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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| the view from our room |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| The neighborhood my husband's family lived |
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.
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| Indigenous people working in the field |
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| The tram we took |
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| It can hold a lot of people |
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| 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.
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| We had to drive across this bridge to get to the resort |
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| 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.
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| We did see monkeys |
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| and other native animals |
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| The paths were a bit rocky, definitely would not pass a typical American safety test. |
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!
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| At the water fall |
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| Zip linning |
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| Different ways to do it |
The jungle was everything I imagined and more. Definitely worth the drive and time it took to go there.
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| We found this gem while driving |
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| 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?
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