As the
sign greeted me with the national slogan "Ama La Vida" along the
breezy beach amidst sunburned vacationers and salt drenched surfers I knew that
it was more than just words that would show me to "love life" during
my brief journey through this beautiful country.
My month in
Ecuador began on the southwest coast in Montanita, a soft days/hard nights kind
of surfer’s
paradise. My stay overlapped with the end of the World Masters Surf
Championship, so I was fortunate to be in the company of some awesome surfer
dudes and chicks from the US, Australia, Venezuela and more. During my days I took to some local
surf lessons or yoga at Casa del Sol, where I stayed. And at night ventured to
town with new friends for tasty cheap bites.
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| sunset surf |
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| surf lessons |
From
Montanita, I continued 1 hour north along the beach to the small coastal fisherman
village, Puerto Lopez. During my brief stay in this sleepy town, I volunteered
at a local organization there, Clara Luna. During the day we assisted at the organization’s foundation for disabled
children and adults and in the afternoons we enjoyed the beach and relaxed vibe
of the fishing village. A few afternoons I was able to help out with the Club
de Ninos, where we read and played with local children from the town. Before my
departure, I took one excursion, a boat ride/day trip to Isla de la Plata (also
known as the poor man's Galapagos) for some hiking and snorkeling. A perfect
way to end my time on the coast.
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| Club de Ninos |
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| Isla de la Plata |
From
there, it was time to connect with Holly, my friend from Santiago who I had
planned the majority of the trip with, so after a rather uncomfortable 10 hour
overnight bus ride (buses are nothing like they are in Chile!) I made it to the
capital city of Ecuador, Quito. In Quito, we explored the city during the days
taking in the beautiful architecture, churches and culinary delights.
From
Quito, we wanted to visit the Ecuador section of the Amazon so we ventured to
El Oriente via an overnight bus to Lago Agrio to get us, eventually, to the
Cuyabeno Reserve. After 2 hours by bus and 2 hours by motorized canoe through
the jungle, we arrived at Guacamayo Lodge and enjoyed a fantastic 4-day,
3-night adventure in the Amazon. Days were spent swimming in the lagoon, hiking in the jungle,
relaxing in hammocks and visiting a local community and Shaman. During
the evening we enjoyed the company of the other fun travelers and delicious
foods served by the lodge and, even one night, ventured out for a private
paddle trip and
night
hike with our awesome guide Vin. It was so powerful and yet so simple to
disconnect completely over those few days. I didn’t find myself missing email
or Facebook, but rather looked forward to the time of day where I could see the
sun set and moon rise at
the very same time over the lagoon. Absolute bliss.
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| Canoe ride in to the jungle |
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| sunset swims in the lagoon |
From the
jungle we headed back to Quito, but another overnight Ecuadorian bus ride was a
bit much to stomach, so we opted to break up the trip with a short stop in
Papallacta and enjoyed a night at the Termas (hot springs) before bussing back
to Quito early the next morning. Our next
destination was the Otavalo market, about 3 hours outside of Quito, it is known
as the premier destination for Ecuadorian handicrafts, and it certainly did not
disappoint! We spent a few morning hours browsing the multitude of stalls and
interacting with friendly, if not a bit overly pushy, vendors. After settling
on a few personal purchases and a few gifts to bring back home, we returned to
Quito for another night before packing up all our bags and heading south to
Banos.
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| our goods! |
Banos was
the town we had heard about from other travelers, but really had no
expectations going in and it turned out to be one of my favorite stops! This is
the place you go for any outdoor adventure sports you can think of: hiking,
rafting, jumping off bridges…and then follow that with any kind of spa service you would
want. We opted to rent bikes one day to explore the various waterfalls just
outside of the main part of town as well as rafting the next day, followed by
steam baths and massages! Day 3, we joined up with some new friends for a
rather challenging hike up to the cabin of one of our bartender friends in
town. After just barely making it through the freezing cold night, and
unfortunately Holly getting quite sick, we made it back to town eventually and
spent the rest of the day trying to recover. We thought it best to lay low and
relax for another two days until Holly was feeling better enough to travel
onward.
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| Waterfall bike ride |
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| hiking "upstairs" with Roberto |
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| steam baths |
From
Banos, we continued south to Cuenca where we spent 2 days and nights exploring
the beautiful colonial city.
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| views of Cuenca |
From
Cuenca, we continued on to our last stop and furthest south, Vilcabamba. This small
town gained recent notoriety as “the valley of longevity” since so many of its
residents were living well into their 100’s. Thus, many gringos began relocating and it now serves as
a mix of local Ecuadorians, retired Ex-pats and new-age backpackers taking in
the beauty of the area as well as meditation, medicinal healing and vegetarian
food that the town has to offer. After 4 blissful days, it began to feel like time
really did stand still, alas, our trip had come to an end and it was time to
head back to Santiago.
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| mountain horse rides |
All in
all, Ecuador was a country I knew very little about and had heard even less,
yet surprised me to be one of my favorite places I have visited. A small, yet
proud land filled with beauty, tranquility and, of course, friendly
inhabitants.
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