Ecuador 2019
August 1-4, 2019
Day 1 – We flew into Quito, Ecuador late last night via a direct Delta flight from ATL. It took about an hour to clear customs (complete with fingerprinting – that’s a first!) and then catch the shuttle to the airport hotel.
Woke up this morning and had a quick breakfast at the hotel before our friend Raygan picked us up in his rental car and we headed for Baños. Quito is at 9350 ft above sea level and we can definitely tell the change in altitude – Peter had trouble sleeping.
On the way, we made what we hoped was a quick detour to Quilotoa, a crater lake in the most western volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. Long and windy roads led to us driving a few hours out of route, and resulted in some carsickness. We got to see some gorgeous scenery, lots of cute stray dogs, and many indigenous locals – all the ladies wore a traditional skirt, shawl and hat. They speak Quechua – the language of the former Inca empire (and Spanish for us tourists). The altitude here is 12,840 ft, so I definitely had some difficulty breathing on our way up to the lookout point.
After a loooong driving day (7+ hours) we arrived in Baños, and checked into our hotel on a mountain overlooking the city. It’s a lush, green (and rainy) area, which makes for gorgeous scenery – and rain gear essential. Hoping for good weather for exploring tomorrow!
I’m fumbling through so far with my broken Spanish, but Raygan is fluent so we’ve had no issues this far. I even booked my spa appointment for tomorrow in (mostly) Spanish! Small victories.
Day 2 – (Spoiler alert: got attacked by a monkey and unintentionally conquered a fear of heights)
Ate breakfast at the hotel and headed out. First stop was Cascada Machay (waterfall) – after paying a little boy $3 we hiked down a very sketchy route with lots old steel and wood steps with rebar traction strips to see a gorgeous waterfall. The hike out of there was brutal – between the altitude and general avoidance of cardio, I was struggling.
Next stop was Paseo de los Monos in Puyo, a neat little monkey rescue. Got to see some cool animals, but a couple of them took a little too much interest. First a free-range Coati (a raccoon looking thing that apparently bites) tried to corner me, then a Squirrel Monkey hopped on my backpack when I wasn’t looking – which led to me screaming bloody murder, shaking the little guy off, who proceeded to chase me out of there. I feel like we could have been friends had he not snuck up on me…
Next stop was a zipline (or so we thought) back in Baños. The journey started with two ziplines….and then the terror started – the rest of the ” Adventure Course” included 2 metal rope “bridges” across steep ravines, a vertical rock/rebar climb, a zipline skateboard thing that Peter fell off of and had to get patched up. By the time we realized it wasn’t just ziplines, we had to go through the rest of the course just to get out of there. I unintentionally conquered several fears today and thankfully we didn’t die.
Finally we stopped at Casa de Arbol (treehouse), where they have the “swing at the end of the world”. After the zipline experience, the swing out into a ravine was no big deal. Did make for some cool photos.
Back at the hotel, I got a much-deserved massage and dinner before crashing. Whew, what a day.
Day 3 – It was a rainy AM in Baños, so we headed straight back to Quito. We skipped Cotopaxi volcano because the visibility would have been low. The main roads in Ecuador have been excellent, though speed limits and driving lanes seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule. I’m glad I wasn’t driving! (thanks Raygan Evans)
We arrived in Quito around lunch and I got a quick nap in while the guys took the rental car back. We’re staying at the JW Marriott, which has unusually low rates for a nice hotel. Your money definitely goes a long way here. Pro tip: if you visit, bring cash in small bills. They use the USD, but they mainly use $1 coins vs paper and you’ll get change in coins you wouldn’t recognize. They also don’t like torn or defaced money.
We ventured out to visit the home of Guayasamin, a world renowned Ecuadorian painter and sculptor and Capilla del Hombre (The Chapel of Man) next door where many of his larger works are housed. His style is reminiscent of Picasso, and he depicts human suffering in many of his paintings. The house was an architectural marvel, very mid-centry in style with clean lines and amazing views.
The temperature in Quito was around 65 today, but it felt much warmer, I guess because you’re closer to the sun!
We took a taxi back to a small market and did some shopping while we strolled back to the hotel (Ecuadorian hot chocolate w/ homemade whipped creme in hand).
Finally, we finished the day with a 2 hour, 11 course tasting menu with drink pairings at URKO, where Peter finally got to try cuy (AKA guinea pig). It was an amazing experience overall!
Day 4 – Shout-out to my high school Spanish teachers, Senora Boyd & Senora Story! I’m remembering vocabulary words that I thought I forgot long ago and using the Google translate app for the rest. Muy bien!
We headed up to TelefériQo, a cable car that takes you to the top of Pichincha Volcano – it’s one of the highest lifts in the world, going from 10,226 ft to 12,943 ft. It was slightly foggy, so you couldn’t see the tops of the other area volcanoes, but it was a gorgeous view of Quito. I made the mistake of wearing flip flops – and it’s freezing up there…so we didn’t stay long.
Fun fact, Quito is the second highest altitude capital in the world at 9,350 ft (though Bolivia cheats because they have two capitals). Dalton is at 761 ft.
From there we headed to the old town area of Quito – a UNESCO world heritage site. Plaza de la Independencia/Plaza Grande is the central square, with the president’s office (Palacio de Carondelet) and Metropolitan Cathedral next door. Sunday is a busy time in the area because of all the historic churches, and families seemed to be out for church/shopping.
We caught the end of Mass at San Francisco Church, built between 1534-1680. People were milling everywhere inside, singing along to a simple guitar song while a line of people took Communion. It was an amazing experience to witness.
We walked up an unreasonably steep hill to get to the Basilica of the National Vow, constructed between 1892 and 1988, though as local legend has it, the world will end if construction of the basilica is ever officially completed….
We paid to climb the Basilica towers, which included a harrowing walk across a shaky wood walkway over the roof of the nave (basically the attic) and then a climb up a ladder to an outside lookout point (I refused to climb the additional outside ladders to go higher). We did backtrack and climb the stairs to one of the front towers, which was scary but not as bad as the other side (and ended up being a higher lookout point, take that you crazy people!)
Finally we took a taxi to La Carolina Park, a huge park in the middle of the city, which was packed with locals enjoying their weekend. Stopped in the Botanical Garden for a bit and saw some unique plants and wildlife.
We paid for a late check-out at the hotel, so we could stop by the hot tub, get dinner and relax before heading to the airport. It’s a turnaround flight from ATL, so we don’t leave until 11:30PM tonight and arrive in the AM. Hope to grab some Zzzzs on the plane. It was a quick trip but we crammed a lot in!