Here are some highlights of our Ecuador trip over Christmas Break 2018. It was a great trip that left us with a lot of admiration for diversity in the world (human and nature) and thirst to keep learning more...
Dec 24, 2018- Travel from EWR to UIO via ECP
Traveling on Christmas Eve from EWR has its own charm. No crowds and kids (Atharva specifically) was happy that Santa did arrive a week before a la Haridas household with gifts to make up for missing out on waking up in our own home on Christmas!
We got upgraded to first class and enjoyed lounge access before our flight. It was a red-eye, so we went to sleep right away and woke up when it was time to land in Panama. After a 4 hour layover in Panama City, we were refreshed, had a nice cup of coffee and super expensive breakfast sandwich ($10 for a 3 cheese breakfast sandwich from DD was a bit on the expensive side, considering we were off to our relatively inexpensive South America trip...we brushed this off as an anomaly) Our next leg was as uneventful as it could get! With a blink of an eye, we found ourselves in Quito!
Dec 25, 2018- Private tour to Papallacta Hot Springs and overnight in Quito
We were picked up by Andres of Ecuatraveling. This day was planned to be a relaxing one and what better way to relax than hot springs! We traveled by a private car to Thermas de Papallacta.
On our way to Papallacta we stopped by the highest point on the pass - Virgen de Paramo at 14000 feet. Kids felt how thin air felt and coupled with the frigid air outside, it was easy for them to understand how our Kilimanjaro adventure must have been:)
As read on numerous blogs, the facility is clean, neat and easy to understand. We had a great lunch of green banana empanadas and our first locro de papa soup (Potato and cheese soup that usually has a large chunk of avocado in it! We would have several versions over the next 6 days in Ecuador!)
Then we spent an hour or so soaking in the hot springs and admiring the wonderful surrounds.
The showers were wonderful and we had another round of snacks and coffee before returning to Quito for the night! Along the way, we stopped by for a roadside purchase of fresh mangoes...there would later be family fights over who gets to eat those mangoes since they were so delicious:)
Our first night was at Juana De Arco (A $35 room was really just that...a $35 dollar room!)
Hostel Juana De Arco for night 1 of our stay in Quito. View from our room was that of Santa Domingo Church and the location was awesome and very central. However, there is nothing apart from this to write about! This night our dinner was some Chinese food and mangoes!
Dec 26, 2018- Private transfer to Banos
After a lot of research on private vs group tours, I had reached the conclusion that a trip to Banos would be best served by a private tour. And after reading a lot of reviews online, I found Fredy of Servi Taxi Banos. Fredy's overall service did not disappoint! He was unavailable on Dec 26 and had set us up with Louis. Louis did not speak English and having known that before leaving USA, I had downloaded Google Translate for offline use. Best idea ever! It was easy to type up in English and have Google speak to Louis. On occasions, he was so convinced, we too spoke Spanish and responded quickly in Spanish:)
Louis was prompt and courteous, his car was clean and he was a very safe driver. We left Quito around 9am and were at Quilotoa Crater around Noon.
We hiked down to the lake and took several pictures along the way.
After the hike, we decided to spend $10 per person and took a mule ride back up! It was well after lunch hour, it was our day 2 and we were at 12,000 feet after all!
Louis had found a place for us that had 3 types of vegetarian soups. Quinoa, Potato and Corn were delicious. Kids had lost their appetite and wanted to have pizza, so after this, we even took lunch #2 at the only pizza restaurant in that area.
After that we hit road and the goal was to get to Banos by evening. We requested Louis to stop if we saw a Llama and we spotted one right away.
Later on, we took a quick break at a canyon for some cool photo ops!
At the agency in town, we were rushed into a bus full of people that were just waiting for us! The employees asked us for our European Shoe Sizes (I had heard that you need rubber boots for Amazon trekking and assumed that is what this was for) Before I go too far along, I will reveal the surprise of the day- Our agency was excellent and the guides and overall experience was amazing!
We started our bus trip of over 2 hours to Puyo. We had a quick stop at a viewpoint overlooking Pastaza river meeting Puyo river! Clyde took time to explain our day to us- canoe, Tarzan swing, lunch, jungle walk and then cultural show...we were excited!
Our second stop was canoe down the river. At this time we were already changed into our rubber boots. As much as it was not very pleasant to wear them, they were immensely useful! Especially in the jungle:)
Our third stop was by far the most thrilling spot of the entire trip. Yes, that is Arya in the picture and the video. This 11-year-old daredevil of mine was almost the first person to get in line for the "Tarzan swing". No restraint, a plain old swing and a sheer drop of over 160 meters (500+ feet) to the parking lot!
Fourth stop was actually where we already were. I believe this place is also called Portal a la Selva. Lunch was delicious and we were served Tree Tomato fruit juice. They make a lot of items -juice, sauce, soup to name a few- from this particular fruit.
Next, we took a short ride to Hola Vida reserve. Here we were asked to change into our swimsuits and we started our 'Medicinal plants of Amazon "tour in the heart of the jungle. It was so much fun to waddle through streams as we were surrounded by the beauty of nature!
Along the way, we learned how pharma company reps often visit Amazon and other rainforests in the world to learn from the indigenous tribes on the medicinal properties of the trees. Amazonians never need to go to the hospital since the jungle offers solutions to all ailments. We tried first-hand a lotion we made from Dragon's blood tree sap, got Clyde to squeeze some bark tree juice in our nostrils. This juice apparently clears sinuses but is very painful...all four of us experienced the pain (and now are secretly hoping for a cough/cold free winter:)) One another interesting "medicinal rock" we all decided to participate in was the mud pack treatment. We came upon a stone in the stream and Clyde settled down and educated us on the medicinal properties of that rock. He said that the same treatment in Banos would be a lot more expensive:) So, there we had it- a mud pack on all our faces and the cooling effect did give us some temporary relief from hot sweltering heat!
Last stop of the day was at an indegenous Kichwa community. The group was ready for us and since we were the last group of the day, and by this time, we were very late, we assumed the program would be an abbreviated version. Mistaken we were! They welcomed us with Chincha drink. It is a sheer miracle that all four of us were alive, healthy and truly in high spirits by the end of the trip, given all that were had accepted as challenges along the way. As much as I had read about Chincha, I did not tell Arya, Atharva or Harshal that the drink they were devouring was made from yucca that had been in the mouth of who knows how many people! Yup, that's right...a drink made from "human saliva-based fermentation"
Our faces were painted, Arya and I donned grass skirts to join the dance with the local women and tried hands-on demonstrations of dart blowing using a hollow tube! It was fun and Atharva got bulls-eye...if he were a Kichwa, dinner would be good tonight! Finally, we wrapped the evening by seeing some local rescue animals, purchased pottery as a souvenir for our travel memorabilia collection and bid farewell to Amazon rainforest! It was a truly memorable experience and Casahurca Travel agency and our guides and drivers did a great job!
Travel back to Banos was uneventful but very long. We had not quite gotten a chance to change out of our swimsuits since the waterfall, so, after a long not so comfortable bus ride back, we waited for Karla to get us a taxi to take us to Casa Verde. There we ordered dinner and took turns taking a shower. Our pattern during travel is usually where we all take showers at night and start our day early!
Johan was helpful again but helping us book another adventure for the next day, helping us with laundry load and placing an order for our food!
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Dec 24, 2018- Travel from EWR to UIO via ECP
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| EWR lounge prior to boarding our red-eye to Panama City |
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| A business class upgrade was a great start to our trip |
Dec 25, 2018- Private tour to Papallacta Hot Springs and overnight in Quito
We were picked up by Andres of Ecuatraveling. This day was planned to be a relaxing one and what better way to relax than hot springs! We traveled by a private car to Thermas de Papallacta.
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| Enroute to Papallacta a quick stop at 14,000 feet! |
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| Easy check-in process and a relaxing Christmas day at the hot springs |
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| Beautiful Orchids and Relaxing Springs! A total of 4 springs of increasing temperature, with the last one boiling hot! |
The showers were wonderful and we had another round of snacks and coffee before returning to Quito for the night! Along the way, we stopped by for a roadside purchase of fresh mangoes...there would later be family fights over who gets to eat those mangoes since they were so delicious:)
Our first night was at Juana De Arco (A $35 room was really just that...a $35 dollar room!)
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| Santa Domingo Church |
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| Juana De Arco |
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| Streets of Quito |
Hostel Juana De Arco for night 1 of our stay in Quito. View from our room was that of Santa Domingo Church and the location was awesome and very central. However, there is nothing apart from this to write about! This night our dinner was some Chinese food and mangoes!
Dec 26, 2018- Private transfer to Banos
After a lot of research on private vs group tours, I had reached the conclusion that a trip to Banos would be best served by a private tour. And after reading a lot of reviews online, I found Fredy of Servi Taxi Banos. Fredy's overall service did not disappoint! He was unavailable on Dec 26 and had set us up with Louis. Louis did not speak English and having known that before leaving USA, I had downloaded Google Translate for offline use. Best idea ever! It was easy to type up in English and have Google speak to Louis. On occasions, he was so convinced, we too spoke Spanish and responded quickly in Spanish:)
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| Quilotoa Crater |
We hiked down to the lake and took several pictures along the way.
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| Off the beaten path...we decided to take a short cut! |
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| Arya and Atharva before the hike |
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| It was cold and we had to wear hats and gloves |
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| Mule ride back up |
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| The beautiful cold water of the crater |
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| Hearty soups for lunch and some Coca tea for the altitude |
Louis had found a place for us that had 3 types of vegetarian soups. Quinoa, Potato and Corn were delicious. Kids had lost their appetite and wanted to have pizza, so after this, we even took lunch #2 at the only pizza restaurant in that area.
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| Llama spotting against a pictureque backdrop! |
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| Canyon and that was a deep one too! |
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| Our car for the day was actually a taxi! |
Not pictured were some additional neat towns we saw along the way including the one where they sell ice creams and the other where they sell jeans!
We reached our guest house in Banos -La Casa Verde and were greeted by Johan. Dinner was some more pizza and pasta ordered from a local restaurant. We discussed the next day's itinerary with Fredy. I was very skeptical about the plan. It sounded great but for a fraction of what other websites were charging for the same service, and no tripadvisor reviews, Casahurco sounded sketchy! We were in for a surprise the next day!
Dec 27, 2018- Group tour to Amazon Jungle (Canoeing, Tarzan Swing, jungle walk and Kichwa community visit)
After waking up to a beautiful view outside our window, and an excellent breakfast in the common area, we were ready at 8:30am to be picked up by the agency.
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| View from our room |
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| Enjoying my coffee on the deck with hummingbirds in view |
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| At our first stop and view of Pastaza river! |
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| Atharva being silly! |
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| Small shops sold interesting and unique items including grubs:) We purchased some sugarcane for monkeys we would see later in the day! |
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| Canoe...our first white-water wooden canoe ride |
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| Arya ended up in a separate canoe but enjoyed herself completely! |
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| Family picture after the canoe ride |
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| Arya on Amazon Jungle Tarzan Swing |
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| Tree Tomato Fruit juice |
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| This made for an interesting photo opp! |
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| Clyde making a crown out of a new curled up leaf |
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| Arya was the crowned princess of our group and continued to wear the crown the entire time |
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| Crossing a stream |
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| Notice the giant leaf, signature of the rainforest, as Arya continues walking up the stream |
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| A refreshing dip in the heart of Amazon |
Along the way, we learned how pharma company reps often visit Amazon and other rainforests in the world to learn from the indigenous tribes on the medicinal properties of the trees. Amazonians never need to go to the hospital since the jungle offers solutions to all ailments. We tried first-hand a lotion we made from Dragon's blood tree sap, got Clyde to squeeze some bark tree juice in our nostrils. This juice apparently clears sinuses but is very painful...all four of us experienced the pain (and now are secretly hoping for a cough/cold free winter:)) One another interesting "medicinal rock" we all decided to participate in was the mud pack treatment. We came upon a stone in the stream and Clyde settled down and educated us on the medicinal properties of that rock. He said that the same treatment in Banos would be a lot more expensive:) So, there we had it- a mud pack on all our faces and the cooling effect did give us some temporary relief from hot sweltering heat!
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| Mudpack treatment for the family |
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| Atharva being the tiniest in the group needed some assistance now and then |
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| Atharva drinking Chincha |
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| Face painting |
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| Dancing to the beat of indegenious drums felt great |
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| With Kichwa family members after we tried hands-on dart demonstration |
Johan was helpful again but helping us book another adventure for the next day, helping us with laundry load and placing an order for our food!
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Dec 28, 2018- Zipline adventure, Private tour of the waterfalls, and swings of Banos followed by private transfer to Quito
We had done zip lining in Costa Rica 3 years ago and hence we not quite keen on repeating this adventure! However, after Johan had described the adventure obstacle zip line, we were all ears! This included some bridge crossings and rock climbing parts, in addition to Superman and skateboard ziplining. We found ourselves as the first group of the day at Puntzan Canopy. A quick note on traveling in Banos. Taxi around town is in the range of $1-2 and very convenient!
Our adventure start time was 9:15am and after breakfast, we were all packed, checked out and ready for our adventure! A taxi picked us up and we were all strapped in and ready to go on a unique "obstacle zip line" I will call it! We had ziplined in Costa Rica 3 years ago and we were not sure how different this would be compared to 2.2 miles of the fun zip line at Selvatura...bridge crossing, surfboard zip line and for kids specifically, a superman zip line that they missed last time were the highlights.
Our guides did not spare us and as we struggled to keep our balance, made sure they jumped as vigorously as they could on that narrow bridge...screams guaranteed! With voice half lost, we decided to go to town for lunch.
Johan had recommended Casa Hood and by this time, we had started trusting Johan's judgment and decided to give it a shot. Turned out we were the first customers at the door of Casa Hood at 11:25am. The restaurant opened at 11:30am:) In mere 5 minutes we had to spare, I decided to go across the street to check out the massage place! Turned out they could take me in asap and thus, a quick 30-minute massage was squeezed in too:) I returned to the restaurant to find Atharva trying his hand at a guitar....the ambiance of Casa Hood was to fall in love for quickly!
We were to meet Fredy at 1:30pm in Casa Verde but decided to make a quick coffee and sweets stop at Honey. Another superb location it turned out to be! Kids enjoyed their desserts and we had an excellent cup of coffee.
At this time, I should mention that we had no connectivity in Ecuador with an exception of wifi that we got at restaurants and at the hotel. Honey happened to have wifi connection and I decided to inform Fredy that we were in Honey and that he could meet us at Honey if he wanted to. Love the chilled attitude of Ecuadorians...he instantly let us know that we could hang out there and he could come to pick us up. I asked him what kind of coffee he would like and an Americano was ordered as to-go.
Fredy turned out to be one of the most genuine and amicable guides I have ever met! Kids quickly fell in love with his infectious energy. Our waterfall and swings tour started with Fredy taking us to a Banos view stop.
As we looked at Banos city down below, I happened to see a swing on the mountain to our left. Fredy said that if we were the "adventurous types" we would like that over Casa De Arbol, the famous swing of Banos.
Fredy watched as I looked at the swing with predicament and dilemma and quickly announced that we would have time for both! Problem solved and it was small things like this that made Fredy and our rest of the day so special! And so we found ourselves strapped in again on a swing that took us over Banos city! Fantasias de Volar was one of the best adrenaline-pumping experience of our life!
It was true to its name...satisfies your fantasy to fly....fantastic. I was glad I had spotted it by chance!
Atharva enjoyed this swing as it was "safe" according to his 8-year-old logic (He had previously ruled out the Amazon Tarzan swing as unsafe for 8-year-olds and would later rule out the Casa De Arbol swing with the same explanation.:)
Next, we went to the famous Casa del Arbol, swing at the end of the world. A lot has been written about this swing and after paying the entrance fee, in this rather commercial looking setting, we contemplated skipping the actual swing, thanks to long lines at the time we reached! Restrooms here were clean and we decided to use the facilities before starting our next part of the tour with Fredy. A quick note on toilets in Banos. We did not experience any squat toilets, however, note that Toilet Paper (TP) is a precious commodity and in many locations, you will find it outside the toilets! So be sure to grab some before you actually enter the toilet. Ok moving on from toilets now...
So, after our comfort break, the lines had suddenly vanished and Arya and I found ourselves on the swing at the end of the world. It was a beautiful experience. Not as thrilling as the other swings we had experienced thusfar, it was afterall, the most famous swing in Banos. So we swung and as always, I screamed at the top of my lungs for one last time. My voice was then gone and returned with the new year!:)
After all the swings, it was the "waterfall" part of the tour and at this time, I had almost forgotten all about the waterfall part of the tour. Fredy was enthusiastic and stopped at many waterfalls and being Fredy decided to be our personal photographer too!
After many stops and waterfalls, we reached Devil's Cauldron. There were two options as far as the hike to the waterfall was concerned. We picked the shorter of the two options since we had added one more swing at the start of our tour. It was already late afternoon and we still had 3.5 hours trip back to Quito! It was an enjoyable hike with giant ferns and bridges.
And thus a very refreshing waterfall tour came to an end. At the entrance, we had seen a lady squeeze fresh orange juice when we started the hike. She was gone by the time our hike ended but that freshly squeezed juice was still available. As we finished our juice, Fredy asked us casually if we liked empanadas. We had tasted green banana empanadas in the first three days but then he said that these were special...sweet empanadas made with local bananas and local chocolate! Sounded delicious and in reality was the best "dinner" we had in Ecuador. We had two rounds of fresh hot empanadas. When you have freshly picked bananas from your backyard, empanadas are to die for! And finally, with satisfied bellies and hearts, we started our car ride back to Quito. We all took turns napping as Fredy navigated expertly. The roads reminded me of Indian roads and somehow Ecuador was starting to feel like home now.
We reached Hump Day Hostel by 9:30pm and checked into our "family room". This was a better room compared to Juana Del Arco of night 1. However, this family room was right next to a Mexican restaurant and it felt like the walls were permeable. The result was that the next three nights, we spent sleeping in constant smell of a burrito and an occasional whiff of Lavender room freshener! That was probably the only downside of our "hostel stay".
Dec 29, 2018- Otavalo Market DayTour
Today we woke up bright and ready to go to our cultural tour. This picture was taken right outside our hostel. You can see the Virgin of Quito behind us on the top of the hill called El Panciello.
We took a taxi this morning to Plaza San Blas. What felt like a very scary place on day 1 night would turn out to be some of our most beautiful dinner memories of the trip later on. We were still very skeptical about the safety at this time, so taxi definitely sounded like a safe bet. As soon as we reached the plaza, we saw others from our hostel who had taken a short walk to the bus stop themselves. We made a note to try this the following morning.
The itinerary of the day was exactly as described in the tour description and it was overall a very relaxed day.
Our first stop was at the Cayambe Bizcochos factory. These were freshly made and it was a treat for eyes and our hungry stomachs. Although we had free breakfast at the hostel, it did not start until 7am and we had left our hostel at 7am in the morning to make it to San Blas for our departure at 7:15am. Kids were hungry and a couple packs of biscuits
were devoured. They tasted especially delicious with the side of caramel sauce and other marmalades that were made available. The brother-sister duo ran this family business. A cup of coffee and these warm delicious bizcochos were to die for.
The brother spoke for solid 20 minutes and his sister kept up by rolling and making those biscuits and not speaking a word! Later on and during the day, when I was on my phone translating something for a solid 5 minutes and Atharva spoke non-stop about whatever was on his mind at that time, he said that we were like the brother sister duo- I did not speak a word and he spoke non-stop! Atharva has a funny way of making connections!
Then we boarded the bus again and a short drive away was our next quick stop. Here they explained the history of Panama Hats. Well turns out that these Panama Hats are actually from Ecuador. It was during the building of Panama Canal that the workers of Ecuador were spotted wearing this very modest accessory that led the visitors from the USA to believe that those were Panama Hats. We saw a Panama hat worth $10 and another that was $200, that could be washed and rolled up multiple times without showing wearing effects! Well, we also learned about hats that are made in Montecristi that are thousands of dollars. Indeed that turns out to be true. A Panama Hat for $25,000 is a reality indeed!
Here we also had some fun photo ops we could not pass off.
Finally, we arrived at our raison d'etre or our day trip- Otavalo Market. Saturday is the best day of the week to visit the largest outdoor market in South America!
We had done zip lining in Costa Rica 3 years ago and hence we not quite keen on repeating this adventure! However, after Johan had described the adventure obstacle zip line, we were all ears! This included some bridge crossings and rock climbing parts, in addition to Superman and skateboard ziplining. We found ourselves as the first group of the day at Puntzan Canopy. A quick note on traveling in Banos. Taxi around town is in the range of $1-2 and very convenient!
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| Safety first! |
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| We timed looking at the camera as Harshal approached the end of his ride |
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| Some parts included hooking and unhooking your own carabiner as you navigated the course |
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| We all had the luxury of holding on to both sides...Atharva did not and in spite of the deep gorge below, we got him to smile for the camera:) |
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| Casa Hood lunch at Banos |
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| Tiramasu and Holiday Brownie at Honey |
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| Honey was filled with quirky sayings and eclectic decorations |
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| Life truly starts after a coffee! |
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| Flat white at Honey did not disappoint! |
At this time, I should mention that we had no connectivity in Ecuador with an exception of wifi that we got at restaurants and at the hotel. Honey happened to have wifi connection and I decided to inform Fredy that we were in Honey and that he could meet us at Honey if he wanted to. Love the chilled attitude of Ecuadorians...he instantly let us know that we could hang out there and he could come to pick us up. I asked him what kind of coffee he would like and an Americano was ordered as to-go.
Fredy turned out to be one of the most genuine and amicable guides I have ever met! Kids quickly fell in love with his infectious energy. Our waterfall and swings tour started with Fredy taking us to a Banos view stop.
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| Fredy and us at the Banos viewpoint |
Fredy watched as I looked at the swing with predicament and dilemma and quickly announced that we would have time for both! Problem solved and it was small things like this that made Fredy and our rest of the day so special! And so we found ourselves strapped in again on a swing that took us over Banos city! Fantasias de Volar was one of the best adrenaline-pumping experience of our life!
It was true to its name...satisfies your fantasy to fly....fantastic. I was glad I had spotted it by chance!
Atharva enjoyed this swing as it was "safe" according to his 8-year-old logic (He had previously ruled out the Amazon Tarzan swing as unsafe for 8-year-olds and would later rule out the Casa De Arbol swing with the same explanation.:)
Next, we went to the famous Casa del Arbol, swing at the end of the world. A lot has been written about this swing and after paying the entrance fee, in this rather commercial looking setting, we contemplated skipping the actual swing, thanks to long lines at the time we reached! Restrooms here were clean and we decided to use the facilities before starting our next part of the tour with Fredy. A quick note on toilets in Banos. We did not experience any squat toilets, however, note that Toilet Paper (TP) is a precious commodity and in many locations, you will find it outside the toilets! So be sure to grab some before you actually enter the toilet. Ok moving on from toilets now...
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| It was hard to let go on this swing |
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| Arya and the clouds |
So, after our comfort break, the lines had suddenly vanished and Arya and I found ourselves on the swing at the end of the world. It was a beautiful experience. Not as thrilling as the other swings we had experienced thusfar, it was afterall, the most famous swing in Banos. So we swung and as always, I screamed at the top of my lungs for one last time. My voice was then gone and returned with the new year!:)
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| Family pictre at Casa Del Arbol |
After all the swings, it was the "waterfall" part of the tour and at this time, I had almost forgotten all about the waterfall part of the tour. Fredy was enthusiastic and stopped at many waterfalls and being Fredy decided to be our personal photographer too!
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| One of the many waterfalls we saw on our tour |
After many stops and waterfalls, we reached Devil's Cauldron. There were two options as far as the hike to the waterfall was concerned. We picked the shorter of the two options since we had added one more swing at the start of our tour. It was already late afternoon and we still had 3.5 hours trip back to Quito! It was an enjoyable hike with giant ferns and bridges.
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| A suspension bridge at Pailon Del Diablo |
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| Giant Ferns at Devil's Cauldron |
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| Devil's Cauldron |
And thus a very refreshing waterfall tour came to an end. At the entrance, we had seen a lady squeeze fresh orange juice when we started the hike. She was gone by the time our hike ended but that freshly squeezed juice was still available. As we finished our juice, Fredy asked us casually if we liked empanadas. We had tasted green banana empanadas in the first three days but then he said that these were special...sweet empanadas made with local bananas and local chocolate! Sounded delicious and in reality was the best "dinner" we had in Ecuador. We had two rounds of fresh hot empanadas. When you have freshly picked bananas from your backyard, empanadas are to die for! And finally, with satisfied bellies and hearts, we started our car ride back to Quito. We all took turns napping as Fredy navigated expertly. The roads reminded me of Indian roads and somehow Ecuador was starting to feel like home now.
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| A little hole-in-the-wall shack near |
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| Chocolate Banana Empanadas....pure goodness! |
Dec 29, 2018- Otavalo Market DayTour
Today we woke up bright and ready to go to our cultural tour. This picture was taken right outside our hostel. You can see the Virgin of Quito behind us on the top of the hill called El Panciello.
The itinerary of the day was exactly as described in the tour description and it was overall a very relaxed day.
Our first stop was at the Cayambe Bizcochos factory. These were freshly made and it was a treat for eyes and our hungry stomachs. Although we had free breakfast at the hostel, it did not start until 7am and we had left our hostel at 7am in the morning to make it to San Blas for our departure at 7:15am. Kids were hungry and a couple packs of biscuits
were devoured. They tasted especially delicious with the side of caramel sauce and other marmalades that were made available. The brother-sister duo ran this family business. A cup of coffee and these warm delicious bizcochos were to die for.
The brother spoke for solid 20 minutes and his sister kept up by rolling and making those biscuits and not speaking a word! Later on and during the day, when I was on my phone translating something for a solid 5 minutes and Atharva spoke non-stop about whatever was on his mind at that time, he said that we were like the brother sister duo- I did not speak a word and he spoke non-stop! Atharva has a funny way of making connections!
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Freshly baked biscochos (biscuits)
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So now, with our tummies happy, we arrived at the "Middle of the World" monument. This was truly 0-degree latitude -we were walking on the equator line. Quitsato is doing a great job of educating the tourists on the actual equator and how they have proven that indigenous people had the knowledge of these facts thousands of years ago and there is archeological evidence of this now!
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| Presentation on proposed new world map- see the picture |
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| Straddling the Equator |
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| Sundial in the backdrop |
Then we boarded the bus again and a short drive away was our next quick stop. Here they explained the history of Panama Hats. Well turns out that these Panama Hats are actually from Ecuador. It was during the building of Panama Canal that the workers of Ecuador were spotted wearing this very modest accessory that led the visitors from the USA to believe that those were Panama Hats. We saw a Panama hat worth $10 and another that was $200, that could be washed and rolled up multiple times without showing wearing effects! Well, we also learned about hats that are made in Montecristi that are thousands of dollars. Indeed that turns out to be true. A Panama Hat for $25,000 is a reality indeed!
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| Panama Hats are actually made in Ecuador! Who knew! |
Here we also had some fun photo ops we could not pass off.
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| Harshal and I dressed as Native Otavalans against an actual Volcano for our backdrop |
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| With Llama |
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| And then an Alpaca |
Finally, we arrived at our raison d'etre or our day trip- Otavalo Market. Saturday is the best day of the week to visit the largest outdoor market in South America!
We started our shopping trip by drinking sweet fresh coconut juice. And I was brave tasted a random fruit that tasted just ok! The vendor explained something in an animated fashion but I did not understand at all. Smile was our means of communication and
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| I tasted this yellow fruit and did not quite understand the exact direction of how to eat it. The vendors were amused by how I decided it should be eaten! |
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| Arya and I purchased a headband for ourselves |
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| Random spices that looked perfect! |
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| Purchased some scarfs for my family and friends |
Last part of this trip was Cuichocha Reserve Hike. This short hike was perfect for us as we prepared mentally for our next day. At 10,000 feet, we were very comfortable by this day and Cuicocha lake did not disappoint!
Lunch was rather late this day but hearty!
This was the end of a fantastic day trip. We returned back to Quito after in the evening. Back in San Blas Plaza, we hailed a taxi and sat in traffic for a considerable amount of time...and making a note to self to walk back the next day.
One of our group tour members gave us a recommendation for dinner on La Ronda. A pizza place called Bohemia Cafe Pizza and we decided to explore La Ronda, continued shopping and this time picked up coffee and chocolate and had a relaxing dinner.
We retired for the day. La Ronda being hop-skip-jump from our Hostel was a blessing! Tomorrow we had a big day ahead of us. We were now down to last few pairs of clothes and tomorrow, we would need all warm clothes and some more...
Dec 29, 2018- Cotapaxi National Park DayTour (Hiking and Bike trip)
We woke up early and found ourselves in San Blas Plaza at 7am again. Today, we had signed up for a day trip to Cotapaxi. And since today we would go to the highest elevation of our trip (close to 16,000 feet or approx 4870 meters), and this was the first time Arya and Atharva would go to this high altitude, we were carefully cautious. We had acclimatized over the past few days. Our "Climb High, sleep low" strategy, learned well during our Kilimanjaro climb, served us well till date. Having had no problem the previous day hiking at over 10,000 feet, it seemed like our bodies had adjusted to these higher altitudes.
Today breakfast was included as part of our tour. And it was delicious goodness. We filled up. Like yesterday, lunch would be around 3pm and after all our adventure was done! We were excited about the 500+feet hike and subsequent mountain biking adventure.
After breakfast, we made a quick stop to take some pictures of the beautiful Cotapaxi volcano. It was a clear and cold day.
We reached the parking lot and started our hike. It was expected to be about a 45 min to an hour hike. Harshal and Arya went up with the group. Atharva and I deliberated for quite some time and finally decided to keep going at a steady and slow pace. I was proud of Atharva for not giving up. At some point, because of high winds and cold conditions, not to mention we were at an altitude of 16,000 feet, he was ready to turn around.
This was the day before New Year's eve. We were stopped several times by troops of dressed up adults and kids for fines. Ecuador has some very unique New Year traditions. We experienced some of them up close and personal. For example, for the entire Cotapaxi trip, the "old man" effigy rode with us. We bid farewell to the year gone by and contemplated welcoming the new year with the same wonderful spirit that we had experienced in Ecuador!
A memorable trip indeed!
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| At Cuichocha Lake after a very short hike! |
Lunch was rather late this day but hearty!
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| Lunch at Cuicocha town |
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| Tomato Fruit Galore... Tomato Fruit Juice, Tomato Fruit Soup, and Tomato Fruit Spread! What would we do without Tomato Fruit in Ecuador:) |
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| Cuicocha is known for its leather goods. We window shopped to our heart's content. |
This was the end of a fantastic day trip. We returned back to Quito after in the evening. Back in San Blas Plaza, we hailed a taxi and sat in traffic for a considerable amount of time...and making a note to self to walk back the next day.
One of our group tour members gave us a recommendation for dinner on La Ronda. A pizza place called Bohemia Cafe Pizza and we decided to explore La Ronda, continued shopping and this time picked up coffee and chocolate and had a relaxing dinner.
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| La Ronda |
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| Arya was excellent in translating the coffee packs to find me a Medium Roast and Whole bean gourmet coffee |
We retired for the day. La Ronda being hop-skip-jump from our Hostel was a blessing! Tomorrow we had a big day ahead of us. We were now down to last few pairs of clothes and tomorrow, we would need all warm clothes and some more...
Dec 29, 2018- Cotapaxi National Park DayTour (Hiking and Bike trip)
We woke up early and found ourselves in San Blas Plaza at 7am again. Today, we had signed up for a day trip to Cotapaxi. And since today we would go to the highest elevation of our trip (close to 16,000 feet or approx 4870 meters), and this was the first time Arya and Atharva would go to this high altitude, we were carefully cautious. We had acclimatized over the past few days. Our "Climb High, sleep low" strategy, learned well during our Kilimanjaro climb, served us well till date. Having had no problem the previous day hiking at over 10,000 feet, it seemed like our bodies had adjusted to these higher altitudes.
Today breakfast was included as part of our tour. And it was delicious goodness. We filled up. Like yesterday, lunch would be around 3pm and after all our adventure was done! We were excited about the 500+feet hike and subsequent mountain biking adventure.
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| Tambo Wasi Resturant was our stop for breakfast and lunch |
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| Carb filled breakfast of pancakes, toast and eggs |
After breakfast, we made a quick stop to take some pictures of the beautiful Cotapaxi volcano. It was a clear and cold day.
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| Arya and Atharva with Cotapaxi Volcano in the backdrop |
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| A family picture seemed mandatory |
We reached the parking lot and started our hike. It was expected to be about a 45 min to an hour hike. Harshal and Arya went up with the group. Atharva and I deliberated for quite some time and finally decided to keep going at a steady and slow pace. I was proud of Atharva for not giving up. At some point, because of high winds and cold conditions, not to mention we were at an altitude of 16,000 feet, he was ready to turn around.
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| At high altitudes there is no vegetation |
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| Harshal and Arya made it to the refuge in an hour |
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| Atharva and I also made it to the refuge after an hour and half |
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| Hot coco felt good! |
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| Atharva and I located the American flag |
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| We all started our hike down the mountain trying to get our foothold in the scree |
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| This picture shows the parking lot, the refuge and the mountain, all in one frame. |
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| Ready to start our Mountain Biking adventure |
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| Kids fell asleep as soon as the hike was completed. As a result, for Mountain Biking was just the two of us |
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| Mountain Bikes on the bus |
This was the day before New Year's eve. We were stopped several times by troops of dressed up adults and kids for fines. Ecuador has some very unique New Year traditions. We experienced some of them up close and personal. For example, for the entire Cotapaxi trip, the "old man" effigy rode with us. We bid farewell to the year gone by and contemplated welcoming the new year with the same wonderful spirit that we had experienced in Ecuador!
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| Our bus driver paid fine in the Ano Viejo spirit |
A memorable trip indeed!
