www.ecuadors.org

[luther]

I am planning a trip to Ecuador for December and hope to be there for 10 days. I would like to see Quito, Cuenca, Banos and a beach town. Any suggestions on how to split up the days? Any suggestions for a good beach town? Thanks!

[Istu]

Hi

Just returned from 2 1/2 weeks in Ecuador (language school at the Academia Latinoamerica de Espanol)

The Galapagos is by far the number one attraction in Ecuador, however, if the expense or time commitment is too much for your trip, here are some other points of interest.

Bellavista Cloudforest - I spent five days up at the Bellavista lodge in the cloud forest near Mindo. About 2 hours from Quito

Went birdwatching, hiking and horseback riding (as well as taking spanish lessons). Food was excellent, accomodations fine (paper thin walls, but it quiets right down around 9:30pm) They do three guided walks a day. Can be arranged as a day trip but I would recommend an overnight.

Otavalo is a wonderful market town about 1 1/2 hours from Quito. The Saturday market is great fun with incredible bargains to be found.

We hired a private guide to drive three of us to Otavalo, Cotacachi and Cochasqui for $69 a piece. (I have his card)

Cotacachi is another wonderful town that has an incredible number of leather shops. I got a marvelous leather duffle bag for $32.

Cochasqui is a site with 15 pre-Incan adobe pyramids. Most are still covered with dirt and grass, however two are excavated. The guided tour was very interesting and the site has a great 240 degree view.

We also did a day trip to Volcano Land, doing zip lines, lunch at a hacienda and horsebackriding. Volcano land is a large area in between 5 volcanos. the big attraction is Cotapaxi, the tallest active volcano in the world (however it hasn't erupted in some 200 years and is far away from the currently erupting volcano in Banos)

The countryside in this area is gorgeous. Besides horseback riding and zip lines, you can go mountain biking, hiking to waterfalls, hiking up to the refuge at Cotapaxi (did I mention it is snow covered but the refuge is below the snow line, usually). You can stay overnight at the haciendas or do a day trip. We paid $84 each for transportation, guide, zip line, lunch and horseback ride.

It's chilly up there so they put you in chaps and wool poncho for the horseback ride.

Banos is also a very nice town, 2 1/2 hours from Quito. However you will need to check the status of the volcano Tungurahua. It just had a major eruption on the side facing away from Banos. I heard that the hot springs are closed as well may be other attractions in that area.

Have a great trip!