Travel summary: Ecuador
I spent three weeks travelling in Ecuador and managed to squeeze in so much during that time. Here is a quick travel summary from my time in Ecuador....
The Galápagos Islands
After two days of doing absolutely nothing in Cuenca and getting way too comfortable at Mi Casa Hostel, it was time for new adventures. I caught a 5 am bus heading for Guayaquil, only to catch a flight to one of my dream destinations in South America. I was treating myself to a week in the Galápagos Islands. I had been going back and forth for weeks wondering whether it be worth it spending so much money in one place over one week. Eventually I decided that I might only be in Ecuador once, and that this was something...
Baños
The day I was gonna make my way from Latacunga to Baños started with a relaxed breakfast. We were a group of five heading for Baños that day, and we were all equally convinced that direct buses ran quite frequently. It's only a two hour ride so they should be, right? At the bus terminal we were told otherwise. After some confusion were sent of on a bus to Ambato where we were told that we would find a connecting bus. That didn't quite happen. After being told different things by a numerous amount of people and having run...
Trekking the Quilotoa Loop
Hiking the Quilotoa Loop has definitely been one of the highlights of my trip so far. Beautiful hikes during the days and cozy evenings with great food and good company in the evenings; it doesn't get much better than that. Most people I have talked to in Ecuador seemed to be visiting the Quilotoa lake on a daytrip, but for anyone who has the time and a certain appreciation for hiking I would definitely recommend doing the whole loop. The loop can be done in different ways, so this is a guide to how I ended up doing it....
Three days in Quito
I arrived at my hostel at my hostel in Quito after a long journey from Ipiales. Quito was a place I'd heard mixed things about, but I was excited to make up my own opinion. Regardless it was exciting to be in a new country, and even though I was tired from travelling all day I couldn't wait to start exploring. My first night in Quito a few guys that worked at my hostel invited those who wanted to go up and see the Virgin of Quito at El Panecillo after dark. I jumped at the opportunity as I...
My first border crossing – Colombia to Ecuador
Even though I spent five weeks in Colombia, my first border crossing came upon me quite suddenly. I don't think I realised that I was leaving Colombia until I was on my way to the border, even though the journey to get there was pretty long. Both for safety and convenience reasons I decided to split the journey up a bit. In that way I managed to avoid spending too many consecutive hours on a bus. I also avoided travelling by night, something I wanted because the stretch is known for armed robberies of buses after dark. It probably...
Four months in South America – the plan so far
How do you plan the trip you are not supposed to plan? This is how I went about it to plan my four month long South American adventure....