Direct Delta flight from Atlanta for a reasonable price? Let's go! We spent eight days in Ecuador during Thanksgiving week. Our trip was split evenly between Quito and Imbabura region. We wanted to check out Quito properly and get a bit off the touristy path to see the country side.
Quito is a gigantic, sprawling, and at times, a sketchy city. However, it grew on us pretty quickly! We enjoyed walking around Old Town, eating in La Colonia and La Floresta, and checking out the cultural sites like Capilla del Hombre. The weather wasn't as bad as we were expecting, since we went at the start of the wet season.
Imbabura is the opposite of Quito. We booked a 5 day / 4 night homestay + hiking tour with Quichua Tours (
http://www.quichuatours.com/.) We stayed with a host family in the village of La Calera, near Cotacachi. It was a wonderful experience getting to know the family, helping/observing their daily life like walking the cows, and getting to practice our Spanish since they spoke zero English. The hikes were fantastic as well. We had a bilingual guide on all four day hikes and the largest group we were in was a total of four hikers. We highly recommend booking with Quichua Tours since they are fully owned and operated by the indigenous Quichua/Kichua people. The tours help support the local communities through the homestay program and employing locals as drivers, guides, etc.
Things to know if you visit
- Knowing basic Spanish is very helpful for taxis, restaurants, etc. Get the Duolingo app and spend a couple of weeks brushing up on common phrases and travel vocab.
- We stayed at the JW Marriott in Quito which was very good point redemption (22,500 a night). Using suite night awards is definitely recommended sine the exec suite and balcony suites are very spacious. You also get status perks like a buffet breakfast and evening hor d'ourves at the lounge which are super helpful if you're trying to maximize your time in Quito.
- Taxis in Quito are very easy to hail down on the street and affordable. We didn't have any trouble with the drivers using the meter in the day time but at night there seemed to be a random minimum of $2 and no meter usage.
- Ecuadorian SIM cards are cheap and easy to get. We got a 7 day SIM (called "chip") from Movistar with 400 MB of data and 30 minutes of calling for $7. Whatsapp and Facebook browsing don't count against the data limit. You can get similar plans from Claro. We went to a nearby mall to get this chip.
- Afternoon thunderstorms are a definitely a thing. Get out there early in the morning, around 6am, for the best views and no rain. Also, get a decent rain jacket.
- Buy sunscreen before getting to Ecuador. It's very expensive (~$20 for 3 oz) in Quito and you definitely need it at this altitude, even when it's cloudy.
- Altitude: We took diamox when we arrived in Quito and continued taking it for 2 days. Diamox combined with taking it easy on the first two days, sleeping eight hours a night, and not drinking meant we didn't struggle at all with the altitude. That being said, Mohit did get a headache while climbing Imbabura (see below) because of the rapid elevation change.
- Remember to always bring ear plugs (dogs) and an eye mask (shitty curtains)
- Places to visit in Quito:
- Climb the towers of La Basilica Voto Nacional to get great panoramic views of the city. The towers open at 9am on the weekends (timings on Google Maps are incorrect.)
- Walk around in Old Town making sure to check out Plaza San Francisco and Calle de la Ronda.
- Check out the free exhibits at Centro Cultural Metropolitano.
- Take a gondola ride called Telefrico to get a view of the city and nearby volcanoes. We went on a cloudy day and weren't able to see any volcanoes but still enjoyed the view during the ride. You can easily take a taxi there (there's a $2.50 surcharge for entering in a car) and hop into one on the way back that's dropping off other visitors. The ride itself is $8.50 per person and takes about 15 minutes each way.
- Mindalae - Ethnohistoric & Crafts Museum of Ecuador: It's a small museum with recreations of traditional crafts. $3 to enter and walk around. Worth it for a rainy day activity.
- Favorite restaurants include: Casa Warmi, Achiote, and La Purisima for fancy Ecuadorian food, and Siete Mares for seafood.
- Hikes to do in Imbabura region:
- Laguna Cuicocha: ~14km round trip hike around the crater lake. Medium difficulty with rolling hills. Cui means guinea pig in Quichua, and the lake gets its name from a guinea pig shaped island in the middle of the lake. You get views of other nearby volcanoes including Cayambe, Cotacachi, and Imbabura.
- Mojanda and Fuya-Fuya: Fuya-Fuya mountain means cloudy cloudy in the Quichua language. It starts at 12,000 ft and ends at 13,700 ft with patches that feel like near vertical. We had amazing views on the way up, but the clouds moved in when we were at the top at around 11:30am
- Cubilche Lagoons: The summit is at ~12,500 feet with three lagoons, two of which are rain water and one is a crater lake. It's a tough hike through planted pine trees filled with mushrooms (championes) and our favorite paramo grass. We made it to the top just before the large group of university students. It's cloudy but we still got some nice views, especially on the way down of Ibarra city.
- Imbabura Summit: This is a very difficult hike. You climb ~4,000 feet to reach the summit at ~15,100 feet. Due to the difficulty, you start the climb very early, ~5am, which means waking up at 3am to leave Cotacachi. The hike begins with a section called Romper los Corazones (heart breaker) because of the steep incline. The last 1-1.5 hours of the hike is scaling rocks which can be intimating since you're not roped on to anything. However, its all worth it on a clear day. The summit is breathtaking, and the views of the region on the way down as amazing.
- Pinan: We did not get a chance to do the Pinan trek, which is rolling hills in the paramo grass but heard great things about it.
Fun facts
- Even experienced farmers can loose a cow when distracted by their 2 year old son, 6 year old nephew, and two tourists. Falta una vaca!
- Ecuador has signs for "Two Way" street... You might be wondering, isn't that a little unnecessary? Aren't most streets two way unless stated otherwise?
- All the tourists that visit the equator line attraction are being fooled. The equator is actually like 200 meters away from the sign 😅
- Every taxi driver will know the cevicheria Siete Mares, even if they don't know of the JW Marriott across the street
- Ecuador also has Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving.
Summary of pictures
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| View from the top of La Basilica |
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| A short walk from at the top of the Teleferico. If you're nuts, go for the Runa Pichincha hike from here. |
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| Cloudy day = no volcano views = sad Fate |
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| Taita (Father) Imbabura |
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| Quick walk to move the cows with the host family dad, son, and nephew |
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| Views of Imbabura from the quiet La Calera community |
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| Laguna Cuicocha. You see the guinea pig right? |
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| Mojanda Lake and Fuya-Fuya mountain. This is the only part we were smiling for during this hike. |
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| The grass you see here is called paramo. It acts as nature's stairs! |
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| Cubilche lagoons. I know, they're pretty small. Was the uphill worth it? Yes! |
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| Out homestay in La Calera! |
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| Our host family, from right to left: Jose (dad), Rocio (mom), Jesus, Nanki, Yarina |
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| Imbabura Summit. Smiling on the outside, head pounding on the inside. |
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| The edge of Imbabura crater. There's a distinct sulfur smell from the "active" volcano. |
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| The clouds cleared on the way down, allowing us to see Ibara and the surrounding mountains |
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| Capilla del Hombre - Amazing large scale art by Oswaldo Guayasamín |
