cold, so we retreated to hide under our many blankets in all the thermal layers we owned.

Bringing the quiet highland town to life.

Instead of heading to the coast as planned, we were forced to detour back to Latacunga for decent medical attention. Unfortunately, Zara's illness was not subsiding and she needed a hospital to get proper treatment. We were very impressed by the speed and efficiency of the facility and had a diagnosis within a few hours, post analyses. What surprised us most was that everything, including the several drugs supplied to treat the parasite, was free.

Ruta del Sol

After recovery we were back on track,  setting off on the day long journey to the coast. We first stayed in Puerto Lopez, a quiet fishing town. The place itself didn't have much character, usually peaking in business during whale season. Therefore, we simply enjoyed having the long stretch of beach to ourselves. From here we also day tripped a few km out to los Frailes beach.  A short walk down from the national park entrance gave us the white sands beyond our expectations. A beautiful little cove, tucked away.

Los Frailes beach

We continued south to the tiny town of Ayampe. Here we settled in a shared house right on the beach front. Surfers loved the waves here, although the place was very quiet. The whole town only had 2 very simple shops to buy food, with a handful of places to stay.

Sunset over Ayampe.

After lots of sunshine we arrived in the last beach spot for our trip through Ecuador. Olon offered another great, long and sandy beach and very much enjoyed by the locals on weekends and empty during the week. Again, the waves enticed surfers into the warm water. During one morning's stroll along the beach we caught a group of fisherman (soon aided by countless locals) hauling in a huge net filled with fish. The pelicans had a field day on their catch as they dragged it in!

Locals fishing in Olon.

Cuenca

We retreated from the coastal heat to the larger city of Cuenca. It was more charming than Quito with many market areas and prettier places by the river. We enjoyed strolling around and trying cheap foods. Here the men and women also wore very smart and identifiable clothing as seen below. Shawls and top hats were, again, very popular, with the women wearing bright embroidered skirts.

Mmmmm coco ice-cream.

Vilcabamba

From Cuenca we left for Vilcabamba in the abundance of luscious greenery that Ecuador offers. It gave us a lovely final taste of beautiful Ecuador with pleasant hikes, before we embarked for the border to Peru.  Ecuador also has many Chinese restaurants (Chifas,) and love it as much as the English love curry, chinese and fish and chips put together. So we also enjoyed our final Chifa in Ecuador, the best yet!

Practical Information

As of February 2014.
£1 = $1.60.

Easy border crossing info in Colombia tab.

You can get around for about $1 an hour on buses.

Otavalos main market is on a Saturday.

Cheese is cheap.

For Laguna Cuicocha, take a bus to Quirogoa (25c), then hop in the back of a truck to the lake ($1). The walk around takes 4-5 hours, not too difficult and impossible to get lost.

White water rafting costs around $30 including a nice trout lunch.

Zumbahua market is on Saturdays.

Quilotoa loop buses are generally scarce, very early morning and change depending on the day of the week.

Hostal cloud forest is the best of a couple places to stay in Chugchilan.

If you are sick, get checked up in Ecuador. A&E acts as a doctors surgery. Everything, including drugs, is free.

Entry to los frailes is free, buses are frequent and 50 cents.

Vilcabamba is 1.5 hours and $1.30 from Loja.

Border crossing to Peru is easily done with the Loja Internacional bus company. Tickets can be booked in Vilcabamba from some lady in a phone shop. From Loja the cramped overnight bus leaves at 11, reaching the border at 3.30ish. Stamps are easy at mosquito filled huts. Can choose how many days you want on Peru visa. Bus stops at Piura around 8am. No single bus station here. Best to rickshaw it to Ittsa station (3 soles, cash machine inside office) for a bus to Trujillo. This is another 7 hours but comfortable.

Example complete budget - £12 and up, per person, per day.