Ecuador in 2002 - Mountains, Jungles, Coastline and Colonial Cities
It seems like so many years ago that we travelled to Ecuador. Memories of the Amazon rainforest still bring a smile to my face. It's a pretty compact country to travel around in 4 weeks with a pretty diverse set of things to see. The volcanoes surrounding the capital Quito are stunning, the coastal town of Montanita is a chilled place to recharge and see some blue whales and blue footed boobies and of course Banos with it's live volcano and hot spring spas is a small yet wonderful town to visit.
The jewels in the crown are of course the Amazon rainforest and the Galapagos islands. We were fortunate enough to spend 5 nights in the rainforest in a small group of 5 travellers. The range of animals and plants we saw was truly amazing. Huge anacondas, pink river dolphins, tiny poison arrow frogs and getting to swim with piranhas while the howler monkeys growled in the tree canopy above were something we would love to return and do with the boys.
For anyone wishing to travel to Ecuador my only advice is DO IT! We flew through Madrid on Iberia as they have direct flights into Quito. The arrival by air is awe inspiring if a little gut wrenching. As your plane drops over the Andes to make a sharp descent into the valley housing Quito you realise just how mountainous this part of the world is.
At the time of our visit Quito was very much split into the old colonial town and the new town. We found a hotel slap bang between the two so we could walk either way. However upon arrival we were strongly advised not to walk anywhere in Quito if we could help it. The hotel, restaurants and everyone we met always insisted we take taxis. Of course the cost of a taxi was inflated for tourists! Despite what the meter said (if you could see it hidden under a tissue box with the bottom cut out) the fare was always a hefty $2, a little more at $6 to the airport. At this time it was $2 to the £1 so it wasn't like we were finding it unaffordable. On the one occasion we did get the driver to use the meter to the bus station the meter read $1.62 - so I gave him $2 anyway!
Eating in Quito was mainly in the new town where taxis were a must. Roving gangs of transvestite prostitutes were a real danger at the time around the new town. After a meal at Adam's Rib the owner insisted on refunding $2 of our bill so we had taxi money! Like we couldn't afford the $20 for the meal. The problem lay in the fact that any bill over $10 was deemed as huge to the locals, who often didn't have change. Supermarkets were the best bet to break anything from a $20 upwards. The fact that the US$ is the currency makes it easy to get money before travelling just make sure it's lots of small bills.
After leaving Quito we headed to Banos, the spa town nestled at the foot of an active volcano. If we thought Quito was cheap then Banos was unbelievable. The double room was $12 a night B&B or $15 if we booked the 3 day 'bowel massage'! it sounded interesting so we went for the $15 option. Of course being woken at 7.30am each morning to sit in a bath while some crazy bloke fires a needle point, freezing blast of water from a hose can quickly lose it's charm after the second day. Still we did feel invigorated each day before breakfast.
While in Banos we travelled the valley of the waterfalls, pretty spectacular! Even if we were carried over a rather high valley filled with a raging river in only a crate with a plastic sheet roof. We also ate some simple but amazing food. Once restaurant claiming to be 'french' was superb. Their daily $4 special was fries with mayo, followed by steak with veg and finally a crepe with chocolate sauce. Served by the owners 8 year old son and with a $1 beer if was certainly heavenly. Though leaving a $4 tip caused some panic in our 'waiter'.
We then backtracked through Quito to catch the Otavalo market. Staying in another rustic hotel with seemed to consist of a covered courtyard with bed sized huts inside which served as rooms. Again the price was $12 a night so nothing too expensive. The market was a festival of colour and crafts. Leather, vegetables, art work, native crafts and clothing were all in abundance. We snapped up a few bowls (which I later dropped and smashed), a couple of cotton shirts for the jungle and some paintings done on leather.
Next we returned to Quito to set off for our Amazon jungle adventure. Booked through the Native Life travel agency for the princely sum of $230 each we set off for a 5 night adventure into the amazon. We had taken the 'expensive' version of the tour, choosing to fly into Lago Agrio rather than take the 14 hour overnight bus. Here we were met by an open sided bus. Fortunately for us there was the two of us and three dutch people on the tour. How exciting only five people, there were probably as many staff travelling with us!
We introduced ourselves to Richard, Una and Niis and set off to the river. Once there we transferred ourselves to a long motorised canoe for the 5 hour journey downstream to our half way home.
We stopped over night in a camp by the river, the suggested activity for tonight was tarantula hunting by torchlight, no way Jose! Though the funny guides thought it would be nice to hide discarded spider skins in my room as I was such a pansy about it. Was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food served up considering everything we will be eating was brought along in 2 big cool boxes. That Raul in the kitchen is a bit of a genius. Cold Pilsner beer tonight for maybe the final time, there are no fridges in the jungle!
We set off early next morning after a breakfast of granola and fresh fruit. Soon enough we reached the point where we entered the La Selva biosphere. We had to stop at a village with army personnel at the point where the two rivers converged. Sam befriended a little monkey who became very attached to her (in more ways than one). As we left he clung on to her for dear life, screeching like mad.
The jewels in the crown are of course the Amazon rainforest and the Galapagos islands. We were fortunate enough to spend 5 nights in the rainforest in a small group of 5 travellers. The range of animals and plants we saw was truly amazing. Huge anacondas, pink river dolphins, tiny poison arrow frogs and getting to swim with piranhas while the howler monkeys growled in the tree canopy above were something we would love to return and do with the boys.
For anyone wishing to travel to Ecuador my only advice is DO IT! We flew through Madrid on Iberia as they have direct flights into Quito. The arrival by air is awe inspiring if a little gut wrenching. As your plane drops over the Andes to make a sharp descent into the valley housing Quito you realise just how mountainous this part of the world is.
At the time of our visit Quito was very much split into the old colonial town and the new town. We found a hotel slap bang between the two so we could walk either way. However upon arrival we were strongly advised not to walk anywhere in Quito if we could help it. The hotel, restaurants and everyone we met always insisted we take taxis. Of course the cost of a taxi was inflated for tourists! Despite what the meter said (if you could see it hidden under a tissue box with the bottom cut out) the fare was always a hefty $2, a little more at $6 to the airport. At this time it was $2 to the £1 so it wasn't like we were finding it unaffordable. On the one occasion we did get the driver to use the meter to the bus station the meter read $1.62 - so I gave him $2 anyway!
Eating in Quito was mainly in the new town where taxis were a must. Roving gangs of transvestite prostitutes were a real danger at the time around the new town. After a meal at Adam's Rib the owner insisted on refunding $2 of our bill so we had taxi money! Like we couldn't afford the $20 for the meal. The problem lay in the fact that any bill over $10 was deemed as huge to the locals, who often didn't have change. Supermarkets were the best bet to break anything from a $20 upwards. The fact that the US$ is the currency makes it easy to get money before travelling just make sure it's lots of small bills.
After leaving Quito we headed to Banos, the spa town nestled at the foot of an active volcano. If we thought Quito was cheap then Banos was unbelievable. The double room was $12 a night B&B or $15 if we booked the 3 day 'bowel massage'! it sounded interesting so we went for the $15 option. Of course being woken at 7.30am each morning to sit in a bath while some crazy bloke fires a needle point, freezing blast of water from a hose can quickly lose it's charm after the second day. Still we did feel invigorated each day before breakfast.
While in Banos we travelled the valley of the waterfalls, pretty spectacular! Even if we were carried over a rather high valley filled with a raging river in only a crate with a plastic sheet roof. We also ate some simple but amazing food. Once restaurant claiming to be 'french' was superb. Their daily $4 special was fries with mayo, followed by steak with veg and finally a crepe with chocolate sauce. Served by the owners 8 year old son and with a $1 beer if was certainly heavenly. Though leaving a $4 tip caused some panic in our 'waiter'.
We then backtracked through Quito to catch the Otavalo market. Staying in another rustic hotel with seemed to consist of a covered courtyard with bed sized huts inside which served as rooms. Again the price was $12 a night so nothing too expensive. The market was a festival of colour and crafts. Leather, vegetables, art work, native crafts and clothing were all in abundance. We snapped up a few bowls (which I later dropped and smashed), a couple of cotton shirts for the jungle and some paintings done on leather.
Next we returned to Quito to set off for our Amazon jungle adventure. Booked through the Native Life travel agency for the princely sum of $230 each we set off for a 5 night adventure into the amazon. We had taken the 'expensive' version of the tour, choosing to fly into Lago Agrio rather than take the 14 hour overnight bus. Here we were met by an open sided bus. Fortunately for us there was the two of us and three dutch people on the tour. How exciting only five people, there were probably as many staff travelling with us!
We introduced ourselves to Richard, Una and Niis and set off to the river. Once there we transferred ourselves to a long motorised canoe for the 5 hour journey downstream to our half way home.
We stopped over night in a camp by the river, the suggested activity for tonight was tarantula hunting by torchlight, no way Jose! Though the funny guides thought it would be nice to hide discarded spider skins in my room as I was such a pansy about it. Was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food served up considering everything we will be eating was brought along in 2 big cool boxes. That Raul in the kitchen is a bit of a genius. Cold Pilsner beer tonight for maybe the final time, there are no fridges in the jungle!
We set off early next morning after a breakfast of granola and fresh fruit. Soon enough we reached the point where we entered the La Selva biosphere. We had to stop at a village with army personnel at the point where the two rivers converged. Sam befriended a little monkey who became very attached to her (in more ways than one). As we left he clung on to her for dear life, screeching like mad.