Our family all went on a 15 day tour of Ecuador with Luis and it was
without question the best 15 day experience of all of our lives! We
started in Quito and visited stunning historic churches and wandered
the streets for hours with Luis who gave us non-stop commentary on all
the sites we visited. We went to Otavalo and visited the vibrant huge
marketplace run by the native people and had the chance to purchase
authentic souvenirs. In Papallacta we enjoyed numerous outdoor natural
hot spring pools and went on a beautiful nature hike. Next stop was
the Amazon and our stay at Casa del Suizo. We arrived at our hotel via
riverboat and climbed steep stairs to our jaw dropping view of the
river, beautiful rooms facing the river with hammocks on the balcony,
and we had the opportunity to go to an animal rescue sanctuary run by
volunteers, float down the river in life jackets and also spend an
evening with a shaman…all once in a lifetime experiences for us.
Next off to Banos where we hiked up and down El Pailon del Diablo, a
park with incredible waterfalls and walking trails, one of my favorite
stops. We then checked into an old hacienda, The Andaluza, that is
literally filled with thousands of antiques, unbelievable grounds with
peacocks and bunnies hopping around in the gardens and we all had a
chance to visit and relax in a truly magical spa for facials, saunas
and hot tubs. We travelled to Cuenca and loved wandering the streets
which were historic yet also quite modern. I had the chance to be
fitted for a sombrero at a local shop in town. We went to a restaurant
which specializes in one of the local delicacies, guinea pig and I
must say that throughout all of Ecuador the food is abundant, fresh
and very tasty and we had the chance to try numerous new foods. My son
discovered a new favourite fruit, guaba, which Luis would buy while
stopping our driver along the roads, hopping out and buying us all
sorts of wonderful new foods for us to try along the way. Our daily
shout out for empanadas would have us searching for a stand along the
way and stopping for a snack, so much fun, and the local people were
wonderfully friendly and lovely to deal with. We stopped at The Middle
of the World, the equator, and went on a tour and played games hopping
from one side of the equator to the other. We also stopped in Puyo and
while we were walking through the rainforest realized we were not
alone but were being followed by “Alfonzo”, a ring-tailed coati living
in the forest and then came the monkeys! Once again, a truly memorable
afternoon especially when one of the monkeys stole the scarf out of my
pocket and jumped up into a tree wearing it :). The kids loved this
stop…We finished up by relaxing by the beach in Esmereldas where we
hired a local fisherman to take us through the mangroves, spent the
afternoon on a beautiful unique beach while one of our best meals was
prepared in a small shack by a local woman. We had the famous blue
crab and the best sea bass I have ever tasted. We were also lucky
enough to go whalewatching and had yet another great experience of a
pair of whales swimming right next to us.I honestly could go on and on
but this is just a taste of all the fabulous experiences we had while
visiting Ecuador with Luis and we would not hesitate to recommend this
be a must do for anyone who would like to experience a one of a
lifetime trip with memories that will last a lifetime….Also, we need
to throw in a big thank you to Jose, our driver, who managed to get us
everywhere we needed to go safely, on time and always with a big smile
on his face.
