Ecuador tours

The high Andean peaks of Ecuador are located primarily along the Avenue of the Volcanoes, a fertile central valley, which is buttressed by two ranges, the Eastern and Western Cordilleras. Most of the highland populace, including the indigenous Quichua, ekes out an agrarian living in this region. This tour includes of hiking in the Andean Highlands around the Cotopaxi National Park followed by a day and a half relaxing at the Papallacta Hot Springs Spa. Camp the first two nights; spend the last night in Papallacta.

The Amazonas ecosystem, particularly its tropical rain forest, is considered to be one of the richest and most complex communities of plant and animal life in the world. The region is characterized by huge and diverse amounts of flora and fauna with extraordinary variations in their habitats and micro­ habitats. Those rivers drop down from the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes to the Amazon Lowlands. The rivers offer yearround challenging 1- day rafting excursions with many rapids and a beautiful tropical surrounding with a rich flora and fauna.

The Andes in Ecuador consist of a long, narrow plateau running north-south bordered by two mountain chains containing numerous high volcanoes. To the west, in the geologically recent and relatively low Cordillera Occidental, stands a line of 19 volcanoes, 7 of them over 15,000 feet in elevation. The Avenue of the Volcanoes long valley between the major Cordillera ranges. Massive and standing alone, the volcanoes provide brooding, snow-covered contrast to the green equatorial lushness.