ECUADOR

When they entered Ecuador they perceived it as being a tranquil country, despite its poor looking villages. Because it was already late, they stayed at the first motel they saw just before Tulcan. The room was beautiful. clean and cheap, but there was an out of control couple next door who somewhat disturbed the travelers' sleep. They left to the south very early in the morning to visit the La Paz Grutta and its hot springs. A river emerges from this cave, and it may be considered a natural church because benches and a saint image were added to its interior. The hot springs were manmade, well kept and didn't cost anything that day.

WELCOME TO ECUADOR

LA PAZ GRUTTA  

INSIDE THE HOT SPRING CHURCH

From there the goal was to get to Quito and visit the middle of the world museum. Because they weren't sure how to get there, they made a research stop at an internet house quickly afraid they might not get the museum before it closed. They arrived at the Plaza Mitad del Mundo where they paid to get in and walk to the monument. Inside the monument there is a museum which appeared to be the one they found online, so they paid the entrance fee to check it out. Unfortunately it wasn't the one they were looking for (the one Debora had heard about from her french friend Gessyca). The museum she talked about was one that included a tour with fun and interesting experiments. It was two blocks away and would be open for just about another hour. They hurried leaving the erroneous monument museum (uninteresting according to both of them) and walked to the It Inan Museum. As soon as they arrived they paid their 3 dollar admittance fee and a guide quickly arrived to take them on a little journey throughout the museum. Now they were happily satisfied, especially Debora who was the only one in the group to balance an egg on top of a nail on the equator line, and she even got a certificate for it. When the tour ended they went back to the plaza to check out crafts and drink some hot chocolate before finding a hostel in nearby Quito.

THE WRONG MUSEUM TO VISIT ON THE EQUATOR LINE

WHERE NORTH AND SOUTH MEET

THE RIGHT MUSEUM TO VISIT ON THE EQUATOR LINE

THE EGG MASTER

The next day was virtually spent entirely inside the car. Since Debora was already tired of driving through mountainous roads they chose to drive towards the coast instead, even though they still had to drive through some windy terrain anyways. This route was gorgeous, full of waterfalls and cloud forests. When the villages started showing up they noticed many hanging pig bodies along the roadside with women selling fresh fried pork and corn. Starved Pat as usual had to stop to buy it, while Debora didn't even want to look at the bleeding bodies of the poor pigs.

After a few more hours they got to the beach town Manta. It was bigger than they expected and had both ugly and beautiful sides. In the later, they found a street to sleep on near the beach.

The next attractions they found online were Punta Los Frailes and Agua Blanca. Both were found in Machalilla National Park but were distinct from each other. Los Frailes ( US$ 2.00 p.p.) was a coastal area with beautiful beaches, while Aguas Blancas was an archeological site that had thermal waters. The visit to Agua Blanca included a tour guided by a native who explained some of the town's archeological history as well as bathing opportunities with sulphuric mud in the nearby thermal pool.

 HIGH MOUNTAINS OF ECUADOR

COASTAL TREES

BIG WAVES

FROM MIRADOR LAS FRAILES

LAS FRAILES

MUD BATH CREATURE

The next day they kept going down the coastal highway full of sandy beaches and big waves good for surfing. They got to Salinas, as planned, and slept once more very close to the beach.

They made breakfast on the beachfront  before leaving towards El Cajas National Park. They couldn't avoid Guayaquil city, which was on the way, and got lost for a little while. After they found the right direction they continued towards the park, which took them over the Andes once more. At the high altitude it became foggy, rainy, and of course slow, but they could still see some of the natural beauty and wildlife in the park such as lakes and llamas. Due to the weather they decided to not get out of the car and continued driving slowly to observe the natural wonders that could be seen from the road on the way to Cuenca.

Cuenca is a colonial town, and despite being touristic, has great prices in its restaurants. The couple decided to stay at a hostel there to rest from the tiring drive.

Debora and Pat were torn about what border with Peru they would take. They researched a little and Loja, the inland rout, seemed to be the most interesting but it would be a longer drive potentially requiring an extra day to leave Ecuador. Via El Oro near the coat, it would probably be less interesting but much faster. They chose El Oro. Nearly one year ago Ecuador opened an alternative passage through the border here, and it seemed like not many people were aware of it because the travelers were in and out of the aduana and immigration offices quickly and nicely without having to wait in lines. Supposedly the nearby older border crossing was chaotic and slow because the locals use it to shop in Aguas Verdes. Thankfully they didn't get to see it with their own eyes.

Some of the highlights of Ecuador were: equal attraction prices for nationals and internationals, good gas prices, cheap and tasty food, friendly locals and immigration and aduana officers.

TRICKS

- Fill up with gas before getting to the border towns because the military does not allow filling extra bottles in those and gas is much more expensive in Peru.

TROUBLES

- None.