Mekkelmania : Ecuador - ,An Interactive Intercontinental travel magazine, with, Rio Bamba, Cuenca, jungle, jungle tour, Latacunga, Puyo, Ambato, Guaranda, Guayaguil, Cotopaxi, Otavalo, market, Ibarra, Chimborazo, volcano, Banos, international,world,flying,airlines, reservations,hotels,holidays,vacations,planners,plans,resources, how,to,prepare,discount,air fares,tickets,directory,guide,adventure,travel,tips,travelers,travellers, traveling, travelling, advice,help,planning,preparations, packing,operators,women,safety, weather,warm,weather,high,altitude,South America,guidetravel, journals, reis, homepage, verslag, tips,Ecuador,last minute,Galapagos,An,interactive, stories, pictures, photos,of, backpack, backpackers, backpacking, mekkelmania, traveltips, beach, white beach, palm trees, relaxing, transport, prices, accommodation, Quito,interactive, stories, maps, lonely planet, travel guide, guide, travel information,reisrevue, reisverhalen, reizen, witte stranden, timetable, train,automobile, bus, culture, rain forrest, islands, links, visa department of transportation, help, travel advice, custom information, planning, information, resources, travel tips, hiking, trekking, rafting

Ecuador

Quito
In May 2000 we went for a 4-weeks trips to Ecuador and the Galapagos. Our first time in South America. We arrived in Quito, where the rain was pouring out of the sky. A good start !! It appeared that the local currency, the Sucre, was going to be substituted by the American Dollar. From the ATM around the corner of the airport we could only get dollars, no Sucres. Apparently the Sucre devaluated that much, that the Ecuadorian Government decided to introduce the Dollar as the new official currency. $1 = S25.000. Soon it will not be possible to pay with Sucres at all.

Quito A taxi took us to the Mariscal Sucre area where we found a very nice hotel called "Arupo". A pretty new hotel, with very friendly people. We paid $5 each per night. This was including breakfast, which is not common in Ecuador.
Quito with about 1,5 million inhabitants is very relaxed. The city is clean, the roads are wide and the city is surrounded by many hills, which results in an amazing view. Not many big cities are worth a visit for more than 1 or 2 days, but Quito is one of those. There are many restaurants (of which a lot are closed on Sundays and before the high season), bars, hotels, internet cafes and tourists here. The Mariscal Sucre area is supposed to be more expensive than the Old Town. We don't know that for sure, because we haven't been in the Old Town long enough.

Latacunga
Market in Latacunga After 2 days we went to Latacunga by local bus from the terminal in the North part of Quito (close to the statue). There are many cheap buses going everywhere. Every few minutes a bus is leaving to Latacunga, Guayaguill, Ambato, Otavala, Cuenca and more. To Latacunga it was only a 1,5 hour drive. Here we stayed in hotel Estambul, for about $8 a night. Latacunga itself is not very exciting. Even worse, there is nothing to do or see. The Plaza is nice and the market is fun to walk over (for a short while), but that's about it. You can make daytrips to for example the Cotopaxi volcano. We hired a 4-wheel drive from our hotel for $20 for a daytrip. The driver knows the way and is very patient. Unfortunately it had snowed last night, so we could not go up all the way. At 4000m we had to stop and could not do anything else than throwing some snowballs. A very awkward situation; throwing snowballs in Ecuador !!!

Saquisili
From Latacunga we also went to the Thursday market in Saquisili. This is only a few kilometer away from Latacunga. Many buses leave to Saquisili from a little South of the market area in Latacunga. Many men and women dressed in 'traditional' clothing travel along with you, inclusive the well know chicken and pigs under their arms. I am too big for these local buses, so I got stuck between the chairs.
In Saquisili we first thought that we got out off the bus too soon, because we did not see this huge market. But around the corner there was a big market place. In all the streets and plaza's there were people selling stuff. Marmots, pigs, ducks, goats, ponchos, engine parts, cars, fans, bread... in fact you can buy anything here. Things that you haven't seen for ages in your own country, you will find it here!!
The people here are very beautiful. You can't stop shooting pictures here. Too bad a lot of people don't like it if you take their picture and they duck away. I took a lot of pictures sneaky en quickly, but a number of them are vague and I could throw them away. Shit!! So if you can, bring a huge lens.

Banos

Banos is a very touristy place. I can also image why, because it is in a very beautiful area and there are many things to do and to see. From the roof from our hostal Plantas y Blanco we had a great view over the main plaza and the church. This hostel is also recommended, because they have a very nice terrace on their roof whith a perfect view over the village. When we were here, the nearby situated volcano Tungurahua was very active. It was alert phase Orange, which is the last one before Red, which means run like hell. Painted on the streets there were arrows which directs you to security areas, in case of phase red would turn up.
Plaza Banos - La Basilica Close to Banos - a bridge over the Rio Pastaza
La Basilica A small bridge over Rio Pastaza

In Banos you can rent some bikes for about $5 a day. A popular track is the road to Puyo. Most part is down hill, so it is also a good trip for the lazy travelers. There are many rental shops, make sure you have a good bike. You will regret it if you take any bike they give you, and there are many shops were you can make your choice. Down in Puyo you can take a bus, on which you can drop your bike. It is also possible to stop a pick up truck. We did last. To be honest, we did not go all the way to Puyo.

About 2 kilometer down the road (walking back to Ambato) there is a small zoo. We thought this will not be worth a visit, nut it actually is. There is a great number of cages, with monkeys, parrots, CONDORS, eagles, tapirs, giant turtles, puma's, a brown bear, eh... and more. And these animals are fed pretty good (at least, they seem pretty healthy). There was even a guard who wanted to make some photo's for us in the cages. The man must have had suicidal dreams, but he survived. Of course he wanted money, how stupid that we didn't think about that. He almost offered his life for a few pictures for a couple of stupid tourists. So he deserved a small 'compensation' (p.s. the photo's turned out to be worthless).The food in Banos was pretty bad I must say. All there was were pizzeria's. That is not what I want every night. There is one small Mexican restaurant called Moni on the Rocafuerte, which was pretty good and cheap. During the day we almost did not see any tourists, but at night everyone apparently climbed out of their caves and into the restaurants. They were completely full.In Banos it is also easy to arrange a trip into the jungle. Unfortunately we didn't do it, because it had rained for a number of days and we were traveling with only some summer clothing. Afterwards we regretted it that we did not do it.

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