How to See Three Regions of Ecuador in Five Days

When we went: March 22-27th 2013

I mentioned in my first post that my husband is from Ecuador.  We had traveled internationally before, but never to Ecuador together.  My husband's reason for not returning home was he had already seen Ecuador and he would rather go and see other parts of the world!   Well, his sister was getting married, so that was reason enough to get him to go back, and best of all I got to go too and see where he grew up!  There are four different regions of Ecuador, the coast, the highland, the jungle and the Galapagos islands.   We wanted to visit all four regions while we were there, but because of time and money we limited it to three of the four.

This was another trip we did not bring the kids on.  For one reason we do not have passports for them yet and we kind of decided to go last minute.  Also I did not want to spend 10+ hours on the airplane with them and lastly because they had just barely celebrated their first birthday (like the day before we left) I was worried they may get sick or pick up some kind of bacteria while we were there since their immune systems are still fragile. While we really missed the kids a lot and I want them to experience their ecuadorian culture, I am glad we did not bring them.  The pace of our trip was too fast for them, and I actually got quite sick while I was there and could not imagine having to take care of them while sick or Heaven forbid they got sick as well!

Because we stayed with family and they had a lot of local deals I will not post prices for this trip.  I can say Ecuador is much cheaper than traveling in the US.  We stayed at a super nice hotel right on the beach for about the price of a Holiday Inn here.   Food was a lot cheaper, we had a complete lobster dinner for around $30 and there were food stands along the side of the road where you could get fruit and other local foods for dollars.   I got a ton of souvenirs for pennies as well. One of my favorite pieces of jewelry is a ring that looks like an owl with a turquoise stone in the middle, it cost $4 and my mother-in-law thought that was too much!   So needless to say, besides the flight which was around $1000 each, to visit Ecuador is not that expensive.

A fruit we bought along the side of the road

This may be obvious, but some people do not realize that they speak Spanish in Ecuador.  I speak some Spanish and of course my husband is a native speaker, so we had no problems, but a lot of people do speak English there and are excited to practice with you.  Don't let fear of not being able to communicate stop you, there are ways around it.  My husband was a bit worried that I looked too American and might be targeted for muggings, he even made me wear a hat to cover my blonde hair, but we honestly had no problems.  I never felt fear or worry, I never saw military people carrying guns which I've heard others have seen and I was never afraid of anyone.  I could have had a false sense of security with my husband and his family, but I honestly feel the majority of people are sweet and kind and welcome people from other cultures.

Quito (the highland region)

His family lives in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, so that is where we flew in to.  They have some new laws about when cars can drive.  It depends on the license plate, odd cars can drive some days and even another during certain hours. Because we never really drove in the city alone we did not learn this law very well, but it is something to be aware of.  We arrived late a night so his parents did not have to worry about it, but we were supposed to arrive earlier and they had expressed concern about not being able to pick us up right away.

Quito is a beautiful city.  It is known for its historic district, there are more churches in the down town area then any other city.  We did drive around the city when we arrived, but it was dark and I was exhausted from the trip and not sleeping for two days, so I was only half awake unfortunately.  One of my regrets from this trip was not see more of Quito.  We did not go to the middle of the world exhibit which is highly recommend or visit the enchanting sights of down town Quito.  Perhaps another trip we will find time for those things.

We did spend one afternoon in Quito where we took the bus to different parts of the city.  I was amazed that anyone along the side of the road could hail the bus and it would stop for them.  Even people running at distance made it on the bus.  There were designated stops, but the bus would pull over anywhere you asked, if they stopped all the way or not depended on if you were a girl or a boy!  Girls they will come to a complete stop for, but boys learn from an early age to get off at a run because the bus only slowed down!   The bus would get extremely full, like sweaty arm pits in your face, squished between two people full. There were times I was afraid I was going to fall onto someone or get suffocated between people.  It was definitely an experience.

The roads are not the best in Ecuador.  They do not have a freeway system, so most roads are one-lane windy roads that are on the edge of cliffs or ravines.  It was always exciting, wherever we went.

The little finds you stumble across in foreign cities are awesome.  Of course my husband was fully aware of what Ecuador had to offer, but I was super excited when we got 8 DVD's for $10.  All in English, all real copies.  I also had to eat at McDonald's.  My husband has told me for years that McDonald's is so much better in Ecuador than in the US, so I had to try it.  While they had different burgers than we have here, I didn't think it was that much better.

Eating McDonald's

My husband's sister got married in a beautiful little church in the middle of the country side not far from Quito.  It reminded me of something you would see in Greece.  One thing I was impressed with about Ecuador is how green it is. The weather is mild, it rains on and off, there is usually a lot of low cloud coverage because of the altitude.  Unfortunately I had woken up that morning extremely sick.  I thought it was something I had ate the day before, but later I learned I had brought it from the US and it was some kind of NORA virus.  Luckily I was the only one that got it in Ecuador, unluckily all my family back in the states had it!  Including my kids who we had left with my mom and sisters, see?  So glad I did not bring them!  Sorry mom!

My husband went to medical school in Ecuador so he knew just what medicine to give me.  In Ecuador you can get most medicine without a prescription.  It just takes a trip to the local pharmacy to find what you need.  I was thankful for his knowledge as I was only sick for about a day, vs several days that my family had it.  Because of being sick on the day of the wedding however, I missed out on a lot of the festivities which was unfortunate because Ecuadorians are known for throwing really good parties, dancing the night away and having amazing food.  All of which the wedding had, but I did not get to enjoy!

Manta (the coastal region)

Manta is a town on the coast of Ecuador.  My husband visited there many times while growing up because it is where his mother's family is from.   He loves Manta, so we decided that would be the beach we visited while there.

We took a small plane from Quito to Manta.  We booked the tickets online while still in the US.  It was a bit confusing to do, but we figured it out and the price of the tickets were about $90 total for both of us round trip.

The plane we took

When we arrived to Manta I was relieved to see a shuttle for out hotel waiting for us, I didn't want to spend too much money on the taxi.  My husband soon let me know that he tipped our shuttle driver about as much as he would have paid for the taxi.  They are extremely cheap.  $3-$4 to take you pretty much anywhere in Manta.  There are also no seat belt laws in Ecuador.  His parents thought I was hilarious for fastening my seatbelt when I sat in the back seat of their car.  I still did it, but just something to know.

Our hotel was wonderful.  We stayed at the Howard Johnson.  We had a balcony with an ocean view, the pool was quite impressive and the room was beautiful.  They had computers in the lobby where you could log onto the internet.  The only problem I had was the key boards were Spanish, so for the life of me I could not figure out how to get the @ sign.  I had to Google it and copy and past it in order to check my email!    The hotel also had a full breakfast in the morning.  It had a wide variety of foods, and while some where odd to me, most I recognized and enjoyed eating.

the view from our room

In the pool

We went to the beach, swam in the ocean, and my husband played soccer with some strangers in the sand.  The shore was very rocky, in fact my husband cut his foot while playing soccer, but he was having too good of a time to let it bother him.  I did notice a lot of trash on the sand and in the ocean, but the water was warm and we had a great time.

Playing soccer

We went to the local mall at night and saw a movie.  Just a warning that they do not rate their movies using the same system we use in the US.  So the movie that was okay for kids over 12 was actually rated R here.   There were also not a lot of movies playing in English.  Any kids movie will be in Spanish and usually the adult movies are in English with Spanish subtitles, but there were not many to choose from and because the names of the movies were in Spanish we didn't know what most of them were supposed to be.

We also went to a part of the city where my husband's family used to live.  We went to a great flea market there were we got some cute shoes for our kids for rock bottom prices.  We've gotten so many compliments on those shoes I wish we would have bought more in larger sizes since they have now outgrown them!

The neighborhood my husband's family lived

I loved Manta, I would seriously consider owning a condo there and recommend it for anyone that wants a good beach town to visit while in Ecuador.

Puyo (the jungle region)

The third day of our visit we drove out to the jungle with my husband's family.  I wanted to see the jungle and see monkeys.  When I was younger I dreamed of walking in Jane Goodall's footsteps and becoming a primatologist.  It didn't happen, but I still wanted to see monkeys in the wild.

Along the way we stopped in several towns to get things to eat, gas (which is super cheap) and to do some activities.  One thing we did was take a tram across the jungle!   It was a short trip, but on the other side there were water falls, hiking trails and even a swing that you could swing on.  It took you out over the jungle and was amazing!  Another fun part about going to the jungle was we saw a lot of indigenous  people.  You can identify them by the way the dress and even the way they look.  I was thrilled to get to experience this since a lot of my undergraduate degree was spent learning about the indigenous people of South America.

Indigenous people working in the field

The tram we took

It can hold a lot of people

Swinging in the jungle

We chose Puyo to stay because it had different animal sanctuaries and was pretty far in the jungle.  We stayed at a very nice resort called El Pigual.  His parents bartered with the resort owners for a while to get just the deal they wanted.  We all had our own little villas to stay in, and again it was not anywhere near what we would have paid in the US.   The resort had a pool, full restaurant, and other activities.   Although I did see some bugs, which is only expected of being in Ecuador, I thought the rooms were nice.  The best part was we were deep in the jungle which was a dream come true for me.

We had to drive across this bridge to get to the resort

One of the rooms we had

The next day we went to Yanacocha, it is kind of like a zoo.  After we had asked around where the best place to see monkeys was, this was the place everyone suggested.  I have to admit, I wanted monkeys to climb on me and I wanted to hold them and feed them, and it didn't happen here.  I was a bit disappointed.  But on the other hand we saw a lot of animals that are native to Ecuador and everyone told me monkeys are mean and I shouldn't want them climbing on me.  Okay!  I kept saying this was the "safe" way to see animals in the jungle, which was true.

We did see monkeys

and other native animals

The paths were a bit rocky, definitely would not pass a typical American safety test.

After Yanacocha we went to Banos.  This is a city that is very well known in Ecuador for being a tourist city.  There were a lot of Americans, Australians, Europeans and other tourist there.  It is known for its outdoor activities.  There is rafting, canoeing, horse back riding, hiking, hang gliding and just about any other activity you can think of.  My husband and I decided to go zip lining!

We went on a course that had 6 different lines.  We saw a waterfall and best of all went Superman style across the trees.  It felt like we were flying!   The prices were about $20 a person and we were the only ones in the group.  We had two guides that took us every step of the way.  They were brothers and told us a lot about the area.  There was only one hike between lines that left me breathless.  I felt bad for the brother that was behind me.  I kept stopping to catch my breath and he had to wait for me.  But the altitude is in the 10,000 there, so I honestly couldn't help it.  Not to mention we were hiking up the side of a mountain!

At the water fall

Zip linning

Different ways to do it

The jungle was everything I imagined and more.  Definitely worth the drive and time it took to go there.

We found this gem while driving

Bigger than life size!

I wish we had more time to spend in Ecuador, but I feel we covered a lot in the short timeframe we had.  Things I would have liked to do is go out to the Galapagos Islands.  That is a very expensive trip, but I've heard it is worth it.  I also would have liked to tour more places my husband grew up and meet more of his friends.  I wish I hadn't been sick, it made me very cautious of what I ate from then on and I probably missed out on a lot of good local things.  Now I know what to plan as must sees on my next trip!

Have you been to Ecuador?  What was your favorite thing you did?

How to Experience the Best of Hawaii for Under $1500

When we went: March 7th-10th 2014

We had a lot of big travel plans this year, but due to me becoming a stay at home mom, our budget has been more than cut in half.  We have cut back a lot, but one thing we wanted to try and continue to do was travel as much as possible.  We had planned for a while to go to Hawaii at the beginning of this year, and while our plans changed a lot from what we originally wanted to do, we were able to go, and for as cheap as possible.

Our first decision was leaving the kids at home with the grandparents.  If we wanted to take the kids we could not be as flexible or as cheap as we wanted to be, so they were the first thing to go.  While we spent most of the trip commenting on how much our kids would love Hawaii and everything we did, we turned it into a delayed 7 year anniversary trip and enjoyed re-connecting as husband and wife

Transportation:

The flight

The main reason we were able to travel so cheaply is we flew standby.  If you know anyone that can get you ID90’s, I recommend doing it.  Anyone that works for an airline gets a certain amount of these tickets a year and can give them to anyone, not just family members.   It cost only the tax of the ticket.  Since we flew from Portland to Honolulu (non-stop, another bonus) it cost $71 a person one-way.  In total we spent $284 on our plan tickets.

The downside to flying standby, is if there are not enough seats on the plane you don’t get on and there are no accommodations offered, you’ve got to figure it out on your own. We checked the flights and how full they were, all the way up until a couple days before our trip, and actually did have to change our plans due to one of the flights booking up almost completely, not leaving a lot of seats for standby passengers.  If you can be flexible and go when the flights are at their best for standby, then it is the cheapest way to fly.

The car

The only problem we had with moving the trip up a couple days was the car reservation.  I had found an online deal through Advantage Rent-a-Car for about $13 a day.  With tax and all the fees they charge it ended up being $84 for 4 days.  That was the very cheapest I could find a car.  I searched a month and a half before we left and found a lot for around that price, but because I did not book until a few weeks before we planned to leave all the prices had gone up, up, up.  Because it was an online reservation I could not make any changes to it, including cancel it.  No matter what we were going to be charged that amount for those specific days we requested.

I looked into renting a car for the first two days we were there (and returning it the third day and picking up the actual car we rented) but the prices were too high.  I was going to spend around $90 just for two days, on top of the $84 I already spent.  So instead we decided to not have a car the first two days we were there.

Once we did get the car it was fun to have.  We drove all over the island, visited my sister and some friends, toured BYU Hawaii and Aulani, and had the freedom to go where we wanted.  Thanks to a friend’s heads up and the GPS on my phone we avoided a pretty big accident on the freeway.  We had no problems getting around or with traffic. 

The bus

Sights we saw while walking to the bus

The buses in Hawaii are actually pretty great.  It cost $2.50 a person to ride. You can down load an app on your phone that will show you what bus to take, when it leaves and what connections you will need to make to get to your destination.  We decided to take a bus to our Hostel from the airport.  Well, after waiting 45 minutes for the bus to come we were told by the bus driver that you cannot bring a suitcase on the bus.  We had a medium sized suitcase, but she said it was too big.   On a ride to the airport a couple days later we saw some people with suitcases and they said they did not have a problem taking their suitcases to the airport, but neither had taken the bus from the airport.  So it is possible you can take them to, but not from the airport.

We found the bus drivers to be pretty nice and helpful when we were using the bus.  One time we needed to make a transfer and I was watching my app and counting the stops, but before we got to our transfer spot the bus driver told us we had to get off because there was a protein spill (throw up) on the bus.  We were asking him how to get to our destination and I think he took pity on us and just drove us to a spot that our connecting bus would come.

The Speedi Shuttle

The Speedi Shuttle is a service that takes passengers from the airport directly to their hotel.  This is the way we got to our Hostel.  It cost $32 for both of us, but we priced out a taxi and it would have cost the same amount.  If we had booked earlier online it would have been about $8 cheaper.  Something to note for the future!  

The Speedi Shuttle was very nice.  It was comfortable, clean, and they had a little TV playing ads for all the things to do in Hawaii.  It actually got us really excited to be there and start exploring the island.   The other nice part was, since we were dropped off last, we got to drive all over Waikiki dropping other people off.  It gave us a real feel for the city and allowed us to get our bearings.

The Taxi

We did take a few taxis during the couple of days we did not have a car.  Because our Hostel was outside of Waikiki, it was a bit of a walk to get to any food or grocery places.  We did walk to the Ala Moana mall from our hostel, it was about 2 miles.  It wasn’t a hard walk, but we took a taxi back, since it was late, dark and we were exhausted when we were done.  It cost us about $13 to take a taxi to or from Waikiki to our Hostel.  We took 3 taxis while we were there (because we had to go places before/after the bus was running), so in total we spent $39 on taxis.  Even with the taxis and Speedy Shuttle we still spent less than we would have if we rented a car those two days.

Accommodations

The Hostel

Where we stayed is behind me.  It rained a lot, but we didn't let that stop us

We were really trying to go super cheap, like I said, so we did book our first two nights at a Hostel.  I have a friend that works in the hotel business, but the cheapest she could find for me to stay at her hotel was $160 a night.  I searched Hotwire, Travelocity, Priceline, Expedia, you name it and the cheapest I could find a hotel was $96 a night, for a 2 star.  The Hostel we stayed at cost $60 a night.  We couldn’t beat the price.  We thought it would be nice to spend our first two nights in a cheap place and then upgrade to a bit nicer hotel the last two nights.

We stayed at the Makiki Hostel.  It was 2 miles from Waikiki, and on the edge of the forest.  We were a little hesitant when we arrived and did not know where to go.  There were several buildings that belonged to the address we had, and no signs.  Someone finally pointed us in the right direction and we were introduced to Marie.  She showed us the house we’d be staying it.  It had a kitchen, living room, three bedrooms and one bathroom.  She showed us our bedroom that had a lock on the door, a TV and a queen sized bed.

Living room area where we did not spend any time.

The kitchen.  We did use the fridge and microwave, but that was about it

Our room

The place was a bit dirty, and had lots of bugs, but I expected that.  The bathroom was pretty clean, it had a new toilet, but I did not use the shower.  My husband did and he said the shower curtain was pretty gross with mold.  The bed was not too fun to sleep in.  The pillows were flat and I just had to stop thinking about how clean and sanatized the sheets were, or weren’t.  Otherwise, the place was great.  Cheap.  Full kitchen.  Quiet.  Beautiful scenery.  Not too far of a walk to the bus stop.  I would recommend it to anyone that wants to stay at a super cheap place and has a bit of an adventurous side.

Literally on the edge of the forest, but it was beautiful!

The Hotel

The night before we left for Hawaii I booked the hotel.  I did a secret hotel on Hot Wire for $85 a night.  I always research my hotels before I travel.  I want to know what they have/don’t have, if they charge for parking, internet, safes.  If they have free breakfast and I always read the reviews.  I have never done a secret hotel before because I was afraid I would get one that had a really bad review even though it was rated at 3 stars.  But I was out of options so I just took a chance and did it.  I was pleasantly surprised.  

We ended up getting the Ewa hotel.  It is right across the street from the zoo and close to Diamond Head.  They did have a negative review about someone who was robbed and they thought it was the maid, so I was weary about the hotel.  Upon arrival I instantly liked the place.  It had an oriental feel, and while there was only one elevator, that got pretty busy, it was a nice place.

Every hotel charges for parking in Hawaii, I could not find one that didn’t.  They all charge about $20 a day.  Most hotels also charge for internet and any extras you could want.  This hotel had a package you could buy for $25 a day.  It included parking, internet, the safe and coffee.   We got that.  I have to admit the internet was horrible.  My husband spent hours trying to download a movie for the airplane ride back and it never fully downloaded.  But the parking and being able to use the safe was nice.

I was worried that there would not be enough parking for us because the garage was really small.  I would have been super mad if I paid to park and then there wasn’t a spot for me, but when we returned late one night, the attendant at the desk told us where we could park creatively, so I was okay with that.  Overall I secretly wished we had stayed at this hotel all four nights, but it would have been about $100 more with the parking and internet and everything, so it’s good we didn’t, but I do recommend this particular hotel.

Activities

Tours

We did book one tour.  It was an all day tour, but it covered everything touristy that we wanted to do.  It was through Discover Hawaii Tours.  It started at 6am, they picked us up at a hotel on Waikiki, and did all the driving.   We went to Pearl Harbor, the Pineapple Plantation, the North Shore, and the Polynesian Cultural Center.  It included an all you can eat lunch and dinner and the night show at the PCC.  It cost around $200 a person.  This was by far our biggest purchase of the trip.

Pearl Harbor

Dole Plantation

Along the North Shore.  We heard this was THE place to eat, but we never made it there to try for ourselves

PCC 

I really enjoyed the insider stories and history lessons the tour guide gave and it was nice not having to worry about navigating the island, getting tickets to things, or what we were doing next.  Generally I enjoy taking tours, you learn things you would otherwise miss about the culture and history of the place you are visiting, but I feel like this tour might have cost more than I would have liked to pay for it.  We learned a lot at every place we visited without the tour guides help, and the island was not that hard to navigate if you have GPS.  I justified the cost because the PCC alone would have cost us around $130 each, but if I were given a do-over, I would have not taken the tour and just done things on our own.  My poor husband was so tired by the end of the day he could not keep his eyes open during the phenomenal night show Ha, at the PCC.

The beach

We drove up to Aulani (the Disney resort) because I wanted to see it.  They are located in a less populated part of the island and share a quiet alcove beach with a couple other hotels.  The water was calm and nice.  If I had brought my kids I would have felt safe taking them into the water.  Aulani has a water park in the middle of it that you can purchase wrist bands for even if you are not staying at the hotel.  There is also a spa and nice restaurant there, we did not do either of those things but did spend some time at the water park.

Aulani

We also spent a day at Waikiki which was a much busier, populated beach.  There were definitely waves at Waikiki that I would have been wary of us a parent.  But as two adults we went out into the water, played in the waves and even rented a surf board for an hour.  Neither of us knew how to surf, but it cost $15 to rent the surf board, or $75 for a lesson.  We just went with the rental.   My husband tried to stand up on the board and was successful a couple times, but that was the extent of our surfing.  I was more worried about not getting a sunburn, than getting a tan, so I lathered on the sunscreen and was fine.  I did not get burned at all.

Shopping:

The shops on Waikiki were great, but pretty upscale.  I’m talking anything you could imagine on Rodeo Drive and other name brand stores like Quicksilver and Volcom.  It was fun going through the shops and admiring the beach wear they had, but while it would be fun to wear there in Hawaii, not a lot of the clothes were appropriate for the snow of Utah.

Ala Moana was the big mall just off of the main Waikiki area.  It was awesome.  It was a very large mall, at least 3 stories with another floor just full of restaurants.  The mall had just about every store you could think of.  They had everything from the Disney Store, to La Coste.  They had a lot of higher end stores, but we also found Hawaiian shirts for $20.   

By far the best place to go for souvenirs was the ABC Store.  They have tons all over Waikiki and they had super good prices for things like Hawaiian shirts, dresses, kids clothes, key chains, sunglasses, purses, beach bags, hair clips, jewelry, anything!  We even bought our breakfast for the four days we were there at the ABC store.  They had yogurts, breads, drinks, fruits, candy, even bug spray.  This is the place you should go for any gifts for family and friends and even yourself!

Food:

Moco Loco, so good!

Food was less expensive than I thought it would be, but more expensive than I’m used to.  We bought our breakfast at the ABC Store, which consisted of some yogurt and bread.  We ate at the Ala Moana food court a couple times and spent around $20 each time.  One day all our meals were included in our tour and another day my sister made us dinner.  So we were lucky enough to not spend that much money on food.  We actually only ate once at an actual restaurant and that was on the beach of Waikiki.  We ate at a little bistro that I thought was very well priced.   We ordered some well known Hawaiian foods like shaved ice and Moco Loco.  The plates were huge and I think I spent about $18 for our meal.

Extras:

Light House by Diamond Head

We never did get to hike Diamond Head, we tried but they are open from 6am-6pm and we arrived too late.  It cost $5 to hike it.   We also did not get to go snorkeling.  We did not have enough time, and the place I heard was the best to go cost $20 a person and we just didn’t have the money this time.  Maybe another time.

If we had all the money in the world I would have liked to swim with the dolphins, gone snorkeling and taken a helicopter ride around the island.  I also would have stayed longer and gone to some different islands, but with the time and money we had I think we did pretty good!

Costs:

Air plane tickets:   $284

Car Rental:            $84

Speedi Shuttle:     $32

Taxis:                     $39

Hostel:                   $120

Hotel:                     $170

Parking package: $50

Tour:                       $400

Food/Gifts:             $300 (approximate) 

Total:                    $1,479

Have you been to Hawaii?  What must see thing do you recommend doing?